MoCo School Boundary Changes Approved By Board Despite Protests

GERMANTOWN, MD — Montgomery County parents and children turned out in droves to protest school boundary changes Tuesday evening outside the school district's administration building in Rockville.

Despite audible chants from the crowd outside, Board of Education members voted 7-1 to approve boundary line changes to three Upcounty high schools. Board member Rebecca Smondrowski cast the dissenting vote.

These changes — recommended by Superintendent Jack Smith — will affect Clarksburg, Northwest, and Seneca Valley high schools.

As the largest public school system in the state, Montgomery County has seen a rapid increase in enrollment in recent years. Proponents hope these boundary shifts will alleviate overcrowding in some schools.

"Adopting a boundary change is the hardest vote that board members make because people are very passionate about where they choose to live, where they want their children to attend. The mama bear comes out in everybody in that process," said Patricia O'Neill, vice president of the school board.

Others, however, worry that these changes will mean longer bus rides, lower home values, and wider achievement gaps.

Clarksburg resident and 12-year-old middle school student Luka Van Herksen is one of those people. He told WTOP that he will have to go to Seneca Valley High School — which is much farther from his home than Clarksburg High School.

"I don't think it's fair … the problem is that it is very far away, which means longer bus rides, every single day, traffic and driving on the highway on the bus, which isn't safe," Van Herksen told the news outlet.

He added: "I have two siblings, and they're going to two different schools; and all three of us, we're going to be going to three different schools in three different ZIP codes and that's a lot."

Another Clarksburg resident, Bill Matarazzo, also stood outside the board of education's headquarters to protest the school boundary changes.

The father of two told WTOP that school officials are "putting politics before kids."

While school board members were discussing the changes inside, O'Neill said she was "deeply troubled" by some residents' behavior.

"For the most part, people are respectful ... But I have to say, over the last couple of days, I've been deeply troubled by the tone of emails that have come to the board," O'Neill said. "There is only one person that ultimately makes a recommendation and that is the superintendent of schools. The recommendations that come before us are from Dr. Jack Smith. And below him are a whole range of employees who give him their best thinking."

"It is absolutely uncalled for, unbelievable," O'Neill added, "and in 20 years on the board, I have not seen this low level of behavior, and it does not speak well for our community. And I know that it's 20 or so people who have sent these. But it is wrong and it does not win you friends or help to change the outcome of a decision ever, attacking individuals."