Dozens of students and parents told the Montgomery County Board of Education on July 10 that proposed boundary changes in the current study would fracture school communities and harm student well‑being.

Students from the Wayside/Hoover attendance area said all four draft options in the study would send them to Winston Churchill High School for ninth grade and then to Thomas Wootton High School for 10th through 12th grades. They said the mid‑high‑school transfer would force them to rebuild academic and social supports partway through high school.

“Switching schools after one year adds even more stress, confusion, and instability,” said Jaden Herrera, a rising eighth grader at Herbert Hoover Middle School. Herrera told the board the longer bus rides to Wootten would reduce time for homework and extramural activities and that the current proximity to Churchill lets students walk or bike to campus.

Other young speakers repeated that theme. Arianne, a seventh grader, said she already lost time and social development during the pandemic and that moving schools again would be “detrimental.” Gavin Yao, another Hoover student, described prior school moves and said the proposed plan would worsen mental‑health and academic disruption for the class of 2030.

Parents and guardians stressed similar concerns. Lindsay Bennett, a Farmland Elementary parent, said her son—who has an Individualized Education Program and stutters—built leadership and trust in his current school community; she said dispersing that community would dismantle supports that took years to build.

Board members thanked the students for testifying and emphasized that community input will shape subsequent rounds of boundary options. Board member Silvestri said the study is in an engagement phase and that officials will use community testimony to refine later proposals.

What’s next: The board said it will incorporate public input as staff develop additional options to be released later in the fall. No boundary decisions were made at the July 10 meeting.