We respectfully urge the Montgomery County Board of Education to reject the proposed high school boundary reassignment that would shift Wayside Elementary students from the Churchill cluster to Wootton. 

This plan threatens our children's well-being by splitting students after three formative years together in high school, disrupts neighborhood cohesion, and may contradict MCPS’s own policies on stability and student-centered planning.

1. Student Stability and Emotional Well-being
 Board Policy FAA prioritizes school assignment stability. Forcibly separating students from peers after progressing together through middle school deeply disrupts academic and emotional continuity (APA, 2020; Journal of Adolescent Health, 2019).

2. Geographic Proximity and Commuting Concerns

Churchill’s proximity allows many Wayside students to walk or bike, easing traffic and supporting student health. Reassigning to Wootton adds long commutes and bottlenecks, disrupting sleep, academics, sports, and after-school life—while increasing congestion and emissions in clear conflict with MCPS’s own transportation and sustainability goals.

3. We Request Information and Transparency on Churchill Capacity Projections

We request MCPS to fully disclose how they arrived at Churchill’s so-called overcapacity figures and the methodology behind their future projections. Given that the area is currently impacted by federal workforce layoffs, these assumptions may no longer hold and must be reviewed and reevaluated.

4. Threat to Community Identity
 Wayside–Churchill is a tightly knit community with decades of shared history. Reassignment threatens to fracture that identity, especially for immigrant, multilingual, and minority families who rely on consistent educational environments.

5. Precedent and Expectations
 MCPS has historically honored feeder patterns. Changing this without extraordinary justification undermines decades of trust and predictability in school planning.

This proposal undermines student well-being, destabilizes neighborhoods, and violates the values MCPS claims to uphold.

We call upon decision-makers to reevaluate options and invest in sustainable, student-centered alternatives.

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Dear Petitioners,

Thank you for adding your voice to our petition. Your signature helps protect the cohesion of the Wayside–Hoover–Churchill community.

Here’s what else you can do to strengthen our cause:

– Fill out the MCPS Community Survey

– Sign up to speak at BOE meetings

– Contact/email all members of the BOE directly

• Julie Yang
  President / District 3     Julie_Yang@mcpsmd.org 
• Grace Rivera-Oven
  Vice President / District 1   Graciela_Rivera-oven@mcpsmd.org   
• Karla Silvestre
  At Large           Karla_Silvestre@mcpsmd.org
• Rita Montoya 
  At Large         Rita_M_Montoya@mcpsmd.org  
• Brenda Wolff
  District 5      Brenda_Wolff@mcpsmd.org
• Laura Stewart
  District 4     Laura_M_Stewart@mcpsmd.org  
• Natalie Zimmerman
  District 2      Natalie_Zimmerman@mcpsmd.org
• Praneel Suvarna
  Student Member     Praneel_S_Suvarna@mcpsmd.org 

Together, we can stand up for transparency, continuity, and the well-being of our students and community. Thank you for your continued support.