Clarksburg

and Germantown Communities to Protest Board of

Education Upcounty Boundary Study Vote

STOP the Flawed and Biased Process! Fix Neelsville Middle School Now!

CLARKSBURG, MD, GERMANTOWN, MD, and BOYDS, MD, November 25, 2019 – Clarksburg and
Germantown communities, who reside in two of the most diverse clusters in Montgomery County Public
Schools (MCPS), today announced that they will be protesting the MCPS Board of Education Vote on the
Upcounty Boundary Study from 4:00pm-7:00pm EST tomorrow, Tuesday, November 26th at 850
Hungerford Drive, Rockville, Maryland 20850.

The MCPS Board of Education (BOE) will be voting at approximately 6:35pm EST tomorrow, Tuesday,
November 26th on whether to pass or reject the superintendent’s recommendation for school
reassignments, which potentially impact thousands of MCPS families. Our community has started a
petition with hundreds of signatures already and growing. STOP the Process! FIX Neelsville Middle
School NOW!

Our protest will focus on the following:

• MCPS states they care about all kids, and yet kids are forced to study in unacceptable
conditions at Neelsville MS. Instead of fixing the problem, they are applying a band aid by
shifting and lifting kids to make the numbers look good on paper.
• Lack of transparency. MCPS said the boundary study was about overcrowding but later shifted
their focus to only demographics, specifically Free and Reduced Meals (FARMs) rates at schools.
• Extreme bias is evident. Only the Seneca Valley PTA was consulted. Clarksburg and other
Germantown cluster PTAs were not. What happened behind the scenes at the BOE?
• Confusion and division of our communities. Fourteen Options were presented, in two different
rounds, and they were not effectively communicated to all communities.
• Mischaracterization of Clarksburg by the BOE. We are one of the most diverse communities in
Montgomery County, as the profile of our testimony speakers showed, yet we have been
painted as racist and elitist.
• Alternate community developed options dismissed and distorted. CIP staff misrepresented
alternative options developed by our communities when presenting to the BOE. It has come to
our attention that a conflict of interest is possible. The Northwest cluster was minimally
impacted yet they have the lowest FARMs rate between all three clusters. We demand an
investigation into potential conflicts of interest that were not declared to the public.
• Independent consultants were hired to conduct the countywide boundary study which has just
kicked off. Why did they not use consultants for the upcounty study instead of MCPS staff?

We look forward to seeing you at the protest to hear the voice of our communities.

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Media Contact:
Melissa van Herksen
Phone: 202.677.2756
Email: mvigues@me.com