Public Hearing / Work Session – March 26, 2026

Re: Urgent Call to Delay the Vote on the Regional Boundary Analysis and Regional Secondary Programs Model

Dear Members of the Montgomery County Board of Education,

My name is Brenda M. Diaz. I am a veteran US History and Government teacher, a James Madison Fellow, a mother of three daughters, and a candidate for the Board of Education At-Large seat in the June 2026 primary. I submit this testimony as an educator who has taught in these very schools and as a passionate advocate for authentic parent and community partnership in every decision that shapes our children’s education.

Parents must be given a real seat at the table — and this process in the Regional Boundary Analysis and Regional Secondary Programs Model—  has denied them that seat. Late-stage options, including modified Option H for Wootton and modified Option B for Woodward, were introduced with minimal multilingual outreach and inadequate time for families to understand the cascading effects on their children and communities. MCPS claims community voice was at the center of this process. The record shows otherwise: rushed timelines, check-the-box surveys, and decisions imposed from above rather than built with the people who know their children and neighborhoods best. Delaying the March 26 vote is not delay for delay’s sake — it is the only responsible path forward.

The case for delay is not abstract. It is documented, specific, and comes from thousands of Montgomery County families across every region of the county:

•  Save Wootton has repeatedly warned that the superintendent’s modified Option H permanently relocates Thomas S. Wootton High School to the Crown Farm site, closing its Rockville campus and destroying a 55-year community anchor and neighborhood school. Families cite insufficient data, lack of transparency, and a rushed process that ignored Rockville’s own proposed alternatives. The Rockville City Council, including its outspoken member, Adam Van Grack, Mayor Monique Ashton, and State Senator Cheryl Kagan have all formally supported using Crown strictly as a temporary holding school during renovations — keeping Wootton on its current campus. A decision of this magnitude cannot be approved without deeper scrutiny.

•  Col. Zadok Magruder High School families and cluster leaders have protested that the boundary study is being used as a proxy for capital-improvement priorities. Magruder — already facing facility crises including collapsing ceilings and lost instructional days — has once again been passed over for a major capital project while resources are redirected elsewhere. Parents rightly ask why their children’s school is deprioritized yet again.

•  Richard Montgomery High School families, PTAs, and Cluster Coordinator Rodney Peele have highlighted flawed enrollment projections that ignore 2,330 new Rockville housing units coming by 2030, current overcrowding with nine portable classrooms, and the potential downsizing of RM’s flagship IB program by up to 75%. These are not minor adjustments — they strike at the heart of academic excellence in one of MCPS’s most celebrated programs.

•  Wheaton Woods Elementary School families and PTA were effectively shut out of meaningful engagement. Many only recently learned their students would be reassigned from nearby Wheaton High School to the more distant Woodward High School, creating longer bus rides, broken feeder patterns from Parkland Middle, and reduced family involvement. Low participation rates in earlier phases are not a reflection of community indifference — they are proof that the outreach failed these families.

•  MCCPTA, representing every PTA in the county, passed a formal resolution last October calling for at least a one-year delay of the regional secondary programs analysis. Their reasons remain unaddressed: insufficient data, inadequate community engagement, unknown costs, and the risk of siphoning resources away from core curriculum.

•  The Red Flags Coalition — hundreds of parents, teachers, and community members including affiliates of Save the Magnets — and the Blair Magnet Foundation (President Zeki Mokhtarzada) issued a March 19 letter detailing nine specific demands: budget transparency, staffing guarantees, equitable transportation, curriculum vetting, accountability metrics, and protections for high-FARMS schools and students of color. They warn that the regional model threatens to dilute or dismantle legendary programs built over decades at Blair STEM Magnet, Poolesville, Richard Montgomery IB, and others. Without these protections, the plan risks harming the very equity and excellence it claims to advance.

These groups are not fringe voices. They represent the broad, diverse community that this Board is elected to serve — including elected local leaders who have stepped forward with concrete, workable alternatives. Their shared message is unmistakable: the intertwined boundary and programs votes lack the data, the details, and the deliberate community partnership that decisions of this magnitude require.

At a moment when only 22% of MCPS students pass Algebra I and Grade 3 reading proficiency sits at 54.9%, our Board cannot afford to spend its political capital on rushed structural experiments. The academic crisis already demands our full attention — and so does this community. Academic excellence is not achieved by imposing top-down models on rushed timelines. It is achieved when parents, educators, and elected leaders collaborate around proven programs, transparent data, and the best interests of every child — regardless of zip code, income, or background.

I respectfully urge the Board to delay the March 26 vote on both the Regional Boundary Analysis and the Regional Secondary Programs Model. Use the additional time to hold targeted, multilingual community forums; release full budget and staffing projections; address the nine Red Flag demands; and incorporate the specific solutions already offered by Save Wootton, Magruder cluster families, Richard Montgomery families, Wheaton Woods families, MCCPTA, the Red Flags coalition, the Blair Magnet Foundation, the Rockville City Council, Mayor Ashton, and State Senator Kagan.

Parents are ready to partner. In fact, they have always been ready. Academic excellence — and the integrity of this process — demands that we finally give them a genuine seat at the table.

Thank you for your service and for considering this testimony. I stand ready to assist in any way that advances genuine, community-driven solutions for MCPS students.

Respectfully,

Brenda M. Diaz

U.S. History & Government Teacher

James Madison Fellow

Candidate, Montgomery County Board of Education At-Large

diazforboe.com  |  202-790-1395  |  gaithersburg.freedompod@gmail.com