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Nearly 300 Bowie students would end up attending schools outside the city under boundary changes proposed by Prince George's County Schools Superintendent William Hite Jr. The changes, if approved, would take effect at the start of next school year and are part of the school system's effort to alleviate overcrowding and underuse of 96 schools in the northern and central county.

From Benjamin Tasker Middle School, 212 students would be sent to schools outside the city under the plan — 33 to Ernest Everett Just Middle School in Mitchellville and 179 to Kettering Middle School in Upper Marlboro. From Pointer Ridge Elementary School, 79 students would be sent to Perrywood Elementary School in Upper Marlboro.

The plan also shifts students from Samuel Ogle Middle School to Tasker; from Northview Elementary School to Pointer Ridge; from Rockledge Elementary School to Yorktown Elementary School; and from Whitehall Elementary School to Kenilworth Elementary School.

Parents have criticized the changes because, they say, the shifts would disrupt the learning environment for their children and, in some instances send their children to lower-performing schools.

Bowie mother Jackie Taylor said she doesn't understand how sending children from a higher-performing but overcrowded school to an under-enrolled but lower-performing school is going to help students.

"When I look at the capacity at Kettering [Middle School], it's underutilized," said Taylor, whose sixth-grade son would move from Tasker to Kettering under the change. "But they aren't making the test scores. I don't see how putting more kids there will help at all."

In this year's Maryland School Assessments, which test reading and math comprehension in third through eighth graders, 59.4 percent of students at Kettering scored proficient or advanced on the tests while 73.4 percent of students at Tasker did so.

Rather than moving children outside of Bowie, Taylor suggested that Pointer Ridge Elementary could retain sixth graders instead of sending them to a middle school, thereby increasing enrollment at the underused elementary school and taking some burden off area middle schools. With 449 current students, Pointer Ridge has 117 seats open before reaching its capacity.

Other parents, worried that future school construction would require their children to be moved again, have asked the school board to phase in boundary changes or put them off for some schools until renovations are made.

Utokia Langley's two children are in kindergarten and first grade at Whitehall Elementary School, and are proposed to be moved to Kenilworth Elementary School under Hite's plan. However, Tulip Grove Elementary School, which is one of nine schools in the county slated for replacement, is within walking distance from her home.

According to an independent study of the county's public school facilities that are more than 15 years old, Tulip Grove was among nine facilities listed in poor condition and requiring replacement. The Board of Education has allotted $100,000 for planning of the school replacements, which in total are estimated to cost $133 million. Langley worries that if her children are moved now to Kenilworth they will later be moved to Tulip Grove after renovations there are complete.

"Wait and renovate Tulip and then let's revisit the proposal to move so that would only be one upheaval for our children," Langley said. "It's not that you are moving us — move us at the right time."

The boundary changes propose that 137 students move from Whitehall to Kenilworth. While Whitehall enrolls 433 students — 68 more than its capacity — Langley said class sizes remain reasonable at 20 to 23 students per class. She said she doesn't believe the overcrowding is reason enough to move the children to Kenilworth.

The Bowie City Council also might advocate on the residents' behalf, said Mayor G. Frederick Robinson, adding the final decision on the boundary changes is up to the county school board members.

"Obviously we are concerned about the effect the boundary decision will have on the neighborhoods and families," he said. "We have a very serious interest in the community school-based system, so [students] go to school with kids they play with and go to church with."

Robinson said he has met with parents over the proposed changes, adding that the city council might discuss Hite's plan at its Monday night meeting. Some parents have suggested to him that the new boundaries should apply only to new students, he said.

The last public meeting for parents to submit feedback to the school board and Hite on the boundary proposals was Tuesday. Hite will make his new recommendations to the board on Monday. The board will have to vote on the changes before they become final.

E-mail feedback and questions to boundary.phase2@pgcps.org.

Change in the air

Under Schools Superintendent William Hite Jr.'s proposed school boundary changes, more than 800 Bowie students would attend different schools at the start of the next academic year. In Bowie, the plan proposes the following changes:

-Benjamin Tasker Middle School would send 33 students to Ernest Everett Just Middle School and 179 to Kettering Middle School

-Samuel Ogle Middle School would send 138 students to Benjamin Tasker Middle School

-Northview Elementary School would send 137 students to Pointer Ridge Elementary School

-Pointer Ridge Elementary School would send 79 students to Perrywood Elementary School

-Rockledge Elementary School would send 119 students to Yorktown Elementary School

-Whitehall Elementary School would send 137 students to Kenilworth Elementary School

For more information, visit http://www1.pgcps.org/phasetwo.