What a difference a few months, and a few hundred people, can make.

When we formed Towson Families United in January of 2008, the four elementary schools serving Towson's core – Rodgers Forge, Stoneleigh, Hampton and Riderwood – were stuck without an answer to a dire overcrowding problem.

But after five grueling months of meetings, rallies, letters and phone calls, we saw the beginnings of a solution. In May 2008, the Baltimore County Board of Education voted to build a new elementary school in Towson, right next to the Ridge Ruxton special-needs school on Charles Street.

That's a good start. But even with the new school, we're still in need of more than 400 more elementary school seats in the next five years. Not to mention a plan for what happens when these children move on to middle school and high school.

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

Towson's core used to be served by six public elementary schools. But in the early 1980s, when school-age populations declined, two of those schools (Towson Elementary and Ruxton Elementary) were closed.

The four schools that remained have been among the highest-performing in the state. But ironically, we've been the victims of our own success. In the past eight years, families have moved into our neighborhoods, and our schools, in jaw-dropping numbers.

Yet our high test scores seemed to blind school officials to the problems here. Parents began warning Baltimore County Public School representatives as early as 2003, but they didn't take action. And calls to County Executive James T. Smith's office were met with derision. In fact, his education liaison bluntly told us, "You don't have a problem."

But by 2007, the school system was finally realizing we did. The most crowded school in the county, Rodgers Forge, had seven trailers in its back yard. Children were being turned away from the nurses office for non-emergencies. Bathrooms were breaking down.

So BCPS came up with a plan to re-open another elementary school in Towson. It involved relocating the special-needs students at Ridge Ruxton to a new building in Mays Chapel. That would allow the Ridge Ruxton building to be returned to use as Ruxton Elementary School.

Unfortunately, the county executive refused to fund the school system's plan. What's more, he resisted any real solution to the problem, only begrudgingly authorizing an ill-conceived, possibly illegal addition to the special-needs school. Parents protested; and officials engaged in months of finger-pointing.

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

Now that we've been successful in getting a new school opened, it's tempting to rest on our laurels. But we can't. The bulk of the seats at the new school will relieve Rodgers Forge and Riderwood of their overcrowding. Stoneleigh and Hampton will continue to need relief.

And as the student member of the Board of Education astutely pointed out, these kids aren't getting any younger. Soon they'll be filling our middle schools and our high school. And the time to starting thinking about that isn't when they reach puberty.

The good news is, we started something when we started Towson Families United.

School system officials, accustomed to being told what to do by the county executive's office, are showing glimmers of defiance. They're recommending not just what is fundable, but what is right for our children.

The Board of Education, beaten up by a county executive who has for years ignored its votes, is now displaying a fierce independence. As late as one day before the Board voted to build a new school, a spokesperson for the county executive was still publicly pushing for only an addition. The Board ignored the pressure and voted the right way.

Throughout Towson and throughout the county, people are feeling a new sense of empowerment. They're seeing that by sticking together and sticking to the facts, we can make a difference for our children, and our communities.

For the latest information on our school overcrowding issue, please click on the tab to the left, "Read our blog."