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Thousands of students in inner Beltway and southern Prince George's County communities will go to new schools in the fall, as a result of a boundary change plan adopted by the school board Tuesday.

Board members said the change was years overdue and spoke at length about how they felt the plan would even out overcrowded and underutilized schools. They said the plan will also correct historic injustices regarding unequal distribution of specialty school programs.

"Prince George's County Public Schools is in the midst of reform. Reform is much different than just change," said Board Chairwoman Verjeana M. Jacobs (At-large). "Reform is about more than change; it is about stopping the insanity of doing the same dysfunctional thing expecting different results for our children."

The controversial plan was designed to alleviate overcrowding in some schools and save the school system money by closing underutilized schools. School officials also designed the new boundaries to minimize transportation costs by having more students walk to school instead of ride the bus.

In March, the board approved closing eight under-enrolled schools next school year, and those schools' students were reassigned to other schools as part of the redistricting.

In the area covered in the boundary changes, schools are currently at an average capacity of 73 percent. The new policy will put the average capacity at 84 percent, according to documents presented at the meeting.

Before the boundary change, the county had 10,537 extra classroom seats in the area, and after the change, the area is expected to have only 5,083 extra seats.

School officials plan to have 216 students who currently attend Thomas G. Pullen K-8 Arts Focus School in Landover transfer to Benjamin D. Foulois Elementary in Morningside, which will become an arts school next year. Students currently attending Foulois can only remain at the school if they submitted applications for the lottery for the special program; otherwise they will be reassigned to a different school. Officials said the 27 Foulois students who submitted applications for the school can remain there, and the other seats at the school will be filled by audition or lottery.

At a series of public hearings over the past few months, angry parents have expressed concerns about reassigning students to new schools, including the disruption to their children's lives and transportation concerns.

Board member Heather Iliff (Dist. 2) encouraged parents to keep an open mind about their children's new schools and to visit the schools before making decisions about how to proceed with their children's education.

"Please don't, as a knee-jerk reaction, move to homeschooling or private school without giving your new school a try," Iliff said.

Board member Linda Thornton Thomas (Dist. 4), who represents a portion of southern Prince George's, was the lone vote against the plan, arguing that the board needed more time to perfect the plan.

"I want to make sure that whatever we do, we do it right, and that means that sometimes we have to look at the mistakes that we've made so that we can do a better job," Thomas said.

Suitland resident Joe Brown, whose daughter is a fourth-grade honor roll student at Skyline Elementary, said his daughter is slated to attend Samuel P. Massie Elementary in Forestville as a result of the change. Brown said he has serious concerns about sending his child to a school with older children who may already be involved in gang violence and other troubling behavior and will consider private school.

"Whatever the cost, she will not be going to Samuel P. Massie," Brown said in an interview after the meeting.

Board members acknowledged parents' anger, but said they had opportunities to voice their concerns and influence the process.

"For once we've had an opportunity to come forth many times and listen to your concerns, and yes, we've made changes after every hearing," said board member R. Owen Johnson Jr. (Dist. 5). "That was the point of having the many hearings, so we could get an extra set of eyes on those recommendations and proposals."

School officials said letters will be sent to affected households notifying them of their new schools by April 30. For more information, visit www.pgcps.org.