Although he added that changes to school boundaries "definitely would occur" if a new elementary school were to be built, he cautioned that no boundaries would change until more space for students was identified, and that the school system would rely on portables in the meantime. Bruce Crispell, director of long-range planning for MCPS, said the area is growing faster than initially predicted because of the lagging economy and higher birth rates. "You might have more children coming out of a house because two families are living in it ... Neighborhoods have turned over, younger families are coming in, some of them immigrating or coming from other parts of the country," Crispell said. Ricky Ford, the Downcounty Consortium's PTA representative and a father of two Northwood students, said he was grateful that school officials were eyeing overcrowding in his area. "Anything we can do at this point to make sure we're at least paying attention to the issue is fantastic," said Ford, noting that boundary studies down the line could be "contentious." "That gets very nasty in the community," Ford said. "We have to be careful not to create schools of 'the haves' and 'the have-nots.' "