Victoria Hougham spent the first days of the government shutdown running errands and doing chores.

Hougham — a furloughed federal employee — wasn’t used to having so many hours to herself while her two kids were in school.

But, less than a week into the shutdown, Montgomery County Public Schools gave her a way to spend the unexpected free time.

District officials unveiled new campus boundary maps in early October, practically at the same time that many parents were sent home from their jobs at nearby federal agencies.

The proposal ignited ardent debate, with some furloughed parents quick to rally in opposition. During hours they would’ve normally spent drafting government reports or prepping for briefings, these federal workers instead circulated petitions and created an advocacy toolkit via Google Docs.

“We were primed to take action,” Hougham said. “If I’m not working in my day job, then I want to still do something that betters my community.”

At recent district meetings, parents impacted by the government shutdown have passed around posters with their own detailed data analysis and read emotional testimony — on Thursday afternoons, when they’d normally be at work.

To be sure, many Montgomery County parents engage in school advocacy year-round, balancing their involvement with their jobs. And issues such as redrawing campus boundary lines are often rife with controversy, drawing intense debate whenever they come up. Parents of all backgrounds are lobbying the board, each with a personal reason fueling them.

But Hougham said she feels a specific energy among the furloughed workers.

“I don’t feel like there’s a way I can do something about the shutdown, about going back to work, about my paycheck,” Hougham said. “I have no control in those areas. This is a place for all of us to come together, to feel heard, to feel like a community, to take action together.”

A 22-page PowerPoint

In early October, officials published proposed maps for high school boundaries. Some people looked at the latest options for the Charles W. Woodward High School Boundary Study and saw prioritization of the county’s wealthier neighborhoods.

“Every single current proposal protects the boundaries of the most affluent high schools while pushing severe disruption and instability onto East County families,” Hougham, a Silver Spring resident, told the school board Oct. 16.

Ahead of that same meeting, Montgomery County mom and furloughed worker Brittany Frassetto made a 22-page PowerPoint outlining her concerns with the proposed boundaries.

She mapped each school and analyzed the levels of poverty on each campus, coming to the same conclusion as Hougham.

“This is the first time I’ve felt compelled to testify to the board,” Frassetto told district leaders. “There are severe inequities in Montgomery County, and I’m disappointed that MCPS is further entrenching them.”

The boundary maps were the first reveal that shocked some furloughed parents into action. Next came the proposal to close Silver Spring International Middle School.

“That really escalated things,” Hougham said.

Also energizing parents is a plan to reimagine high school programs. District leaders are proposing to divide the county’s 25 high schools into six regions, each with a slate of parallel academic tracks. To do this, the district would dissolve the Downcounty Consortium, a long-standing high school choice program.

Several parents have distilled their concerns into a petition; it has more than 700 signatures.

“Federal workers, in general, are so mission driven,” Frassetto said. “It was a way to channel that energy that we’re not giving to our jobs into something that we think is important and valuable.”

On Thursday, during the last school board meeting of the month, Hougham sat in the middle of the crowd, holding up a sign that read: “We see the inequity.”

She couldn’t secure one of the coveted slots for public comment, but she wrote out her thoughts in case she got to speak.

Hougham said she wanted to testify on behalf of parents “who are juggling jobs, child care and long commutes.”

A month ago, she was among them.