On Oct. 27, Thomas S. Wootton High School, an MCPS school that is one of WCHS’ biggest inter-county rivals, posted an infographic on their Student Government Association’s Instagram account, @woottonsga, highlighting severe facility concerns. The post featured a picture of a broken down school, accompanied with big red letters spelling “Wootton is Falling Apart.” The caption urged Wootton students and parents to share testimonies at the Montgomery County Public Schools Board of Education (MCPS BOE) office at 6 p.m. the next day. The Wootton HS Parent-Teacher-Student Association (PTSA) also launched a Change.org petition titled “Justice for Wootton,” calling for an immediate renovation. The petition had received more than 1,400 signatures as of early November.
“Wootton is not a safe environment for learning,” Wootton HS PTSA Fundraising Chair Lisa Southeimer said on the Change.org page. “Wootton has electrical issues where half the building loses power at a time, plumbing issues where outdated pipes are corroded and clogged causing backups and leaks. There is active mold where my son is no longer allowed to keep his football gear in the JV locker room because it comes home reeking of mold and my [severely allergic] husband’s throat closes every Friday when it’s time to wash practice jerseys. The nonworking lab vents in a STEM-tracked school are honestly negligent at this point. And last but not least, [the school] is not compliant [with] the American with Disabilities Act, making it impossible for students to get to their classes without assistance.”
Despite the unhealthy and unaccommodating environment at Wootton HS, the school continues to be ranked highly in terms of its academic standings. U.S. News & World Report currently ranks Wootton the No. 3 high school in Maryland and No. 191 nationally. Yet, when families come to tour Wootton, they do not see those rankings reflected in the dirt and mold on the ceilings and floors.
“As leaders boast of Wootton’s accolades, the families that currently attend Wootton are embarrassed,” Southemier said. “We are embarrassed of our school building and offended that we are constantly pushed farther and farther down, and now completely off of the Capital Improvement Plan. Our students give their all every single day and make Wootton look good. It’s time for Wootton to repay the favor. It’s time for MCPS and the Board of Education to step up and give Wootton the attention it deserves and has earned.”
This call to action has arrived as Wootton is ranked one of the lowest schools in MCPS in terms of infrastructure and landscaping, with the school not having been renovated since 1970. Meanwhile, MCPS is currently investing hundreds of millions of dollars into large-scale projects such as the reopening of Charles W. Woodward High School in Rockville and the construction of Crown High School in Gaithersburg. On Oct. 6, the BOE proposed for Crown High School to be used as a holding school while Wootton is rebuilt, a proposal that has gained mixed reactions.
“If MCPS makes Crown HS a holding school before filling it with its new student population, they can knock out all the renovations in no time,” Southemier said. “And it won’t cost any extra money! Wootton HS can be temporarily held there, Col. Zadok Magruder High School can be temporarily held there, and even Damascus High School can be temporarily held there, so it’s safer for those students and staff than remaining on their property during construction. My suggestion is to put a pin in the boundary analysis that is happening concurrently and put those funds into fixing our schools. Crown HS may be the answer to all of our problems!”
MCPS Superintendent Thomas Taylor announced the proposal for Crown HS to be used as a holding school as a result of the decreased enrollment in Wottoon HS, Damascus HS and Magruder HS because of the lack of proper facilities. However, some parents and students in the MCPS community have already petitioned for the $180 million school to not be turned into a holding school and instead be used as an entirely new high school to address overcrowding in local high schools.
“If there is an actual problem like overcrowding in Gaithersburg High School and Quince Orchard High School, then Crown should be used to address that,” WCHS parent Kari Fantasia said. “This redistricting process has caused a lot of MCPS parents, including myself, stress and anxiety over what could happen to our kids. I was worried that my son would have to go to Wootton instead of WCHS due to the location of our house. Even in my community, there have been signs stating ‘Keep Potomac Elementary Kids at Churchill.’”
Although the redistricting and boundary study process is still ongoing, MCPS parents have gotten increasingly vocal about their positions, with social media and BOE meetings being leveraged to express those opinions. For the time being, it is still unknown if Wootton is going to be renovated in the upcoming years, but Crown is planned to open operationally in the 2027-2028 school year alongside the reopening of Charles W. Woodward High School.
“This boundary study and the new proposals for possible renovations for Wootton High School have shown the lack of overall planning that the MCPS BOE has taken,” Fantasia said. “The MCPS BOE has always had trouble managing their budget, as shown when they lost money over the failed purchase of the electric buses. It is hard for MCPS parents to deal with this, when we move to MCPS for the school system and to provide our kids with the best education and school environment possible.”
