Parents Say Wootton Move Feels Like Closure

Montgomery County’s school board voted 7-1 on March 26 to move Thomas S. Wootton High School from Rockville into the new Crown High building in Gaithersburg. (bethesdamagazine.com) The plan is tied to the district’s boundary study and will take effect in the 2027-2028 school year, when Montgomery County Public Schools says Crown High is set to open. Board member Julie Yang cast the lone “no” vote. (bethesdamagazine.com) (montgomeryschoolsmd.org) Under the approved option, Wootton’s student body would move to the Crown campus in the Crown area of Gaithersburg, while the current Wootton building in Rockville would likely become a temporary “holding school” for other schools during renovations. (bethesdamagazine.com) (dcnewsnow.com) Parents who oppose the move say the school is more than a building. At a December 2025 meeting, Wootton alum Robert Roudik said many families had chosen nearby homes so their children could walk to the school. (nbcwashington.com) The dispute grew out of a facilities problem and a capacity problem at the same time. NBC4 reported in December that Wootton, built in 1970, has needed major work for years, while MCPS has said the Crown boundary study is meant to prepare for a new high school opening in 2027. (nbcwashington.com) (montgomeryschoolsmd.org) MCPS has framed the decision as part of broader districtwide changes. The March 26 vote also approved new attendance zones and a regional programming model that officials said would spread access to sought-after high school programs beyond a few campuses. (bethesdamagazine.com) (nbcwashington.com) Some parents support the relocation because it would put students in a new building sooner than a rebuild at Wootton. NBC4 quoted parent Jessica Lee saying she did not want to pass up a “brand new, state-of-the-art high school” for her children. (nbcwashington.com) Opponents have kept fighting after the vote. A coalition called the Community and Education Policy Alliance filed an emergency request with the Maryland Department of Education on March 31 seeking to pause the move while the state reviews whether MCPS followed the right procedures. (bethesdamagazine.com) MCPS spokesperson Liliana Lopez told Bethesda Today on April 14 that the district had not yet received the emergency filing from the state and would reserve comment until it could review it. (bethesdamagazine.com) For families who spent months treating Wootton as a neighborhood anchor, the board’s March vote turned a boundary study into something that feels final: the school name stays, but the campus shifts from Rockville to Gaithersburg in 2027. (bethesdamagazine.com) (nbcwashington.com)