Wootton High Move Into Gaithersburg

Montgomery County’s Board of Education voted on March 26 to move Thomas S. Wootton High School from its Rockville site to the new Crown Farm campus in Gaithersburg, part of a broader rewrite of school boundaries and secondary-school programming. The board approved the plan 7-1 after Superintendent Thomas Taylor recommended it on Feb. 5 as Modified Option H in the district’s Crown/Damascus boundary study. The changes are scheduled to take effect in the 2027-2028 school year, giving families roughly a year to prepare after final implementation plans are set. Parents opposed to the move have since taken the fight to the state, and the case was referred in July to an administrative law judge. ### Why is Wootton moving to Gaithersburg instead of a new school opening under a new name? Thomas Taylor’s Feb. 5 recommendation proposed relocating Wootton to Crown Farm rather than opening Crown High School as a separate school. In the superintendent’s report, Taylor said the move would address facility issues at Wootton’s current campus, avoid the cost of operating an additional high school and allow the existing Wootton site to be used as a temporary “holding school” for other construction projects. (montgomeryschoolsmd.org) MCPS said the recommendation was also tied to updated enrollment projections and the district’s broader regional programming plan. The board’s March 26 action approved both new attendance boundaries and a new framework for regional secondary programs across the district. ### What happens to the Wootton name, students and staff? The March 26 board action requires Wootton’s students and staff to move to the Crown High School building in Gaithersburg for 2027-2028. (montgomeryschoolsmd.org) Local reporting and board documents describe the decision as moving Wootton into the upcoming Crown building, not sending students to a separately branded Crown High while Wootton remains in Rockville. (ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org) The current Wootton building on Wootton Parkway is expected to be repurposed as a holding school for other high schools during major renovations and capital projects. Taylor’s recommendation said that could help accelerate secondary construction work, including projects that require multi-phase roof or HVAC replacements. ### Which boundaries and feeder patterns are changing around Gaithersburg? (bethesdamagazine.com) The Crown/Damascus boundary study covers a wide stretch of the county, including the Winston Churchill, Clarksburg, Damascus, Gaithersburg, Richard Montgomery, Northwest, Poolesville, Quince Orchard, Seneca Valley, Watkins Mill and Wootton high school clusters. MCPS said the approved plan includes new high school and middle school boundaries, meaning feeder patterns will shift across the Gaithersburg-area network tied to the Crown Farm site. (go.boarddocs.com) Taylor’s recommendation said five of Wootton’s six current elementary-school feeders would continue to articulate to Wootton at Crown Farm. The same report said the plan would also change assignments affecting Robert Frost Middle School and other schools in the study area. ### What have parents and board members said about the decision? (go.boarddocs.com) Brenda Wolff, the board’s vice president, said before the vote that the scope of the changes had been “intense” for the community, while adding that many families were “waiting for and anticipating change.” Julie Yang cast the lone dissenting vote. Elisa Sukhobok, a Wootton cluster parent, told Montgomery Community Media after the vote, “This is not the end, this is just the beginning.” Attorney Patrick Seidel, representing opponents, said the group had concerns about “procedural deficiencies, inequitable impacts on students and families, and potential violations of State and Federal law.” MCPS said the approved recommendations addressed outdated assignment patterns, made better use of facilities and reflected months of community engagement. (bethesdamagazine.com) (go.boarddocs.com) ### Where does the legal challenge stand now? A coalition of parents appealed the board’s decision to the Maryland State Board of Education after the March 26 vote. Bethesda Today reported on July 21 that the case had been referred to the Maryland Office of Administrative Hearings after the state board declined to end it at a preliminary stage. The appeal argues the decision was “arbitrary, unreasonable and illegal,” according to the coalition’s statement cited by Bethesda Today. (mymcmedia.org) The group has also argued that the board relied on faulty enrollment data, bypassed school-closure rules and lacked proper state approval to change Crown High’s intended use after receiving state construction funding. ### What should families watch next? (bethesdamagazine.com) The 2027-2028 school year is the key implementation date in the board-approved plan. MCPS has directed families to its boundary-study page and March 26 board materials for adopted maps, articulation charts and updates on the Crown/Damascus changes. The Maryland Office of Administrative Hearings is the next formal venue in the dispute over Wootton’s move. (bethesdamagazine.com) Any further changes to implementation, student assignments or use of the current Wootton building are likely to emerge through that case and future MCPS board updates. (ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org)