Community members urge Montgomery County leadership to rebuild Wootton High School
Students, parents push for Wooten High School to be rebuilt
Community members are urging Montgomery County officials to rebuild Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville. The renewed request comes ahead of an important vote scheduled for later this week.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. - Community members are urging Montgomery County officials to rebuild Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville. The renewed request comes ahead of an important vote scheduled for later this week.
What we know:
Thursday, the Montgomery County Board of Education is expected to vote on the fiscal years 2027-2032 Capital Improvements Program. As part of that, the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) superintendent has recommended major projects at some schools, but as it stands now, the work that many parents and students want at Wootton is not on the list.
As a result, students led a tour of the school on Tuesday evening in an attempt to change some minds, calling attention to – among other things – what they call deplorable conditions and health hazards. Those include plumbing and HVAC issues, an electrical system that they said has led to power outages, occasionally backed-up toilets, rodents, and also mold and mildew.
Organizers of the tour added that one way of making a Wootton rebuild work would be to use the new Crown High School in Gaithersburg as a holding school.
What they're saying:
"Our school needs renovations, and we need support from our community to reach that goal," Senior Class President Mia Coven told Fox 5.
"There’s just a lot of problems that limit our learning at school," added Student Government Association Co-President Ryan Shin.
Students weren't the only ones speaking out.
"We’re saying we need to be rebuilt now," explained Wootton PTSA President Brian Rabin. "We need a solution. We need MCPS to come up with a plan."
City of Rockville Councilmember Adam Van Grack also weighed in, saying, "the students and the neighbors and the community are fed up because every year that goes by that Wootton isn’t renovated and there isn’t a rebuild, it gets worse and worse."
Fox 5 reached out to the MCPS Department of Communications for comment, but officials did not respond.
What's next:
The Montgomery County Board of Education is expected to vote on the 2027-2032 Capital Improvements Program Thursday, although officials said it is likely that further changes will be made to the plan, even after the vote.