February 27, 2026

Bethesda Today

By Ashlyn Campbell

Montgomery County Public Schools’ (MCPS) recommendations for school boundaries and programming changes continue to draw concern, with dozens of community members gathering virtually and in person earlier this week to share their perspectives with the county school board ahead of its March vote on the proposals.

“Why do so many of us continue to feel that MCPS makes decisions behind closed doors rather than an open process,” Rodney Peele, the Montgomery County Council of PTAs cluster coordinator for Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville, told the board during a virtual hearing Monday. “We need leadership, not dictates from on high. We need engagement, not check-the-box-exercises. We need transparency, not propaganda. We need accountability from the BOE, not a rubber stamp.”

Peele spoke during one of two hearings held Monday and Tuesday on MCPS Superintendent Thomas Taylor’s recommendation that the school board permanently move Rockville’s Thomas S. Wootton High School into the upcoming Crown High in Gaithersburg and shift boundary lines for schools surrounding the new Charles W. Woodward High School in Rockville – choosing a modified version of option H and option B.

Taylor’s recommendation moved two ongoing controversial initiatives — the district’s boundary studies and programming analysis — another step closer to completion. The boundary studies were initiated to determine the attendance zones for Woodward High at 11211 Old Georgetown Road and the upcoming Crown High at 9410 Fields Road. Construction of both schools is expected to be completed by the 2027-2028 school year. The studies will also determine the attendance zone for Damascus High at 25921 Ridge Road, which is set to be expanded by 2031, according to MCPS staff.

The board is set to make a decision on boundaries and a proposal to adopt a regional model for high school programming on March 26, according to its meeting calendar.

Some in the Wootton community continue to oppose the boundary option that would affect the school, including City of Rockville Mayor Monique Ashton and County Councilmember Adam Van Grack, alongside parent advocates.

“Relocating Wootton to Crown eliminates a comprehensive high school in the Rockville-Gaithersburg growth corridor,” Brian Rabin, president of Wootton High’s Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA), told the school board at Monday’s virtual hearing. “[Board policy] requires clarity, public understanding, and meaningful engagement when a school’s future is on the line. Instead, this recommendation reframes closure as ‘relocation’ to avoid the scrutiny and community process that [board policy] demands.

Others who have spoken publicly about their opposition include state Sen. Cheryl Kagan (D-17), who noted during a Feb. 17 Senate Education, Energy, and the Environment (EEE) Committee meeting in Annapolis that Taylor’s recommendation was based on “bad data,” according to a video of the meeting. However, state officials do not play a role in the district’s boundary decisions.