by Nicholas Jones ‘28

Proposed plans to turn Crown High School, expected to open around the fall of 2027, into a temporary holding school were announced during a presentation featuring Chief Academic Officer Niki T. Porter and Chief of District Operations Adnan Mamoon. This comes as there are plans to bring major renovations to the aging Damascus, Wootton, and Magruder high schools. If the plans were to be finalized, students from Wootton would attend Crown. In addition to that, students who would’ve attended Crown would be sent to Gaithersburg.

The presentation noted that there has been a decline in expected enrollment, making it not immediately necessary to open the new high school. However, Gaithersburg leaders have said that their city’s population growth is being ignored. In addition to this, some of the community have pushed back, saying that their tax money wouldn’t be going towards benefiting them and their students. The community has also noted how, if the plans were approved, students would be sent to schools that were not only farther away but would also become overcrowded. Currently, there is an online petition that has more than 1,000 signatures against turning Crown into a holding school; there is also another petition that also has over 1,000 signatures that supports the new plans, with many coming from the Wootton community. A final decision for the future of the school will be made in March 202