The Crown High School in Gathersburg under construction.

by Owen Smith ‘27

In MCPS, change often can’t come without controversy. With Crown High School slated to open for the 2027-2028 school year, the school district came up with eight different boundary studies to determine which cluster areas will go to the brand new building. Heated conflict and backlash quickly emerged after an option proposed Crown becoming the permanent location for Wootton and its students, rather than a new high school that pulls students from overcrowding nearby high schools such as Gaithersburg.

At a Board of Education meeting in early February, Superintendent Thomas Taylor recommended the closure of the Wootton building and expressed his desire to go through with the option that moves Wootton’s students permanently to Crown school building, a 4.1 mile distance from the current site of Wootton.

Documents created by the MCPS Board of Education (BOE) and released on boarddocs.com displayed Taylor’s reasons for his recommendation, citing concerns about the current building for Wootton and the lack of a dedicated holding facility in MCPS for when schools are closed for major construction projects and renovations. Taylor plans to repurpose the old Wootton building to the “Rockville Holding School” while the new Crown school will be renamed as Wootton High School.

Many Wootton parents are furious with the pending decision. The Wootton PTSA issued a statement that attacks the effects of option H, stating the county is prioritizing operational convenience rather than educational stability, along with broken promises within the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) for renovations for the existing Wootton building. The PTSA statement also noted a lack of community engagement with the proposal, and how it was added on very late in the boundary study process.

In January, Wootton parents protested the study at MCPS headquarters during a meeting of the BOE. Parents held up signs such as “Keep Wootton in Rockville,” and “Save Wootton,” referring to Crown’s location in Gaithersburg and the threat of a top three school in the state being closed. BOE members will determine an official verdict on the matter on March 26 in a decision that is bound to ruffle feathers within the county.

According to its website, the MCPS board has lettered the boundaries studies A-H, with A-D and G aiming to gradually lower attendance at overpopulated schools and increase attendance at underpopulated schools. Studies E-F focus on making Crown a holding school for other schools that are being renovated. These proposals are a bit inconsistent with attendance zones, with some overcrowded schools losing population while other schools like Gaithersburg and Churchill would remain above 100 percent of its facility use.

Sometime in February the interface of the MCPS boundary study page changed so that only Taylor’s recommendation is visible to the user. The indications are that MCPS has decided what it wants to do with the Crown building and that the March 26 BOE vote might be a formality.