FOX 5 DC covered yesterday's rally to Save Wootton High School, where hundreds of students, parents, and community members gathered to oppose Montgomery County Public Schools' proposal to close Wootton and move the students to Crown High School in Gaithersburg.

I spoke at the rally outside Wootton High School, and I delivered my testimony to the Montgomery County Board of Education joined by hundreds of community members. I also spoke with FOX 5 about serious concerns with the enrollment projections and long-term school capacity assumptions underlying the proposed relocation.

My central concern is that MCPS is making decisions about our schools' future without adequately accounting for the residential development and population growth already being planned throughout Rockville and the surrounding communities. If these projections underestimate future enrollment, closing Wootton as a permanent community high school could leave Montgomery County facing even greater capacity challenges in the years ahead.

As FOX 5 reported, the Rockville Mayor and Council are advocating for an alternative approach that would use Crown as a temporary holding school while aging facilities, including Wootton and Magruder, are modernized.

I continue to believe that Montgomery County needs both Wootton and Crown to meet our long-term educational needs. We should be planning for future growth, preserving valuable school capacity, and investing in our existing communities rather than permanently eliminating a high school that we may need again in the very near future.

I was encouraged to see hundreds of residents standing together, even in the snow, to advocate for their schools. Our concerns deserve careful consideration before the Board makes a decision with lasting consequences for our students and neighborhoods.

Watch the FOX 5 report: Hundreds rally to save Wootton High School, by Homa Bash, February 23, 2026.