Advocacy group to state: Order MoCo school board to reconsider decision to move Wootton High 

Appeal filed Monday argues MCPS recommendation relied on inaccurate data, didn’t follow school closure rules

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April 29, 2026 9:06 a.m.

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In another legal move against the Montgomery County school board’s vote to move Rockville’s Thomas S. Wootton High School to Gaithersburg, a coalition of parents filed an appeal Monday of the decision with the Maryland State Board of Education, the group said Tuesday in a press release. 

The alliance asks the state board to order the county school board to reconsider its decision and to do so by using “accurate data,” following required procedures and complying with state law, according to the release.  

“This decision reshapes an entire school community while bypassing the legal safeguards that exist to protect students and families,” Elisa Sukhobok, vice president of Community and Education Policy Alliance Inc., which was formed to fight the Wootton move, said in the Tuesday statement. “Decisions of this magnitude must follow the law, rely on accurate data, and be made transparently—none of which occurred here.” 

The alliance’s appeal follows the state education board’s denial of its March 31 emergency request to the Maryland Department of Education.  That filing asked for a month-long halt to the implementation of the county school board’s decision to relocate Wootton. Sukhobok told Bethesda Today on Tuesday that the denial was based on the timing, as the boundary changes wouldn’t take effect until fall 2027 so an immediate intervention wasn’t needed.  

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In an email to Bethesda Today, MCPS spokesperson Liliana López  said the district was withholding comment on the appeal until they had an opportunity to review the filing.  

The county school board voted 7-1 on March 26 to create new school attendance zones and switch to a regional programming model for high schools – two moves that will result in sweeping changes for the district.  

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Superintendent Thomas Taylor’s recommendation for the two moves was the culmination of the district’s two boundary studies required for the upcoming openings of Charles W. Woodward High School in Rockville and Crown High School in Gaithersburg and an analysis of high school programming. Board member Julie Yang, who is running for a County Council District 1 seat, opposed the decision.  

The county school board’s decision requires Wootton’s staff and students to move to the upcoming Crown High School building. Following the move, the Wootton building would likely be turned into a holding school, according to MCPS officials. The programming and attendance zone revisions are set to go into effect for the 2027-2028 school year. 

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The alliance’s appeal argues the county school board’s decision was “arbitrary, unreasonable and illegal,” according to the group’s press release. In addition, the alliance says the decision was based on faulty enrollment data, ignores the district’s  school closure rules and doesn’t include proper approval from the state  to change the intended use of Crown High – for which the district received state funding for its construction.  

While MCPS has stated that the decision to move Wootton doesn’t amount to a school closure and that its data is accurate, the alliance and other community groups have argued otherwise.   

According to Monday’s filing, the alliance is challenging the logic behind what constitutes a school closure, arguing that “there is no authority that maintaining a name, mascot, or colors makes a new school identical to a prior one.” 

The filing also argues that the board used improper vote structure by combining multiple distinct decisions – concerning the boundary studies and the programming changes — into a single vote and that the plan to move Wootton was never properly vetted or authorized with the boundary study process.  

“This appeal is a critical step to hold MCPS accountable and ensure a transparent process, reliable data, and meaningful community engagement in decisions that will shape Montgomery County families for years to come,” alliance board member Claire Matta said in the Tuesday statement.  

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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine