Parents and students from schools across Montgomery County filled the seats in the most recent school board meeting to advocate for fixes and replacements to aging schools in their communities.
They were there for the school board’s expected vote on the plan to prioritize which schools get renovated, replaced or repaired in the school system’s six-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP).
In some cases, they found themselves lobbying at cross purposes.
For example, 13-year-old Rose Kahn, a seventh grader at Forest Oak Middle School, pushed to make sure that the new Crown High School, slated to open in 2027, should serve its intended Gaithersburg community rather than being used as a “holding facility” for students at other schools, like Damascus High School, while that school is replaced.
“As we’ve now been informed, the brand new school that was promised to the kids of Gaithersburg might be taken away because schools in other cities need to get fixed up. I think that this is totally unfair because the kids in Gaithersburg have waited a long time for this new school that we desperately need,” Kahn told the school board.
On the other side of the issue, Rachel Fitzpatrick, the parent of students in the Damascus area, told the board that the aging building was in need of replacement.
“Hearing that Crown High School could be used as a holding school during construction (at Damascus) was very encouraging,” Fitzpatrick said.
She said the aging building has a host of problems including some safety issues.
“During a recent fire drill, when the administration pulled the alarm, nothing happened,” Fitzpatrick said.
She explained the fire system at the school had been added onto so many times, that many of the alarm mechanisms simply don’t work.
Members of the Wooton High School community also voiced frustration that their school is not included in the list of schools in the nearly $3 billion CIP.
Brian Rabin, Wooton’s PTSA president, told the board, “Anyone who walks through Wooton High School is immediately struck by the deteriorating condition of the building. It’s not just disappointing, it’s alarming.”
Current Wooton High School senior Charlie Rollins told the board that the HVAC system at the school is failing and is so old that parts for repairs have to be custom-ordered.
“Mold is spreading throughout classrooms, hallways and locker rooms. Dead rodents have been found between our lockers, and students have been so used to seeing mold across our ceilings that it hardly surprises anyone anymore,” he said.
Superintendent Thomas Taylor’s plan also includes closing Silver Spring International Middle School — with the stated goal of turning that facility into another holding school, but Board member Laura Stewart said that was “not a done deal.”
At the start of the meeting, School Board President Julie Yang told the audience that the decisions the board has to make are not about picking “winners and losers,” that every school community matters.
“We share the same goal — doing right by our children. And that’s exactly what we intend to do,” Yang said.
The members of the school board ultimately voted in favor of adopting Superintendent Taylor’s recommended capital priorities, but Board member Karla Silvestre noted that the vote is not the end of the process — the decision about Crown High School’s use won’t be made until March.
But she told parents she understood their concerns.
“You want to advocate every step of the way, so thank you for being here,” Silvestre said.
The next step in the process includes the school board’s submission of the plan to County Executive Marc Elrich and the county council as part of their budget considerations. At that point, once the fiscal outlook becomes clearer, some of the priorities in the plans could be modified.
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