Attorneys for a group of local parents have filed an emergency request with the state superintendent to pause a plan that is set to move Rockville’s Wootton High School body to the new Crown High in Gaithersburg.
The request seeks a 60-day stay so the State Department of Education can review “serious legal and procedural deficiencies,” per a release from the group of parents, who want Wootton to keep its current location. They filed March 31, the week after the school board’s 7-1 decision to move the school body.
The parents retained the Baltimore-based law firm Silverman Thompson to back them up in their legal fight around claims of procedural issues from Montgomery County Public Schools.
According to the release, the filing claims that “MCPS cannot bypass school closure requirements by calling it a ‘relocation'” because the plan constitutes “a de facto closure under Maryland law.” The filing alleges that the school system did not follow the required process for a closure.
“You can’t call it a ‘relocation’ if the original school is effectively shut down,” said Wootton Cluster Parent Elisa Sukhobok on behalf of the Community and Education Policy Alliance (CEPA), which is the coalition of parents fighting to keep Wootton on Wootton Parkway.
“Labels don’t change what this is—and they don’t change the legal requirements MCPS is obligated to follow,” Sukhobok stated.
The filing claims issues including failure to follow legally-required procedures for closing a school, concerns over flawed/misleading data and risk of irreversible harm to students and families.
If the 60-day halt is not granted, parents are prepared to pursue other appeals through administrative and judicial means.
The move to Crown High is set to take effect in fall 2027.
