The Mayor and Council of Rockville sent this letter late yesterday to the MCPS Board of Education and MCPS Superintendent.
The City is united in our position. All 7 of us signed the letter.
First we support a "Modified Recommendation" which would result in Wootton students attending Crown TEMPORARILY and then returning to a rebuilt/renovated school. Wootton should not be closed.
Second, we remain concerned about the other schools in Rockville and specifically about the MCPS numbers that don't match what we are seeing on the ground in terms of enrollment and potential population growth in the near future.
Third, we are concerned about walkability. There are major roads (Shady Grove, Key West/MD 28) that students would have to traverse to walk from Rockville neighborhood to get to Crown.
Finally, I can not speak for my colleagues, but I am sorely disappointed in this process and its transparency. This process has pitted city against city, neighbor against neighbor and been one not of fact and planning and community engagement but instead based on apparent back-of-the-napkin style ideas and back-room deals. Community engagement has not been received and in fact has been discarded or found "lacking in decorum."
Case in point, when the Maryland Building Industry Association (MBIA) sent a letter detailing why they recommended AGAINST Option H, there were calls for them to backtrack and withdraw the letter. Why? Because it wasn't factual? Because a group that looks at building conditions across the state shouldn't weigh in on potential items affecting locations? Or... was it because it complicated the path and contradicted their narrative?
We can disagree reasonably but these tactics make it hard.
I think closing Wootton would be a mistake for MCPS, for the County, for Rockville, Gaithersburg and all the parents and students who will be affected by this short-sighted, non-fact-based decision.
Read the letter (attached) which lays out the arguments against closing Wootton and for a "Modified Recommendation."