Wootton High School is moving. What it means for your address.

What was decided

The Board's resolution is explicit that this is a relocation, not a closure: the name, mascot, colors, staff and administrators all stay with the school. The entire attendance area moves to the Crown Farm building at once, with no grades left behind on Wootton Parkway. MCPS officials have said the current building would likely become a holding school, a place to house other schools while they are rebuilt or renovated.

The vote was one part of a wider package. The same action reopens Charles W. Woodward High School at 11211 Old Georgetown Road in Rockville, expands Northwood and Damascus high schools, and introduces a six-region model for specialised secondary programs. Superintendent Thomas Taylor recommended the plan on February 5, 2026, the Board held work sessions on March 3 and March 12, and it took final action on March 26.

Which addresses go where

Montgomery County assigns schools by address, working from elementary-school service areas. The table below is taken from the Board's adopted resolution. It shows where each area feeds once the change is fully in place; the phase-in by grade is in the next section. "Reassigned" marks a middle-school change the resolution makes without naming the previous school.

Two practical notes. First, elementary service areas have exceptions and "island" assignments, so a street-level check matters more than the neighborhood name. Second, Churchill's existing zone is otherwise unchanged; it adds the Cold Spring area and nothing else. Confirm any specific address with the MCPS Boundary Locator, and check which school year the result refers to.

The phase-in, grade by grade

• The Wootton move itself is all at once. Every grade in the Wootton attendance area is at Crown Farm from the start of 2027–28; no one stays on Wootton Parkway.
• Boundary changes phase in. Where a high-school boundary changes, grades 9 and 10 follow the new boundary in 2027–28, grades 9 through 11 in 2028–29, and all four grades in 2029–30. Students in grades 11 and 12 in 2027–28 stay at their current school.
• Cold Spring families. Grade 9 and 10 students in 2027–28 attend Churchill. Grade 11 and 12 students that year attend Wootton at Crown Farm, and so does the grade 12 class of 2028–29.
• Fields Road and the Rosemont island. Students in grades 11 and 12 who would be newly assigned to Wootton at Crown Farm may stay at their current high school.
• Middle schools. Grades 6 and 7 follow the new boundaries in 2027–28, with full implementation in 2028–29.
• Programs. Students who were in eighth grade in 2025–26, and everyone already in high school, form a "legacy cohort" and can continue their current programs until graduation under the new regional model.

What is still uncertain

The decision is being challenged. A parent group, the Community and Education Policy Alliance, made an emergency request to the Maryland State Department of Education, which was denied, and then appealed; in July 2026 the case moved to the state's Office of Administrative Hearings. Evidentiary hearings are scheduled for December 8–10, 2026. Rockville's Mayor and Council also wrote to the Board in February 2026 opposing the relocation. As of September 2026 the district's 2027–28 timeline stands and the Crown Farm building is scheduled to open for that school year, but a ruling could still change the picture. Kelly tracks the case; ask her for the current status before you rely on any of the dates above.

What it means for buyers and sellers

None of this changes what a house is. It changes a fact about the address that buyers ask about, and it changes it in a way that listing descriptions written before March 2026 may not reflect.

• Verify by address, not by listing copy. A listing that says "Wootton cluster" is describing a school that moves; a listing that says "Cold Spring" is describing an area that switches to Churchill. Kelly checks the elementary service area for the specific house before anything goes in writing.
• Think in school years, not calendar years. A child entering ninth grade in August 2027 lands under the new map; a rising junior that year does not. Closing dates around the start of 2027–28 matter.
• The commute changes direction. Wootton Parkway sits on the Potomac side of Rockville. Fields Road is on the north side of Gaithersburg beside the Crown and Rio developments, across I-270 from much of the current zone.
• The old campus is likely to stay in use. MCPS officials have said the Wootton Parkway building would likely become a holding school, so the building and its traffic patterns would continue rather than going quiet.
• Sellers: date the school line. An accurate, dated statement of the assignment in the listing avoids a renegotiation later. Kelly writes it from the resolution, not from memory.
• North Bethesda is a separate story. The same package reopens Woodward High School on Old Georgetown Road, which affects the Walter Johnson area rather than Wootton or Churchill. See the North Bethesda guide.

This page describes school attendance boundaries and dates only. It does not compare or rate schools, and Kelly does not steer clients by school. Assignments are set by Montgomery County Public Schools and can change; confirm any address with MCPS before relying on it.

Why work with Kelly in Potomac and Rockville

Kelly Balmer is a Vice President at Compass and a partner in the Mollaan Babbington Group, with $130M+ sold and a Best-of-Zillow, 5.0-star record across 130+ client reviews. She lives in Montgomery County and has sold in the Potomac, Rockville and North Bethesda markets through this boundary study from its first options in 2025 to the March 2026 vote. If a school assignment is part of your decision, she will get the facts for the exact address rather than the neighborhood label.

Kelly Balmer
Vice President & Partner, Mollaan Babbington Group at Compass · Licensed in DC · MD · VA

Sources

• Montgomery County Board of Education, approved resolution: Relocation of Thomas S. Wootton High School and Expansion of Damascus High School, March 26, 2026 (PDF).
• Montgomery County Public Schools, Boundary Study and the Boundary Locator.
• Bethesda Magazine, vote coverage (March 26, 2026) and case update (September 3, 2026).
• Bethesda Magazine, Rockville government opposes recommendation to move Wootton High to Gaithersburg (February 17, 2026).
• Montgomery Community Media, School board votes to relocate Wootton H.S. students; parents pursue legal action.
• Cabin John Middle School PTSA, Boundary study revisions and impacts to CJMS.