This story, originally published at 11:38 a.m. Nov. 7, 2024, was updated at 2:03 p.m. to include more information about the major capital projects.
Jillian Sidel, an eighth grader at Eastern Middle School in Silver Spring, says she has loved her time at the school, but told the Montgomery County school board Wednesday night that she feels discouraged when she enters the building.
“After three years at Eastern, I have been exposed to countless issues regarding the structural integrity of our building as well as health risks and liabilities,” Jillian told the Montgomery County school board Wednesday night.
Jillian was one of dozens of students and parents who urged the board to address issues plaguing school buildings, including flooding due to a leaking roof, moldy ceiling tiles and lack of accessibility during Wednesday’s public hearing in the district’s Rockville headquarters. The hearing focused on proposed amendments to the 2025-2030 Capital Improvement Plan for Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS).
The session marked the board’s second hearing on the proposed amendments and echoed MCPS community concerns about aging school facilities that were raised during the first hearing on Monday.
Eastern Middle School
Several Eastern students shared their concerns about their school. Built in 1951 and renovated in 1976, the school at 300 University Bld. East is home to the Humanities and Communication Magnet program.
Jillian told the board that classrooms within the building have broken windows, and said she avoids using the water fountains due to the “contaminated, pigmented water.” Other students said they’ve experienced gas leaks, malfunctioning heating and air-conditioning that results in both high and low temperatures in classrooms, and regular flooding within the counseling office and gymnasium.
“Rebuilding Eastern is about more than crumbling architecture. It is about educational inequity,” Jillian said. “Eastern students cannot receive the education we deserve because of the impacts of our current building environment.”
Amy Fitzgibbons, vice president of Eastern PTSA, asked the board to recommend allocating planning funding and a feasibility study, noting the school intends to apply for an acceleration of a proposed major capital project. Eastern Middle is expecting to undergo large-scale renovations. In 2023, former Superintendent Monifa McKnight put forward a CIP that listed Eastern’s renovation completion date as August 2028. In the approved CIP, the completion date was ultimately pushed back to “TBD” due to fiscal constraints.
Fitzgibbons noted the County Council has maintained the project is a “high priority” since the delay, pointing out the school has received similar reassurances in the past with no action.
“Eastern requires a building that enhances the exceptional programming the school provides such as updated classrooms, multi-use outdoor spaces, and an updated gym and performance spaces,” Fitzgibbons said.
Thomas S. Wootton High School
Dozens of community members representing Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville and schools in the Wootton cluster attended Wednesday night’s session, pushing the board to fix issues in the school such as broken bathrooms and a poorly functioning HVAC system.
Wootton senior Yana Kohli said school staff must use intercoms instead of phones that automatically connect to the school’s health center, and can only share limited information due to the use of intercoms. This makes it so health staff must lug out all first aid equipment to help students and has increased wait time for the students in need, Kohli said.
Kohli also said the school’s nurses highlighted that students in wheelchairs have less access to a quick exit during emergencies due to long distances between the wheelchair accessible exits and the health room. Also, the school’s elevators are unreliable, Kohli said, expressing a complaint similar to those made during Monday’s hearing by students who attend Col. Zadok Magruder High School in Rockville.
“I question every day how we are allowed to attend a school like ours, and now I leave with you this same question,” Kohli said. “I hope that changes can be made in a timely manner not because it is a want but because it is a need.”
Sumeet Sharma, a Wootton cluster coordinator for the Montgomery County Council of PTAs, said parents understand that budget and fiscal restraints exist, but delaying planned projects doesn’t make sense because that will make the work more expensive as problems worsen. Sharma said Wootton has a 50-year-old building and hasn’t undergone a major capital improvement. The major capital project would address “various building systems and programmatic needs,” according to the CIP.
Most recently, Sharma said MCPS pushed back an August 2026 completion date for the project, which is now listed as “to be determined.”
“With all due respect, a ‘to be determined’ date is synonymous with never – it will only give license to further cuts and indefinite delays causing more harm,” Sharma said.
Members of the audience stood up holding up signs addressing Wootton’s needs whenever a community member testified about issues facing schools within the Wootton cluster.
Cold Spring Elementary School
While no students from Cold Spring Elementary School in Potomac testified, several parents and PTSA leaders shared concerns about the open-concept layout of the building, a leaking roof and an outdated HVAC system.
Multiple parents, including Norean Qadir, one of the vice presidents of the Cold Spring PTSA, said they were concerned about the possibility of a shooting occurring within the school, especially because of its open layout, where classrooms aren’t separated by walls.
“We need a school that prioritizes safety — new walls, secure doors, new HVAC, and whatever else is necessary to protect our children,” Qadir said. “It may not mean an entirely new building, but at the very least, we need an immediate, thorough assessment of Cold Spring to identify what needs to be done.”
Sara Mandelbaum, another Cold Spring parent, said the layout also leads to distractions, noise and a lack of privacy, negatively impacting students’ learning.
PTSA President Marisa Marinos also highlighted the need to remove an old, rusty cargo container that students hide behind or try to climb on from the playground. Marinos said the PTSA has requested removal of the container, but the completion date of the removal keeps being pushed back.
“Our children somehow are thriving even with physical, environmental, health distractions,” Marinos said. “Imagine how high they can soar if we meet them with the minimally-required health and safety standards of clean water, clean air, clean carpets, doors that lock, temperate heat, and four walls to hug them close.”
