Thomas S. Wootton High School rising senior Urielle Ngako says trying to fight anti-Black racism that she and other members of the Black Student Union (BSU) experienced in their Rockville school often felt like being buffeted by a hot wind as soon as they walked through the doors.
So, after several anti-Black incidents, followed by rallies organized by students and meetings with administrators over the past several years, Ngako captured the students’ experiences in a short film shown Monday night at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in downtown Silver Spring.
“What inspired me was seeing how frustrated all of us on BSU leadership were,” Ngako told Bethesda Today at Monday night’s screening. “It was just so heavy on our shoulders and going to class and everyone just acting like everything was fine, and it really was not. … And I needed to bring that to the forefront.”
About 50 people attended the screening of Ngako’s 11-minute film, titled #StudentsInYourFields. A panel of members of the Wootton BSU, a student group focused on unifying Black students at the school, highlighted the burden students faced while addressing what they considered to be racism occurring at Wootton.
The screening and panel discussion, along with a June 12 press conference organized by local activists, were among activities during the 2024-2025 school year that highlighted concerns among Black students, parents and community members over what they say is a lack of action by Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) on addressing anti-Black racism and racial inequity in district schools despite years of advocacy.
According to Michael Williams, a Rockville High School social studies teacher and president of the Minority Scholars Program who has worked with Wootton BSU students, Wootton has seen some progress in the speed and seriousness in which racism is addressed, particularly thanks to the new acting principal, Joseph Bostic, who took over for Principal Douglas Nelson when he was placed on leave in December. Still, some families are calling out the district for what they say is mistreatment of Black students and a failure to address their complaints at other schools, according to activists.
“We don’t need another study. We don’t need any more data,” Tiffany Kelly, co-chair of Montgomery County’s Anti-Hate Task Force’s Black Cohort, said during the June 12 press conference at the County Council office building in Rockville that she and some local activist groups organized. “We got it. We got the stories. We got everything. The only thing we don’t have is action.”
In February, MCPS officials said anti-racism action plans resulting from a 2022 anti-racism audit would be included in the district’s 2026-2030 strategic plan. That plan was adopted by the county school board on June 10.
In a statement to Bethesda Today about MCPS’s efforts to address anti-Black incidents, MCPS spokesperson Liliana López said the district is “committed to racial equity and ensuring all students receive the education they need.”
“This commitment is reflected in our policies, regulations, guidelines and strategic plan, all designed to remove barriers and foster success for all our students,” López said.
Racism at Wootton
In her film, Ngako documents several high-profile racist incidents that have occurred at Wootton over the past several years.
In 2024 alone, the N-word was printed 1,000 times at Wootton in May, and there was a delay in the investigation into the incident. In December 2024, the N-word was written on the desk of a Black student. Although that incident was reported to a teacher, student leaders said the teacher didn’t report the incident to school leadership and administrators didn’t send a letter to the school community about it. Nelson was placed on leave in December following the desk incident. Bostic, who was serving as a principal intern at Northwood High School, is Wootton’s acting principal. Bethesda Today did not receive a response to a Thursday email to MCPS requesting an update on whether Bostic will remain in the post for the 2025-2026 school year.
Though these incidents were made public, Wootton BSU leaders noted in Ngako’s film and during the panel discussion that other anti-Black incidents have occurred at the school over the years that haven’t been publicized, such as Black students being called racial slurs.
Administrators would hold meetings with students following such incidents, but not follow up with action, leading to stagnation in addressing anti-Black incidents, BSU treasurer and rising junior Israel Peterson said during Monday night’s panel discussion.
“How our current administration, past administration, has addressed these issues that we presented [to] them, it’s not only inadequate, it’s not only lackluster, it’s literally like they don’t care,” Peterson said.
Wylea Chase, executive director of the Black and Brown Coalition, a local group focused on addressing systemic barriers for Black and Brown students, said it feels as if many MCPS administrators don’t care, but she knows there are staff in the school district who do.
“But they’re not the ultimate decision makers,” Chase said. “We need to get past rhetoric in a way that will positively impact our students.”
Many of the students who appear in Ngako’s film and who participated in the panel discussion shared how difficult it is to balance being a student while combating racism.
Wootton rising senior and BSU Vice President Charlie Rollins told Bethesda Today there’s much more that can be done to address racial equity at Wootton and in schools across MCPS.
“I hope maybe people can bring [advocacy] to their respective schools and make that change in their schools,” Rollins said.
In December, the Wootton BSU students advocated for implementing changes including creating a system for students to report discrimination, anti-bias training for staff and direct communication with BSU leadership on changes that are being made.
Wootton rising junior Zikora Okeke, a communications officer for BSU, said she wanted MCPS to follow the students’ advice and implement the changes, so students no longer have to shoulder the burden of fighting against racism within their schools.
“I don’t want to do this anymore,” Okeke said. “You can’t expect us to … bring the logs and the screws and … still expect us to build the house.”
Activists raise concerns about treatment of Black students
Several activists and groups said at the June 12 press conference that MCPS has ignored complaints about the mistreatment of Black students and families.
The speakers included Jasmine Tyson, mother of a kindergartener in the Social Emotional Special Education Services (SESES) at Fairland Elementary School in Silver Spring. Prior to being placed in the SESES program, Tyson said her child attended Burtonsville Elementary, where his needs weren’t met. It wasn’t until his behavior became disruptive that he was moved, Tyson said.
Since then, Tyson said her son has been repeatedly “exposed to violence” and been injured by other students and sometimes staff, including being pushed off a school bus by a bus aide.
Tyson said instead of addressing her son’s needs, he was treated as a disciplinary concern, and she has felt “steamrolled” in meetings with administrators.
In an emailed statement to Bethesda Today, López said MCPS has been in “frequent communication with the student’s family,” and that due to requirements concerning student privacy, the district couldn’t share other details about the situation involving Tyson’s son.
“MCPS school staff, central services staff, including leadership have been focused on ensuring any concerns are thoroughly examined and addressed,” López said.
During the press conference, parents and community members said that Black students and parents have faced similar issues for years. In 2019, Kelly said the district called police about her son, who was 10 at the time, because he had toy money on the school bus.
Chase, of the Black and Brown Coalition, said Monday at the film screening it was “ridiculous” that Black families are still facing such issues in school.
“My oldest is 34 years old. He entered the school system when he was 8,” she said. “His question to me is, ‘Mommy, why do you keep going? Because this same thing was happening when I was in school and in fact, it seems to be getting worse.’ ”
Implementing anti-racism in schools
In February, MCPS staff told the Montgomery County Council Education and Culture Committee that the district was “back on track” to implementing systematic anti-racism changes. Previously, implementation was disrupted by major shifts in MCPS leadership during the 2023-2024 school year.
Stephanie Sheron, who was MCPS chief of strategic initiatives at the time, told the committee in February that Superintendent Thomas Taylor directed staff to use the development of the district’s 2026-2030 strategic plan to address issues identified by a 2022 anti-racist audit. The audit found that MCPS “lacks a comprehensive district-wide system” to address the dismantling of racism within the school system.
One of the goals of the district’s new 2026-2030 strategic plan is to create inclusive environments and positive climates. That includes reducing disproportionate suspension rates for Black students and students receiving special education services as well as reducing the occurrence of hate-bias and bullying incidents.
The strategic plan doesn’t include steps to accomplish those goals yet. Those will come over the summer as district leadership and school board members on the Strategic Planning Committee develop tactics for meeting the plan’s objectives, according to Taylor.
Moving forward, the Wootton BSU members said during Monday night’s panel discussion that MCPS needs to be more transparent and communicative about the changes that are being implemented to address racism within the school system.
“I feel like we can only give them a certain level of trust,” Rollins, the BSU president, said. “We can’t hope and pray that they’re going to fix all of our problems because they haven’t told us a single step that they’re going to take to do so.”
