Editor’s note: This story, originally published at 5:49 p.m. Dec. 9, 2024, was updated at 9:26 a.m. Dec. 11, 2024, to include information about the interim principal chosen for Wootton High.
Thomas S. Wootton High School Principal Douglas Nelson has been placed on leave after an outcry from students and community members over a lack of substantial change when addressing anti-Black racism at the Rockville school, according to Wylea Chase, executive director of the Black and Brown Coalition for Educational Equity and Excellence.
“It’s a very small first step,” Chase said Monday. “It’s not the magic bullet; it’s the climate and the culture that needs to change.”
Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) spokesperson Liliana Lopez confirmed Nelson’s leave Monday in an email to MoCo360. News station WJLA first reported Nelson’s leave on Monday.
The leave follows an anti-Black incident that occurred on Dec. 2, as well as years of anti-Black incidents at the school, Chase said.
Lopez said she couldn’t share information on why the principal was placed on leave. Chase said she was told it was due to the anti-Black incident that occurred Dec. 2, which served as the “breaking point” when the incident was not reported to the MCPS central office.
In the Dec. 2 incident, the N-word was written on the desk of a Black student, according to a Friday letter from Chief of Schools Peter Moran and Black Student Union leaders Teemo Taiwo and Leila Khademian. Taiwo and Khademian told MoCo360 that even though the student reported the incident in writing to the classroom teacher, the teacher didn’t report the incident and a letter wasn’t sent to the school community.
The two students said an investigation into the incident was launched after the student’s mother followed up with the school on Dec. 3. After several days with no information from the Wootton administration, Taiwo, Khademian said they and other students sent a letter Thursday to the administration and spoke at a previously scheduled pep rally Friday about the incident and advocated for change.
“It is now Thursday, December 5th, and the general student body has received nothing but radio silence,” the students’ letter said. “When swastikas are drawn on the art tables, the police are called, the superintendent gives a message, news stations give multiple reports, etc. For every instance, the principal has sent a community message on the day of the incident. Appropriate action cannot only be taken for white and white-adjacent groups.”
According to the two students, a community letter concerning the incident wasn’t sent until Friday. In the letter, Moran said the delay in reporting the incident caused further harm to Black students, staff and community members.
According to a letter sent to the Wootton community Tuesday from Moran, Joseph Bostic, the current principal intern at Northwood High School, will serve as the acting principal while Nelson is on leave.
An inadequate response
The students said this isn’t the first, second or even third time anti-Black incidents have drawn what they consider to be an inadequate response at Wootton. Michael Williams, a social studies teacher at Rockville High School and co-county coordinator of the Minority Scholars Program, said there’s been a pattern of anti-Black racist incidents that have occurred over the past two years at Wootton.
“There’s actually been a few incidences that have already occurred this year, so it’s very infuriating and demoralizing to see this pattern continue,” Williams told MoCo360 on Sunday.
In May, there was a delay in reporting an incident in which the N-word was printed 1,000 times at Wootton, and other anti-Black incidents have occurred as well, Taiwo and Khademian said. Taiwo said Black student leaders have been trying to find solutions to the issues since February 2023.
According to the student letter sent to MCPS leaders, the students sent an action plan in 2023 to Nelson and the Wootton administration to reform Wootton’s “cultural and societal environment.” That led to discussions with Nelson and other leaders, but “nothing significant came of this discussion,” the letter stated. Taiwo and Khademian also said they’ve testified in front of the school board and several schools held anti-racist rallies in October. Two students also addressed the issues at Wootton at the Black and Brown Coalition’s townhall with Superintendent Thomas Taylor in October.
“This is an issue that we’ve been working on long before the printer incident in May,” Taiwo said Sunday. “It feels very frustrating [incidents keep occurring] because it seems like we’ve gone through every avenue, and it reaches a certain point where we don’t know what else there’s to do.”
According to a second letter from Taylor and Moran sent Sunday to the Wootton community, the investigation into the incident will be finalized Monday, and the student or students responsible will face consequences.
“As districtwide school leaders, the response was not up to our expectations, and we need to do better,” the letter stated. “To be clear, this moment demands reflection, action and commitment to change, and we are determined to see this process through with support from central services and a shared commitment to lasting transformation.”
According to Taylor and Moran’s letter, the district is providing on-site mental health support for students, Wootton staff will undergo training to “enhance [the district’s] response to hate and bias incidents” and planning is underway for a community dialogue session.
“We recognize that our response to this incident harmed many of you, and we look forward to this upcoming discussion,” Taylor and Moran’s letter said. “We deeply appreciate the voices of our Black students and the community, who have shared their concerns and expectations and offered thoughtful strategies to combat racism and foster progress.”