Coming back to school, students could see signs placed along Wootton Parkway suggesting a renovation was imminent. These signs, which were later taken down, provided information on site improvement permits. “They were initially for community messages or meetings that MCPS was holding so that they could get the feedback from the community,” Business Manager Arlin Delarosa said.
Though the signs lead students to believe that the school will be renovated soon, that is not the case. ¨We are scheduled to have our [renovation] completed in 2029, years and years away,” Principal Douglas Nelson said.
Nelson confirmed that the school does indeed have a renovation plan, though it is several years away. The MCPS website shows details of renovations for every other school, including budgets. ¨You can always see where every school is within what is called the Capital Improvements budget (CIP),” Nelson said.
The renovations that our school is set for in the CIP are an entire interior and exterior renovation, bringing significant improvements to the school.
The signs outside the school suggested that a major renovation would be happening soon. This is not the case as the signs were about exterior improvements only. ¨Those signs are actually talking about what they call site improvements,” Nelson said.
The site improvements have since been abandoned and the main focus will be the major renovation set years ahead. The team working on this is looking for ways to use the budget to improve parts of the school. “It is not confirmed until it is confirmed, but maybe we will have a bathroom improvement plan, maybe we will have a plan to improve certain parts of the older parts of the building,” Nelson said.
One project that is happening actively is the weight room renovation. Over the summer fundraising occurred to upgrade and clean the weight room. “That should be completed relatively soon, we’re waiting for the parts to be delivered,” Delarosa said.
When the building is under construction, it is still unidentified where students would go during the renovation process. It depends on how the school would be renovated. “If we were to completely renovate the building, then we wouldn’t have students in the building, but there are talks about having sections of the building being worked on,” Delarosa said.
Students have been advocating for a complete school renovation because they believe that the old building, though maintained well by the staff, is not in good condition. “The school definitely needs a renovation, you can feel how old the school is in some of the hallways,” freshman Keon Gray said.
