1 00:00:00,324 --> 00:00:02,926 On the corner of Cavanaugh Drive and Shady Grove Road 2 00:00:02,972 --> 00:00:05,148 in Rockville, there's a sign. 3 00:00:05,194 --> 00:00:08,296 It says: School Site for Future Growth. 4 00:00:08,343 --> 00:00:11,389 Property of Board of Education, Montgomery County. 5 00:00:14,167 --> 00:00:17,176 In the late 1980s, the County let developers build 6 00:00:17,222 --> 00:00:20,731 about 1,300 homes here, on conditions. 7 00:00:20,778 --> 00:00:24,398 One of them: a 12-acre site for an elementary school. 8 00:00:24,815 --> 00:00:28,009 In 1990, the Board of Education voted unanimously 9 00:00:28,056 --> 00:00:29,417 to accept that site. 10 00:00:29,463 --> 00:00:31,565 The resolution's title: 11 00:00:31,611 --> 00:00:33,750 Acceptance of Site Dedication for Future 12 00:00:33,796 --> 00:00:36,102 Piney Meetinghouse Elementary School. 13 00:00:36,444 --> 00:00:39,435 And the Planning Board made it a condition of approval. 14 00:00:39,481 --> 00:00:41,787 In its 1993 opinion: 15 00:00:41,833 --> 00:00:44,620 Condition 12: a minimum 12-acre site 16 00:00:44,667 --> 00:00:46,157 for elementary school. 17 00:00:46,204 --> 00:00:47,546 That wasn't a footnote. 18 00:00:47,593 --> 00:00:49,991 It was the Planning Board's own condition. 19 00:00:50,824 --> 00:00:53,333 The 1995 plat marks the parcel: 20 00:00:53,380 --> 00:00:56,407 to be conveyed to Montgomery County Board of Education. 21 00:00:56,454 --> 00:00:58,537 And the plat's own notes say 22 00:00:58,583 --> 00:01:01,185 the Planning Board's conditions are intended to survive, 23 00:01:01,231 --> 00:01:03,556 and not to be extinguished. 24 00:01:04,102 --> 00:01:08,315 And in 1996, the developers deeded the land to the Board. 25 00:01:08,361 --> 00:01:10,093 In the deed's own words: 26 00:01:10,139 --> 00:01:12,778 no actual consideration being paid. 27 00:01:12,824 --> 00:01:14,148 The land was free. 28 00:01:14,907 --> 00:01:17,972 Four public records. One promise. 29 00:01:18,019 --> 00:01:21,250 The Board of Education accepted it, unanimously. 30 00:01:21,296 --> 00:01:23,231 The Planning Board required it. 31 00:01:23,278 --> 00:01:25,713 The plat says it was meant to survive. 32 00:01:25,759 --> 00:01:28,528 And the deed delivered the land, for free. 33 00:01:29,417 --> 00:01:32,907 For nearly 30 years, the land sat untouched, 34 00:01:32,954 --> 00:01:35,889 set aside for a school, just as the sign says. 35 00:01:35,935 --> 00:01:40,889 Then, in October 2025, despite all of that history, 36 00:01:40,935 --> 00:01:43,907 one line in the school system's proposed six-year plan 37 00:01:43,954 --> 00:01:45,944 listed a new use for it: 38 00:01:45,991 --> 00:01:46,981 a bus depot. 39 00:01:47,550 --> 00:01:49,356 No one told the neighbors. 40 00:01:49,402 --> 00:01:51,078 They found out from the superintendent's 41 00:01:51,124 --> 00:01:55,152 budget presentation, after the budget hearings were over. 42 00:01:55,198 --> 00:01:57,596 MCPS confirms it has not conducted 43 00:01:57,643 --> 00:02:00,226 site-specific community engagement. 44 00:02:00,272 --> 00:02:02,356 So neighbors started telling each other, 45 00:02:02,402 --> 00:02:04,652 and writing to the Board of Education. 46 00:02:05,670 --> 00:02:07,994 This is the choice in front of the Board. 47 00:02:08,041 --> 00:02:09,291 12 acres of forest, 48 00:02:09,337 --> 00:02:12,994 or a depot for hundreds of school buses. 49 00:02:14,263 --> 00:02:16,717 The site sits inside a Special Protection Area 50 00:02:16,763 --> 00:02:20,291 and a State-designated Priority Urban Forest. 51 00:02:20,337 --> 00:02:24,069 Across the street are homes, a pool, and a playground. 52 00:02:24,115 --> 00:02:26,698 And seven streets have just one way out. 53 00:02:27,152 --> 00:02:29,365 MCPS needs a bus depot. 54 00:02:29,411 --> 00:02:32,291 It belongs on commercial or light industrial land. 55 00:02:32,337 --> 00:02:34,439 Not on a promised school site, 56 00:02:34,485 --> 00:02:37,143 surrounded by about 1,300 homes. 57 00:02:37,685 --> 00:02:39,824 So this vote is about more than buses. 58 00:02:39,870 --> 00:02:43,824 The Board of Education accepted this land as a school site. 59 00:02:43,870 --> 00:02:46,046 The same Board now decides whether a promise, 60 00:02:46,093 --> 00:02:48,102 made in writing by public officials, 61 00:02:48,148 --> 00:02:50,731 still counts 30 years later. 62 00:02:51,312 --> 00:02:53,951 More than 1,500 people have signed a petition. 63 00:02:53,997 --> 00:02:56,803 The Potomac Glen and Willows of Potomac 64 00:02:56,849 --> 00:02:59,229 community associations have asked the Board 65 00:02:59,275 --> 00:03:00,895 to remove the site. 66 00:03:00,942 --> 00:03:05,624 The Board of Education votes November 19. 67 00:03:04,031 --> 00:03:05,669 The ask is simple. 68 00:03:05,716 --> 00:03:07,947 Remove Wootton Elementary School Site 7 69 00:03:07,994 --> 00:03:09,706 from the capital plan. 70 00:03:09,753 --> 00:03:10,762 Keep the promise. 71 00:03:11,893 --> 00:03:13,365 The records and quotes in this video 72 00:03:13,411 --> 00:03:16,476 are all at nobusdepot.com.