MCPS placed Thomas S. Wootton High School Principal Douglas Nelson on administrative leave last month after finding delayed action and response to a racial slur found on a student’s desk. Northwood High School Principal intern Joseph Bostic will serve as the acting principal in Nelson’s place.
On Dec. 2, a Black student at Wootton discovered the N-word written on their desk. In an interview with MoCo360, Black Student Union leaders Teemo Taiwo and Leila Khademian said that although the student reported the incident in writing to their teacher, the teacher failed to escalate the report. The lack of immediate action delayed communication with the school and the community. The student’s mother followed up the next day, prompting an investigation.
Taiwo, Khademian, and other students sent administrators a letter Dec. 5 urging action. Administrators addressed the issue at a previously scheduled pep rally the next day, advocating for change and accountability.
The school community did not receive an official acknowledgment of the incident until Dec. 6, when Chief of School Support and Improvement Peter Moran issued a letter to Wootton.
“The delay in the reporting and response to this incident only caused further harm to the Black students, staff and community,” Moran said. “[It] left feelings of being unwelcome and unsafe, and that Wootton is not a school where they have a sense of belonging.”
Superintendent Thomas W. Taylor and Moran sent a follow-up letter on Dec. 8 outlining steps to address the situation. They detailed plans to provide mental health support, improve response protocols and promote community dialogue.
“We want to begin by stating unequivocally that discrimination and hate and bias in any form will not be tolerated in Montgomery County Public Schools,” Taylor and Moran wrote. “As district-wide school leaders, the response was not up to our expectations, and we need to do better.”
This incident marks the second significant anti-Black occurrence at Wootton in the past eight months. In May, a student printed the N-word on 1,000 sheets of paper. While Nelson had claimed the student received appropriate consequences under the MCPS Student Code of Conduct, he did not specify the actions taken.
Wootton junior Siena McCarthy criticized the administration’s handling of recent incidents, expressing frustration over the lack of meaningful action.
“I think it’s crazy that it happened again because we constantly have issues like this and the administration never handles them in the way they should,” McCarthy said. “The Black Student Union explained they have had to have many conversations with administrators about doing more and things that will stop the acts of hate, but usually nothing really happens.”
In an interview with Wootton’s student newspaper, Wootton Common Sense, Bostic said he doesn’t know how long he will be at Wootton but expressed his commitment to fostering an inclusive school environment.
“My goal is to foster a community where everyone feels valued and supported, with priorities to promote student equity and access for all,” Bostic said. “Together, we’ll build on the legacy of our school’s success and work towards even greater achievements for our entire Patriot community.”