The February shooting inside Thomas S. Wootton High School and an April parking-lot incident at Blake High School are now directly shaping how Montgomery County Public Schools protects its campuses, according to district leaders who opened the 2026-27 school year on Tuesday, Aug. 25.

After-action reports from both incidents flagged communication breakdowns and limited adult presence, MyMCMedia reported. In response, MCPS installed additional door sensors and upgraded security cameras districtwide. The district also restructured its safety team, eliminating the chief of security and compliance position previously held by former Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones.

Superintendent Thomas Taylor said the reorganization was meant to put principals in charge of building safety. The department is now "closer connected to the principal in the building, and that the principal is really directing the safety of the school," Taylor told Bethesda Magazine on the first day of classes.

For Wootton-cluster families, the upgrades carry particular weight. A student was shot inside the Rockville school on Feb. 9 and hospitalized in stable condition; a 16-year-old suspect was arrested nearby and charged as an adult. The after-action review that followed identified gaps the new sensors and cameras now target.

Fewer counselors, same needs

The safety investments arrive alongside deep staffing cuts. The school board eliminated more than 400 positions this summer, including social workers and mental health professionals, to close a $36 million shortfall between the district's expenses and the $3.72 billion the County Council approved for fiscal year 2027.

The timing is stark.

Taylor defended the reductions as proportional to declining enrollment. "We worked hard this summer to make sure that there aren't service gaps for our students when they come back," he said Aug. 25. "All of our kids have access to mental health supports. We haven't done a very good job in the past of advertising for our students where they can find those mental health supports. And that's going to be a change this year."

County Councilmember Will Jawando, who chairs the Education and Culture Committee, signaled the council would scrutinize the tradeoff. "We're going to be … holding some oversight hearings like the [cuts to] school-based counseling, social worker, that suite of services, what the impact's been?" Jawando said Aug. 25 at Blake High School, where first-day celebrations were held alongside School Board President Grace Rivera-Oven and Vice President Brenda Wolff.

What's different at Blake

Blake High School Principal Ahmed Adelekan said his building eliminated open lunch, added door sensors and tightened entry procedures after the April shooting. "We're trying to mitigate outside factors from entering our campus," Adelekan said. "And that way, we can deal with the students that we have, and not have to worry about anything coming from outside."

No comparable on-the-record details have emerged about Wootton-specific changes beyond the districtwide sensor and camera upgrades.

Jawando did not announce a date for the oversight hearings on counseling and social-worker cuts. Families in the Wootton and Churchill clusters can monitor the County Council's Education and Culture Committee calendar for scheduling updates.