We understand that Superintendent Taylor sent this letter out this evening (Wednesday, October 15, 2025).
Dear Sligo Creek Elementary School Community,
You have likely heard by now the news about our facilities plan, which includes an historic investment in Silver Spring schools and the Silver Spring community. An important part of this investment is the eventual move of Sligo Creek Elementary School to a new building on a new site, and the repurposing of Silver Spring International Middle School.
Any time there is a change of this magnitude, there are bound to be a lot of emotions. I know how important both Sligo Creek Elementary and SSIMS are to you and our community and I want to share some of the thinking behind this recommendation and offer some opportunities for follow up. An important truth is that for many years, your school communities have been raising concerns about the building. The building was the former Blair High School and was built 90 years ago in 1935. It is old. Twenty-six years ago, the facility's condition and size made it unsuitable to continue as Blair HS - this should have been a big red flag back then.
Since then, MCPS’s best attempts to upgrade the facility have been thwarted by unforeseen building conditions and structural issues that far exceeded projected costs. And as a consequence, projects have been cut short or simply just not done. This is completely unacceptable and I am sorry that I can’t change decisions made in the past. Presently, the building simply does not allow for the improvements that were promised to you, and I cannot in good conscience recommend the level of investment that would be required to continue operating two permanent schools there. It really has reached the end of its useful life as a permanent home for a school.
And even before this school can transition to a holding school, we know that there is still a ton of work that needs to be done.
Adding to these challenges is the Purple Line construction immediately adjacent to the school site. Though destined to be a huge community asset eventually, the Purple Line does create some real safety concerns, particularly for our many students who walk to school in what is already a very busy area. Again, I know that many in the community have raised the alarms about these conditions for several years; I am both grateful for your dedicated advocacy and sorry that it took this long for MCPS to hear you. This year’s submission of the Capital Improvements Program is my first opportunity as Superintendent to respond and start to make it right. I knew that we needed to make a meaningful investment in Silver Spring and some tough decisions to go along with that investment. None of these recommended decisions was made lightly, but all are in response to your advocacy.
I also announced that the plan says the building would become a holding school for future construction projects, so an obvious question is: if this building isn't suitable for a permanent school, why is it appropriate as a holding school? Really, the main reason is that people – staff, students, families – can manage temporary inconveniences more readily when there's a clear endpoint and a better permanent solution waiting. As I mentioned earlier, even to turn this facility into a holding school will require extensive work. I also need the building to be empty to make those improvements. Importantly, as a holding school, all students would arrive by bus rather than walking through the increasingly complex and busy streets around the Purple Line.
As a reminder, I have recommended the following:
For Sligo Creek Elementary School: We will build a brand new Sligo Creek Elementary School on a new site in the Silver Spring area. The school would open for the fall of 2029. This is an ambitious timeline and site selection would need to happen this Spring.
For Silver Spring International Middle School: We will repurpose the building as a secondary holding school and accommodate SSIMS students through other middle schools in the area, including new construction additions at Eastern Middle School and Sligo Middle School. We are planning for Silver Spring International Middle School to close in August 2030, and this means no student currently enrolled at SSIMS will be impacted by this closure.
It is also important to note that these are recommendations before the Board of Education and that this extensive investment into Silver Spring schools also requires funding by the County Council. I mention this because there is a long road ahead and this is one part of a very long, multiyear process before any of this becomes reality.
I can only imagine the questions that have arisen following our virtual meeting, and so we created this Question or Concerns Form to collect your thoughts and questions. My team and I are committed to meeting with you in person very soon, where we will answer your questions and talk more about the very real reasons that these are the right decisions for both schools. Details about this next meeting are being developed as I write this, and we'll share them when they are complete.
I know that this news was shocking to some and validating for others. I think it is really important to be clear and straightforward with you about our situation and our next steps (even if that means that you may not like some of the things I have to say). To that end, I want to be clear with you about the state of the building and the limits of what we can reasonably fix. This is about shifting our focus from struggling with a building that has defeated our best efforts to ensuring better school environments for all.
Here are our immediate next steps:
- Beginning with the Board of Education worksession on November 4, we will provide more details about the facility analysis that brought us to this decision, and the facility projects and supports we will implement for both schools;
- We will schedule in-person school community meetings;
- We will provide responses to the questions you submit in the Questions or Concerns Form; and
- As we move forward, we will continue to communicate with you regularly as we make improvements to the current building and plan for any transitions.
Again, thank you for your time in reading this really long but important message. I look forward to connecting with you very soon.
Sincerely,
Thomas W. Taylor, EdD, MBA
Superintendent of Schools
