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SHAKY FOUNDATIONS
Locked bathrooms, dirty floors, broken sinks, and drab, outdated paintings
are all things seen by Sherwood students every single day. Over the past few
years, it has become increasingly clear that Sherwood is a building in need of a
makeover. Despite that, action to turn Sherwood into a school that its students
and staff can be proud to learn, teach, and socialize in every day hasn’t been
taken. This is why Sherwood should create a ‘planning and action committee’
consisting of the principal, business manager, building services supervisor,
SGA members, and other engaged students to develop specific plans for improving
and maintaining Sherwood’s physical appearance. As a start to this
initiative, here are a few ideas that could transform Sherwood into the ideal
learning environment.
Sherwood Excluded from
MCPS Maintenance Budget
by Jordan Costolo ‘25
Every six years, MCPS
sets a CIP (Capital Investment
Plan) for how money
will be spent to improve
school buildings and facilities
within the county. In
the latest one spanning from
2025-2030, Sherwood is nowhere
to be found. This, along
with the increased number of
maintenance problems the
school building is experiencing,
has raised concerns about
the quality of Sherwood’s infrastructure,
and if there will
continue to be problems with
the building as time goes on.
MCPS has two different
budgets: the capital budget
and the operating budget. The
operating budget is used to
pay teachers and staff, cover
programming costs, and for
everything else that keeps
the school running. The capital
budget is used to renovate
school buildings, along with
supporting infrastructure and
improvements a school’s faculty
wants to be done. The CIP
works as the county’s plan on
how they want to spend the
capital budget. This year’s requested
capital budget, along
with the requested CIP for
2026-2030, totals $1.999 billion
dollars, which is $93.6
million more than the previous
CIP. The new superintendent
Thomas Taylor has also
asked for an additional $4.5
million to look into a backlog
of problems schools have had
with their heating and air
conditioning.
This summer, one of three
Sherwood HVAC systems
were replaced, but the other
two still seem to be in disrepair,
with maintenance people
coming frequently to fix
broken heating and cooling.
Wootton has many of the same
problems that Sherwood’s
building has, such as broken
bathrooms and malfunctioning
HVAC systems. Eastern
Middle School, Cold Spring
Elementary, and Magruder
High School are also among
the schools that are due for
maintenance, but have also
not received much help. In
an interview with MoCo360,
MCPS Board Member Julie
Yang recommended the students
and staff of Magruder,
which has had frequent problems
with mold and plumbing,
go around the school and
see what they would be able
to fix themselves to improve
their environment.
“Sherwood is in need of
a complete renovation,” said
Principal Tim Britton. “We
have a serious need for piping
and ventilation in the school
to be looked at, but unfortunately
that is difficult to get
to without tearing down parts
of this building.” Britton
stated that while the maintenance
team is coming in frequently,
and doing as much as
they can, “They [MCPS] are
putting a Band-Aid on our
maintenance problems but
taking it off before they have
enough time to fully heal.”
Britton commented that
at a recent meeting with other
principals, many of them
shared concerns with the superintendent
similar to his
own about the state of their
buildings. “It’s important to
know that we are NOT the
only school with issues.”
1 2
UTILIZE COURTYARDS THE
Whether it’s on the dirty floor or on top of used lockers, students
need a safe and healthy place to eat lunch. Sherwood has seven courtyards,
located all around the building. However, out of the seven, only
one located at the front of the main entrance is currently open to students
at lunch time. These open spaces, with their lush green scenery
and ample seating, potentially provide a perfect place to enjoy a meal
and socialize.
The idea of transforming these unused courtyards into designated
eating areas would gain traction among the students and different
clubs. By organizing regular clean ups and installing trash bins, the
school could trust students to keep these outdoor areas clean. Not only
would this help students experience a pleasant lunch but it would also
improve the school’s overall climate, reflecting a commitment of the
students environmental responsibility. Students in the spring would feel
a nice cool breeze, which adds onto the positives of opening the courtyards.
Although it’s only December, the next two months are the critical
time when Sherwood should plan what to do to get the courtyards ready
in springtime for students to access and enjoy.
SHERWOOD’S
CRUMBLING INFRASTRUCTURE
3 4
IMPLEMENT
REPLACE
CLEANING
INITIATIVES
At the beginning of each school year, Principal Tim Britton
makes an announcement asking students to do their part to keep the
school clean by discarding their trash in the garbage cans or recycling
bins. However, some students continue to not clean up after themselves.
It is not uncommon to see bits of food and wrappers on the hallway floors,
especially by the bays of lockers, after lunch. Some students also leave
food and wrappers on the bathroom sinks. Additionally, there is litter on
the grass in the student parking lot, and litter under the bleachers in the
stadium that is difficult to clean up.
Last school year, Leo Club and National Honor Society (NHS)
coordinated campus clean ups as credit opportunities. Campus clean
ups could make a return. Clubs and honor societies, like NHS, could take
turns picking up litter around the school during lunch, and offer SSL opportunities
or credit for participation. Alternatively, students could organize
a new club dedicated to cleaning up the school grounds. Instead of
clubs meeting in classrooms at lunch, some should make the rounds of
Sherwood and improve the school’s appearance.
BY RYAN GREEN ‘26
BY KATIE NG ‘25
OUTDATED
ARTWORK
When walking around Sherwood it’s difficult to miss the strange
and often bizarre artwork seen around the halls. In the upper A-hall a distinctive
mural can be found showcasing a guitar, music notes, and students
in a variety of settings–including playing basketball. Another odd
painting is located in the lower C-hall, revealing two women dancing in
ball gowns. A series of other strange paintings are scattered throughout
the school including a Black Student Union installation featuring a tree
growing into a hand with images of long-graduated BSU members in the
palm. There is also an outdated map located near the main office, and a
waterfall mural near the music room. A few more of these paintings can
be found in the Ertzman lobby, including one of a woman seemingly on a
boat wearing a long white dress and a three-frame painting representing
the arts with the first frame showing paint brushes and paint, the second
showing a woman singing, and the last one displaying theatre masks.
The artwork is shrouded in mystery with students and staff alike
often wondering why the school has yet to replace these old paintings
and murals with updated artwork reflecting the modern environment of
the school.
Perhaps the most common gripe that students have about
Sherwood’s building and facilities is the state of its bathrooms, which
frequently are unclean and smell bad. Students for years have complained
about there not being paper towels to dry their hands, and it is
not an uncommon sight to see a student shaking their hands as they exit
the bathroom to dry them. Students have also complained about items
in the bathrooms being broken, such as sinks and the Feminine Hygiene
Dispenser.
IMRPOVE THE
BATHROOMS
Having a regular cleaning schedule that includes mid-day
checkups by Building Services should be a main priority to quickly respond
to messes and to check toiletries. Along with the cleaning, a sign
for washing hands should be added to the bathrooms to promote best
practices and hygiene. In the best interest of the majority of students,
replacing the air dryers with paper towels can help reduce the spread of
germs and viruses. If we come together as a school, we can make changes
to our bathrooms to create cleaner bathrooms for students.
BY SHANNON NAAS ‘26
BY ZIV GOLAN ‘26
Short Staffed Service Workers
by Justin Lakso ‘25
Whether it be the classrooms,
the lockers, the bathrooms,
or the hallways, the
Building Services staff are
truly the unnoticed heroes
keeping the Sherwood building
habitable. They arrive
early and stay late just to make
sure every student and staff
member can come to a clean
and orderly school building.
Now the question arises, why
is the Sherwood building still
sometimes messy if they’re
working so hard?
Positions in the team
are hard to fill, occasionally
looking to the furthest reaches
of Montgomery County to
find a suitable hire. This can
lead to Building Services being
understaffed for a long
period. “The MCPS process
to be hired takes time, so the
position could be open for
a while,” explained School
Business Administrator Linda
Berkheimer.
Two staff members were
missing from an already
small roster last August,
which meant even more work
for the rest of the team (without
another person arriving
for another three months).
These staffing issues are becoming
a problem with how
large the school building is.
Sherwood is 342,000 square
feet with only three custodians
on shift during the school
day, and “that makes it impossible
for us to cover the entire
building during the day with
what we have,” said Building
Services Manager Pete Jones.
If Building Services were allowed
just two, maybe three
more people on shift during
the school day, the trash littering
the school could be
cleaned up a lot faster.
From the very start of this
school year, Sherwood has
faced issues with heating and
air conditioning not functioning
well. In certain wings and
rooms of the building, classes
are either too hot or too cold
and teachers have little to no
control over the temperature
in their rooms.
Having unpredictable
and abnormal temperatures
in a learning environment
can become uncomfortable
for students and teachers. It
can become irritating when
the temperature of any given
room cannot be predicted,
and they need to be prepared
for hot and cold temperatures.
It’s also distracting for students
that are trying to learn.
“When some students are very
hot or cold, they focus on that
discomfort and this makes
them less available for focusing
on learning,” said art
teacher Nakeya Cook. Cook
also noted that the extreme
temperatures have been prevalent
for most of the school
year and have interfered with
her ability to teach her best.
At the beginning of the
year, maintenance workers
from MCPS visited the
school to attempt to solve AC
issues when it was in the 90s
and rooms felt like they were
boiling. While these were resolved,
they were not given
permanent solutions, according
to Principal Tim Britton.
He explained that one section
of the building is older than
other areas and old pipes,
vents, and AC units do not
line up with the newer additions
of the building.
Additionally, some issues
with the boiler that have
been only temporarily solved
caused the school to be cold
for all of November. Maintenance
workers and technicians
are working hard to find
Even though it might not
seem like it, students are responsible
for the appearance
of the school as well. Some
inconsiderate kids think it’s
funny to tear soap dispensers
and sinks off the wall, smoke
in the bathrooms, or throw
their trash wherever they
please, but it’s more inconsiderate
than amusing. These
acts of vandalism create even
more work for an already understaffed
and overworked
team.
“On one hand, we’re responsible
for keeping the
building clean, but on the
other hand, show some respect
for the school,” said Jones.
Students should be working
with the Building Services
team to clean up the school,
not against them. Take pride
in the school and clean up
your own trash; it’s the least
you can do to help.
Temperamental HVAC Systems Leave
Students and Teachers Struggling
by Taylor Adams ‘27
CARTOON BY LAURIKA PICH ‘27
solutions to these problems
and are at the school almost
every day working on them.
“There was a pipe that needed
to be unblocked and replaced
and when that happens, one
of the boilers gets drained of
water,” said Britton.
As rated by the MCPS
Department of Facilities
Management, Sherwood is in
the lower half of schools for
HVAC system quality. It has
a system that can be modified,
but it’s older and its unit
ventilators and fan coils are
at least 10 years old or older.
“Based on the age of the
school externally and internally,
more needs to be done,”
said Britton.