Charles W. Woodward High School


Charles W. Woodward High School is a former U.S. high school located in Rockville, Maryland. The building currently houses a middle school.

Etymology

In 1965, the Montgomery County Board of Education named the school after Judge Charles W. Woodward, Sr., who served as Associate Judge and later as Chief Judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit of Maryland from 1932 to 1955.

History and future

Charles W. Woodward High School opened in 1966. Two decades later, in 1987, its students were merged into Walter Johnson High School, due to declining enrollment. Presently, the building is occupied by students from Tilden Middle School, whom were displaced when their school facility began a major renovation project. MCPS Superintendent Jack Smith's 2020 Capital Budget includes the funding for the reopening of Woodward High School in 2022. The budget has options for Woodward to function for two school years, starting in September 2023, as a holding school for Northwood High School, as the latter facility undergoes a planned expansion, or instead implement a phased construction for Northwood, with it remaining onsite at its current facility, thereby allowing Woodward to function as its own individual school.
County Council President Hans Riemer and Montgomery County first lady Catherine Leggett are leading an effort to rename Charles W. Woodward High School in honor of the Rev. Josiah Henson, who served as the inspiration for the anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, when the school reopens in 2022.

Notable alumni