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The vaccinations were scheduled to be given out between 4 and 8 p.m., but by 4:45 p.m. the county had issued a news release and signs were posted near the school saying the 1,000 doses of the nasal spray vaccine were exhausted.
The news release urged those who wanted the vaccine but could not get it today to check the county Web site at www.montgomerycountymd.gov/h1n1flu for updates and future clinics.
Rockville High was one of three locations, along with Northwood High School in Silver Spring and Northwest High School in Germantown, where the vaccination was given to people 2 to 24 years old. The county's Department of Health and Human Services sponsored the clinics. By 4:30 p.m., doses were exhausted at all three of the clinics.
Bethesda resident Rita Rubin said she believes Rockville High School gave preferential treatment to its students by posting a message on its Web site saying parents who wanted to get their children vaccinated could come to the school at the end of the school day with students' siblings, park in the lot and wait there until the clinic opened at 3:30 p.m.
"As soon as I saw that, I was completely appalled because it's like Rockville High School made up their own rules when everyone else has to comply with what the county health department's rules are," she said.
But Mary Anderson, a county spokeswoman, said that was not allowed to happen. She said no one was permitted on the school property until 3:30 p.m., and police officers were on site beginning at 1 p.m. to enforce that rule.
Anderson said people began lining up across the street before the clinic opened, and those people were then moved across Baltimore Road to the school at 3:30 p.m.
Anderson said she was not aware of the information on Rockville High's Web site.
"That information was not information that was put out by the Department of Health and Human Services," she said.
Rockville High School Principal Debra S. Munk did not immediately return calls seeking comment. Rockville High was closed for several days last spring after one student was diagnosed with swine flu.
Rubin said she ended up not going to the clinic with her two children because she felt it was likely that the school's population of more than 1,200 students, coupled with their siblings, would drain the supply.
"I just think it's really unethical and that the school is setting a bad example because they're saying our students and their siblings can get in line and get it because they have a connection to Rockville High School," she said.
Dana Tofig, a spokesman for Montgomery County Public Schools, would not say if he thought the school's actions were fair. He said parents parking on the property did not equate to their children getting vaccinations before anyone else.
"It doesn't mean a Rockville parent could get to the front of the line before anyone else," he said.
He said each school's principal was given some guidelines to follow on hosting the clinic.
"Principals were given some latitude in how they handled the day and they were the ones that had to deal with the logistical issues that these created," he said.
