Scandal Poolesville High School Student Arrest

[Anonymous]

Surprised that no one else has started a thread on this but there was a student arrested at PHS on Valentine’s Day. Per the principal’s letter, they arrested the student during class in cooperation with MCPD. There was no shelter in place. The student had transferred from Blair Ewing.

I can not validate the following but it seems legitimate based on a letter that I saw online from Clarksburg HS principal. Clarksburg HS had a shelter in place on Feb 12,2024 because said individual was on campus. The letter also said the individual arrested at PHS was a student there during the 2022-2023 school year.

Questions:

What is Blair Ewing? Who determines who goes there? Why was this student bounced from Clarksburg to Ewing to Poolesville? Is it MCPS policy if a student gets kicked out from one school to shift them to another?

Why was the student a danger to kids at Clarksburg to the extent that a shelter in place was necessary but free to roam around PHS for a period of time afterwards? Seems like there’s were lots of mistakes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Surprised that no one else has started a thread on this but there was a student arrested at PHS on Valentine’s Day. Per the principal’s letter, they arrested the student during class in cooperation with MCPD. There was no shelter in place. The student had transferred from Blair Ewing.

I can not validate the following but it seems legitimate based on a letter that I saw online from Clarksburg HS principal. Clarksburg HS had a shelter in place on Feb 12,2024 because said individual was on campus. The letter also said the individual arrested at PHS was a student there during the 2022-2023 school year.

Questions:

What is Blair Ewing? Who determines who goes there? Why was this student bounced from Clarksburg to Ewing to Poolesville? Is it MCPS policy if a student gets kicked out from one school to shift them to another?

Why was the student a danger to kids at Clarksburg to the extent that a shelter in place was necessary but free to roam around PHS for a period of time afterwards? Seems like there’s were lots of mistakes.

More details in the letter here: https://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2024/02/n-arrest-of-poolesville-high-school-phs.html

[Anonymous]

We didn’t know but not a surprise given what is going on.

[Anonymous]

To your main question:

There's no such thing as permanent expulsion in MCPS. I think this might be cause of state regulation though. Not sure.

But kids who get expelled from one school get placed in an alternative school, like Blair Ewing. But Blair Ewing and other alt schools are not permanent placements, so then they "graduate" from the alt school. Depending on the offense, the kid might get returned to their homeschool, but more often, MCPS shuffles them to another high school, which seems to have been the case here, where they shuffled the kid from Clarksburg to Poolesville.

I wonder what he did to get arrested. Was it drug dealing?

[Anonymous]

Sounds like it's been handled. Kid had a warrant for his arrest, warrant was served, kid was arrested without issue. Where is the scandal?

15:07 outlined the alternative placement process

[Anonymous]

Bethesda-Chevy Chase parent here. According to rumors (because the school doesn't want to share), the students who were involved in a fight that injured the Principal and head of security were a transfer from another high school, and one with a ankle monitor. BCC parents have been up in arms over the safety issues at the school. It started with the assault of WJ students after a game in the fall. Then there was an armed carjacking of a vehicle in Silver Spring, driven all the way to the BCC campus. Then the fight that injured the Principal. There has been an uptick in vaping and drug use at BCC, which has led to bathrooms being closed at lunchtime, which is a nightmare for kids who actually need to go, because there are long lines for the few bathrooms that are kept open. Magical for anyone on their period or people with digestive issues.

So yes. Your Poolesville thing seems par for the course for the state of MCPS today.

Montgomery County needs to build more alternative schools to permanently educate violent youths, instead of sending them back to their home schools. Staff and students in regular schools need to feel safe coming in every day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda-Chevy Chase parent here. According to rumors (because the school doesn't want to share), the students who were involved in a fight that injured the Principal and head of security were a transfer from another high school, and one with a ankle monitor. BCC parents have been up in arms over the safety issues at the school. It started with the assault of WJ students after a game in the fall. Then there was an armed carjacking of a vehicle in Silver Spring, driven all the way to the BCC campus. Then the fight that injured the Principal. There has been an uptick in vaping and drug use at BCC, which has led to bathrooms being closed at lunchtime, which is a nightmare for kids who actually need to go, because there are long lines for the few bathrooms that are kept open. Magical for anyone on their period or people with digestive issues.

So yes. Your Poolesville thing seems par for the course for the state of MCPS today.

Montgomery County needs to build more alternative schools to permanently educate violent youths, instead of sending them back to their home schools. Staff and students in regular schools need to feel safe coming in every day.

Are BCC parents getting anywhere with seeing permanent, lasting change on the horrible safety situation in our schools? Your school has gotten more attention and publicity from the system and the press compared to other MCPS high schools, so hoping your school forces MCPS to do something. That hope is faint, but still hanging on to some shred of hope nonetheless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda-Chevy Chase parent here. According to rumors (because the school doesn't want to share), the students who were involved in a fight that injured the Principal and head of security were a transfer from another high school, and one with a ankle monitor. BCC parents have been up in arms over the safety issues at the school. It started with the assault of WJ students after a game in the fall. Then there was an armed carjacking of a vehicle in Silver Spring, driven all the way to the BCC campus. Then the fight that injured the Principal. There has been an uptick in vaping and drug use at BCC, which has led to bathrooms being closed at lunchtime, which is a nightmare for kids who actually need to go, because there are long lines for the few bathrooms that are kept open. Magical for anyone on their period or people with digestive issues.

So yes. Your Poolesville thing seems par for the course for the state of MCPS today.

Montgomery County needs to build more alternative schools to permanently educate violent youths, instead of sending them back to their home schools. Staff and students in regular schools need to feel safe coming in every day.

Are BCC parents getting anywhere with seeing permanent, lasting change on the horrible safety situation in our schools? Your school has gotten more attention and publicity from the system and the press compared to other MCPS high schools, so hoping your school forces MCPS to do something. That hope is faint, but still hanging on to some shred of hope nonetheless.

Hmm...getting anywhere? That is a 162k question in McPS. In case you missed some threads recently see https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1183013.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda-Chevy Chase parent here. According to rumors (because the school doesn't want to share), the students who were involved in a fight that injured the Principal and head of security were a transfer from another high school, and one with a ankle monitor. BCC parents have been up in arms over the safety issues at the school. It started with the assault of WJ students after a game in the fall. Then there was an armed carjacking of a vehicle in Silver Spring, driven all the way to the BCC campus. Then the fight that injured the Principal. There has been an uptick in vaping and drug use at BCC, which has led to bathrooms being closed at lunchtime, which is a nightmare for kids who actually need to go, because there are long lines for the few bathrooms that are kept open. Magical for anyone on their period or people with digestive issues.

So yes. Your Poolesville thing seems par for the course for the state of MCPS today.

Montgomery County needs to build more alternative schools to permanently educate violent youths, instead of sending them back to their home schools. Staff and students in regular schools need to feel safe coming in every day.

+1

[Anonymous]

As PP said, we would ALL like to know what MCPS is doing about any of the concerns. Everyone who attends and works at the secondary schools know what the reality is inside the schools. Those who do not work or attend inside the schools claim to know. No one in a position to make changes (put that beer down Eleich) are doing anything to solve these issues. The school administration and security will check IDs and lock bathrooms. Who suffers? The ones who need the toilet for what a toilet was designed for. No soap and toilet paper either in the bathrooms. Make sure to pack that along with your chromebook and lunch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda-Chevy Chase parent here. According to rumors (because the school doesn't want to share), the students who were involved in a fight that injured the Principal and head of security were a transfer from another high school, and one with a ankle monitor. BCC parents have been up in arms over the safety issues at the school. It started with the assault of WJ students after a game in the fall. Then there was an armed carjacking of a vehicle in Silver Spring, driven all the way to the BCC campus. Then the fight that injured the Principal. There has been an uptick in vaping and drug use at BCC, which has led to bathrooms being closed at lunchtime, which is a nightmare for kids who actually need to go, because there are long lines for the few bathrooms that are kept open. Magical for anyone on their period or people with digestive issues.

So yes. Your Poolesville thing seems par for the course for the state of MCPS today.

Montgomery County needs to build more alternative schools to permanently educate violent youths, instead of sending them back to their home schools. Staff and students in regular schools need to feel safe coming in every day.

Are BCC parents getting anywhere with seeing permanent, lasting change on the horrible safety situation in our schools? Your school has gotten more attention and publicity from the system and the press compared to other MCPS high schools, so hoping your school forces MCPS to do something. That hope is faint, but still hanging on to some shred of hope nonetheless.

Have you met B-CC parents? MCPS better be ready for what may come out from those parents. Fox5 news station around the corner from that high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like it's been handled. Kid had a warrant for his arrest, warrant was served, kid was arrested without issue. Where is the scandal?

15:07 outlined the alternative placement process

Larla might have said "Hi!" in the hall.

[Anonymous]

Why are you trying to create controversy when there isn't any?

There were no issues with the student while the child was at Poolesville.

The student did well at Ewing so they transitioned back to a regular school program. I have no knowledge of what happened at Clarksburg but some kids are going through a lot and obviously this child needed help at that time.

The alleged criminal activity was something that could have happened before they were placed at Poolesville and had nothing to do with the school.

This seems like a standard part of being part of being in public school and as a Poolesville parent I do not have concerns about how this was handled other than the principal revealing too much information about the student so that busybody parents like you could have ammunition to gossip about the child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are you trying to create controversy when there isn't any?

There were no issues with the student while the child was at Poolesville.

The student did well at Ewing so they transitioned back to a regular school program. I have no knowledge of what happened at Clarksburg but some kids are going through a lot and obviously this child needed help at that time.

The alleged criminal activity was something that could have happened before they were placed at Poolesville and had nothing to do with the school.

This seems like a standard part of being part of being in public school and as a Poolesville parent I do not have concerns about how this was handled other than the principal revealing too much information about the student so that busybody parents like you could have ammunition to gossip about the child.

Students getting arrested in school for criminal behavior is NOT “a standard part of being in public school.” The fact that you believe that and want to normalize that is a serious problem.

The principal’s letter is actually a model for other MCPS principals on how to provide specifics, defuse gossip and rumors and stick to the facts. Other principals need to take note.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda-Chevy Chase parent here. According to rumors (because the school doesn't want to share), the students who were involved in a fight that injured the Principal and head of security were a transfer from another high school, and one with a ankle monitor. BCC parents have been up in arms over the safety issues at the school. It started with the assault of WJ students after a game in the fall. Then there was an armed carjacking of a vehicle in Silver Spring, driven all the way to the BCC campus. Then the fight that injured the Principal. There has been an uptick in vaping and drug use at BCC, which has led to bathrooms being closed at lunchtime, which is a nightmare for kids who actually need to go, because there are long lines for the few bathrooms that are kept open. Magical for anyone on their period or people with digestive issues.

So yes. Your Poolesville thing seems par for the course for the state of MCPS today.

Montgomery County needs to build more alternative schools to permanently educate violent youths, instead of sending them back to their home schools. Staff and students in regular schools need to feel safe coming in every day.

You are conflating a lot of different issues here. You seem to be alleging that all the safety issues at BCC are due to the very small number of kids who are transfers from alternative needs programs and that's simply ignorant and classist.

Drug use and vaping in the bathrooms has long been a part of BCC as it has been in basically all high schools and has nothing to do with kids transferring from other schools.