Montgomery Co. reports uptick (10 -> 13) in students arrested on school grounds

[Anonymous]

https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2023/07/montgomery-co-reports-uptick-in-students-arrested-on-school-grounds/

"At least thirteen students were arrested on the grounds of Montgomery County Public Schools in the most recent school year — up from three during the academic year prior.

The data was shared by school officials in a presentation on student well-being and safety during a June 27 Board of Education meeting. "


A bit of transparency/translucency

[Anonymous]

And they were only arrested because somebody called the police. Think of all the times admin didn’t call police for things like threatening teachers with guns, selling drugs in class, etc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And they were only arrested because somebody called the police. Think of all the times admin didn’t call police for things like threatening teachers with guns, selling drugs in class, etc

The reason for the arrests are not necessarily incidents at school. They may have been arrested for an incident in the community and the police came to find them at the school. This was discussed during the BOE meeting.

Also, the article is poorly worded. The data includes Hispanic students, but they aren't broken out because that is not data that the police collect. The data also does not include MCPS students arrested outside of school. At the meeting there was discussion about MCPS and the police improving the overall reporting on this issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And they were only arrested because somebody called the police. Think of all the times admin didn’t call police for things like threatening teachers with guns, selling drugs in class, etc

This is a concern, and nobody has adequately shown what safeguards are in place to ensure that both the schools and the police comply with their MOU terms about when police cannot be called, and when police must be called. It's being left to individual schools, and how in the world can they ensure compliance?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And they were only arrested because somebody called the police. Think of all the times admin didn’t call police for things like threatening teachers with guns, selling drugs in class, etc

THIS - there would be 13 arrests a week at most high schools

[Anonymous]

It's probably way higher. Mcps has a track record of withholding crim from the authorities when obligated to report. Then the people go against legal parameters are promoted to central to teach their sketchy methodology.

[Anonymous]

13 arrests out of 160,000 students? This isn’t a huge deal. I’m surprised there aren’t more.

If you’ve been in a school lately, you know that discipline is atrocious. I’ve had two knives in my classroom (and neither of those students were arrested for bringing weapons to school).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And they were only arrested because somebody called the police. Think of all the times admin didn’t call police for things like threatening teachers with guns, selling drugs in class, etc

+1

I imagine this number is much, much higher.

[Anonymous]

Changes in numbers that low are not statistically significant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Changes in numbers that low are not statistically significant.

Schools are under intense pressure for various reasons to underreport and under respond to weapons and drug issues. At my high school only extreme fights/brawls/attacks may actually get police involved on site. Everything else gets swept under the rug, especially drugs and knives.
However I noticed a cop hanging out during the school entrance most of June. I am pretty sure one of our students was involved in a murder in MoCo. So, A cop was sent as a precaution in case he came to school. Once he got arrested elsewhere, the cop stopped hanging out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And they were only arrested because somebody called the police. Think of all the times admin didn’t call police for things like threatening teachers with guns, selling drugs in class, etc

Agree completely. The number is likely much higher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Changes in numbers that low are not statistically significant.

Schools are under intense pressure for various reasons to underreport and under respond to weapons and drug issues. At my high school only extreme fights/brawls/attacks may actually get police involved on site. Everything else gets swept under the rug, especially drugs and knives.
However I noticed a cop hanging out during the school entrance most of June. I am pretty sure one of our students was involved in a murder in MoCo. So, A cop was sent as a precaution in case he came to school. Once he got arrested elsewhere, the cop stopped hanging out.

This is true. Applies to both MS and HS. Central office certainly does not want these issues documented accurately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And they were only arrested because somebody called the police. Think of all the times admin didn’t call police for things like threatening teachers with guns, selling drugs in class, etc

I know things would be so much better if we lived in a police state.