School safety - What is MCPS actually doing and considering doing?

[Anonymous]

I hope you are all doing as well as can be, and that this post can unearth genuine insight and solutions, rather than promote unhelpful critical responses.

We're a family that moved into the BCC school watershed a few years ago. We have a few kids under age 5. We planned to send our kids to public school, given the reputation of MCPS, and it was a big factor in our decision to move to the BCC cluster vs. stay in DC.

However, the number of stories about school safety issues that we're reading about through Bethesda Today, NextDoor, and the Washington Post -- from lockdowns to loaded guns (and threats thereof) to chairs being thrown at teachers -- gives us a lot of pause about sending our kids to public school. It's a national problem, we realize. While the actual likelihood of a mass shooting event is low at the elementary level, I wonder about the trauma of lockdowns and gun safety drills, even at the elementary school level. And the way things are going with racial tensions, economic disparity, lack of control policy, at the national level makes this feel like this is a problem that will get worse before it gets better -- for a long time.

Which brings me to these questions, for those more knowledgeable than I:

1. What is the County doing, or considering, to protect elementary school kids from a mass violence incident, aside from locking the doors after kids arrive in the morning?
2. Are there any County efforts underway to place security guards (police or non-police) at elementary schools on a daily basis - esp. during recess / getting on and off buses, when the kids are most exposed?
3. How are parents bringing this up at the county level, and what has the county's response been?
4. Is there precedent for a PTA to fundraise for a specific school to have someone patrolling the school during the school day, like there is at some DC public schools (I've heard, at least)?
5. How might I, as a prospective MCPS parent, think about my ability to advocate and organize for this type of security at an individual elementary school level?

Thank you in advance for your insight - and let's please keep this dialogue constructive.

[Anonymous]

Answering your questions:

1. What is the County doing, or considering, to protect elementary school kids from a mass violence incident, aside from locking the doors after kids arrive in the morning? Nothing substantive or meaningful. There's a lot of talk of exploring things, and stating safety is the number one priority but not a lot of concrete action. Chief Safety Office Marcus Jones has gone MIA. Superintendent Taylor did add 45 security assistants to the budget, which survived the approval process. It's hard to say how much of an impact the additional bodies will have as MCPS hasn't shared any strategic plans or procedures concerning the additional safety staff.

2. Are there any County efforts underway to place security guards (police or non-police) at elementary schools on a daily basis - esp. during recess / getting on and off buses, when the kids are most exposed? More security guards: Yes. 45 more to be exact. In terms of police, there's supposedly an evaluation of the current Community Engagement Officer (CEO) model that has been mandated by the board.

3. How are parents bringing this up at the county level, and what has the county's response been? Parents have protested at the board and in the news about safety and security concerns. MCPS says they care and will do better but never does. MCPS has a goal of performing care and concern and doing nothing in response to parent outrage and outcry on safety issues.

4. Is there precedent for a PTA to fundraise for a specific school to have someone patrolling the school during the school day, like there is at some DC public schools (I've heard, at least)? Not through the PTA, but in 2021 at Seneca Valley High School, there was reports of a Dads on Duty initiative to improve safety at the school: https://www.fox5dc.com/video/1000233

It's not clear if this initiative is still functional or produced meaningful results in safety at the school.

5. How might I, as a prospective MCPS parent, think about my ability to advocate and organize for this type of security at an individual elementary school level? Organize with your local PTA, organize with the MCCPTA and write and complain to the BOE and Dr. Taylor himself.

[Anonymous]

You people are spinning your wheels. Nothing will bring back school safety until the Department of Education is shut down.

The same banter goes on year after year, while the bureaucrats in charge are laughing their heads off at you all. They know your kids will graduate, and the next crop of parents can have their turn. Frankly, it’s boring.

[Anonymous]

What is the County doing, or considering, to protect elementary school kids from a mass violence incident, aside from locking the doors after kids arrive in the morning?

Very little. Elementary does not have security guards. They are adding a few more but the amount was greatly reduced from the new budget.

2. Are there any County efforts underway to place security guards (police or non-police) at elementary schools on a daily basis - esp. during recess / getting on and off buses, when the kids are most exposed?

No, they removed the police. They have security in ms and high schools but not enough.

3. How are parents bringing this up at the county level, and what has the county's response been?

No, most parents want to complain and take no action.

4. Is there precedent for a PTA to fundraise for a specific school to have someone patrolling the school during the school day, like there is at some DC public schools (I've heard, at least)?

Not allowed. PTA’s cannot pay for staff.

5. How might I, as a prospective MCPS parent, think about my ability to advocate and organize for this type of security at an individual elementary school level?

Lobby to the BOE, central office and Dr Taylor, all of whom will ignore you.

[Anonymous]

OP is naive to believe anything can change, considering who’s ultimately in charge.

[Anonymous]

Blaming and firing teachers for poor management.

[Anonymous]

Mentally ill, violent kids need medical attention. Teachers are not physicians.

[Anonymous]

OP, we've been in MCPS for 14 years now, and really have not had any real issues of note. Our three kids have had jointly 33 years in the system now and we've never had a chair throwing or table flipping incident. I've also never heard about anything like that from someone in our schools that personally experienced it. I think the people who have experienced this post a lot, so it's an unrepresentative sample. Of course, kids get into fights on the playground -- that happens, and I do wish there was better playground monitoring to minimize those problems. When it got bad at our ES, they asked our curriculum specialist to help out at recess for a while. (He was great and is now a principal!) There was also a period where they tried to get parents to volunteer to come in and help -- but even though the PTA asked for this, no one signed up to do it, so that petered out.

One of my HS students had a few lockdowns while she was in HS for kids with guns on campus or in the surrounding community. Honestly, I don't think it's any worse than it was when I was in school in the 1980s in a suburban HS out west. Back then, we didn't have lock downs -- kids just whispered about it. Now, if anyone even gets a whiff of anyone with a gun within a quarter mile of the school, the whole school goes on lockdown. They are just incredibly cautious now -- this is part of the answer to "what are they doing. They are also requiring IDs to enter at most HS now -- although my understanding is that it's not super effective because there aren't enough security guards to really check.

Your OP is little unclear about your real concerns. You mention the news stories that reference student on student violence, but then are asking about a mass shooting incident, which is really different. Totally different causes and solutions.

My understanding is that MCPS, and individual schools, have had security assessments by individuals who work in the field of mass violence. This led to the locked doors -- you can't enter without buzzing in after being viewed on camera, and you are then fed directly into the admin office, where you must present ID and sign in. Having security/police there during outdoor PE, bus dropoff, etc., for every elementary school would be really expensive and, at the end of the day, probably wouldn't prevent much of anything. I personally don't think it's realistic. MCPS does do a LOT of work in talking to kids about mental health and how to identify when a friend needs help, etc. Some of the schools also have excellent counselors who are really on top of the kids at their school (I wish there were more!). And Maryland has stronger gun laws than a lot of other places, and MCPS has a demographic that is more anti-gun than some other places. So you're much less likely to have the situation of a 6 year old that brings mom's loaded gun in his backpack to school, or have a 13 year old that gets an automatic weapon for his birthday.

There is talk about bringing back the SRO program (or beefing up the current CEO program so its more like the SRO program) -- I think that is a realistic goal for parents, and could be really helpful. IMHO, parents of color need to be asking for this, if they want it. When they had meetings about it in 2020-2021, I think white parents were a little reluctant to center themselves in this conversation, given the accusations that the SRO program was bad for students of color. If families of color are upset with the current situation, I think their voices would be most effective in counteracting that narrative. Increasing the number of security guards (who are unarmed MCPS employees, not police) would also be really helpful, and is probably a realistic goal. My understanding is that there was some inequity in the allocation of security guards, but some HSs that didn't get enough complained and it's fixed if the HS makes enough noise.

There is also talk about metal detectors. That's probably not realistic given the budget crisis in Maryland this year, but might be realistic in the future. I personally am skeptical that it would be practical given the sheer numbers of kids at most HSs.

One other thing that might be realistic is those alerts that were used in a recent school shooting where the teachers were able to alert the police directly and response arrived within minutes. (I can't remember which one this was -- maybe the one in Georgia?) I think those would be great, although I think that currently there seems to be decent communication. At one of the lockdowns at my kids HS, this is what happened, all within a couple of minutes:
1) a kid saw another kid in the parking lot, who seemed to have a gun. (I think the first kdi saw it through a window).
2) kid immediately alerted security guard
3) Security guard locked door and radioed back to admin office -- "Gun Lockdown" while he sprinted across the school to ensure that the admin office had heard him and was taking action.
4) Admin office announced lockdown over speakers.
5) At same time, MCPD office stationed there as a CEO was on response for the kid with gun -- who ran off the school property.
6) MCPD sent additional cars, arrived within minutes, to patrol neighborhood looking for the kid who'd run off.
7) Lockdown converted to a shelter in place once MCPS confirmed kid off property.
I thought it was handled really well, with the possible exception that the shelter in place lasted a long time, because MCPD didn't find the kid with the gun and was patrolling around the neighborhood for hours. Again ,back in the 80s and 90s, they would never lockdown or shelter in place a school just because some idiot is running around the neighboring community with a gun. They are super cautious now.

[Anonymous]

Cliff notes, please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the County doing, or considering, to protect elementary school kids from a mass violence incident, aside from locking the doors after kids arrive in the morning?

Very little. Elementary does not have security guards. They are adding a few more but the amount was greatly reduced from the new budget.

2. Are there any County efforts underway to place security guards (police or non-police) at elementary schools on a daily basis - esp. during recess / getting on and off buses, when the kids are most exposed?

No, they removed the police. They have security in ms and high schools but not enough.

3. How are parents bringing this up at the county level, and what has the county's response been?

No, most parents want to complain and take no action.

4. Is there precedent for a PTA to fundraise for a specific school to have someone patrolling the school during the school day, like there is at some DC public schools (I've heard, at least)?

Not allowed. PTA’s cannot pay for staff.

5. How might I, as a prospective MCPS parent, think about my ability to advocate and organize for this type of security at an individual elementary school level?

Lobby to the BOE, central office and Dr Taylor, all of whom will ignore you.

The proposal was 52 and with the .2% budget reduction, they are lowering that to 45. That's about a 10% reduction but I wouldn't call it "greatly reduced."

[Anonymous]

What is Chief Jones doing? Planning to collect a 2nd pension in the next few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is Chief Jones doing? Planning to collect a 2nd pension in the next few years.

Chief Jones has been an absolute non-entity. What a waste of an appointment by MCPS leadership.

[Anonymous]

MCPS has no plans to make schools safer.

[Anonymous]

Teachers gotta be the fall guys for a broken system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the County doing, or considering, to protect elementary school kids from a mass violence incident, aside from locking the doors after kids arrive in the morning?

Very little. Elementary does not have security guards. They are adding a few more but the amount was greatly reduced from the new budget.

2. Are there any County efforts underway to place security guards (police or non-police) at elementary schools on a daily basis - esp. during recess / getting on and off buses, when the kids are most exposed?

No, they removed the police. They have security in ms and high schools but not enough.

3. How are parents bringing this up at the county level, and what has the county's response been?

No, most parents want to complain and take no action.

4. Is there precedent for a PTA to fundraise for a specific school to have someone patrolling the school during the school day, like there is at some DC public schools (I've heard, at least)?

Not allowed. PTA’s cannot pay for staff.

5. How might I, as a prospective MCPS parent, think about my ability to advocate and organize for this type of security at an individual elementary school level?

Lobby to the BOE, central office and Dr Taylor, all of whom will ignore you.

The proposal was 52 and with the .2% budget reduction, they are lowering that to 45. That's about a 10% reduction but I wouldn't call it "greatly reduced."

It’s significant when you consider they have 211 schools.