Not hyperbole: locked bathrooms and 8 uses of narcan in MCPS. Drug and alcohol use out of control

[Anonymous]

Why are parents not parenting their kids? If families took responsibility for the actions of their kids, schools would be in better shape. For every kid that gets disciplined, families threaten to sue the school, threaten the teachers and admin, etc. It is a huge headache and nobody is getting paid enough to deal with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You sound completely deranged.

I think they're posting from an alternative reality using alternative facts.

What are the alternative facts? The fact is that drug use at school is a huge problem in MCPS. Why is that? What can we do about drug use at school, even in kids as young as 5th grade?

Yes, it's a problem everywhere but not exclusive to MCPS. It's a bigger problem for society at large. At our school I guess there are some kids who are into this but that's not really a school problem. It has more to do with their values and family life which we can't legislate.

[Anonymous]

There's like a dozen topics on this board about this issue, so I don't know why you're acting like no one is talking about it or not outraged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are in a Bethesda-area high school and middle school. We received alerts to talk to our kids about fentanyl-laced pills, especially the ones that look like candies - just one pill can kill you. MCPS has drug and substance abuse awareness programs for students every year, which are very informative. I have personally warned my children never to take pill-shaped items from someone else in or out of school without verifying with me. My son has ADHD meds that he sometimes has to carry on his person, in the original prescription bottle, and he knows exactly what the markings are and how many he has.

I know you created this thread to blame MCPS for everything, but I'm addressing the readers: MCPS can't detect pills. Metal detectors don't work in this situation. Strip and body cavity searching is not in the cards. What do you want MCPS to do that they are not already doing?

Fentanyl is a societal problem, and needs to be addressed at the national level. Drugs streaming across the border are as urgent a conversation as gun control, and indeed are linked to guns and trafficking.

Talk to your kids. Listen to them. Build trust from a young age.

I don’t think that the OP is expecting MCPS to somehow solve the problem of drugs/gangs here in the US.

However, it is fair to ask MCPS to crack down on drug use AT school. Why is it accepted that kids can smoke weed in all the HS bathrooms? It’s still illegal for kids to smoke weed.

Our schools need more well-trained security walking the halls. Bring back SROs and hire more of them. More cameras outside of bathrooms and in hallways and at each set of doors.

There is more that MCPS can do, but it seems like some is us parents have given MCPS a pass. Why are we so ready to just throw up our hands and say there’s nothing we can do about drugs at school because drugs are everywhere?

PP you replied to.

I agree with you and the other posters who say that more enforcement would be helpful, but... my oldest is a senior. From the moment he entered K, there was a whole thing about restorative justice (advantages the perpetrator, in a bid to keep offenders in school and out of jail); kids could misbehave in class with little consequences; and everything was always about equity. My daughter at Chevy Chase ES was in art class one day when one perturbed child began tearing up the artwork, upending tables, throwing chairs and screaming. There was an all-hands-on-deck call for all the adults in the school while the students huddled in the corridor. In terms of criminal offenses, please remember the sexual assault case at an upcounty high school (Damascus, I believe) where the Principal made every effort to interrogate the victim and suspects and handle evidence instead of turning over everything to the police as they should have done. The victim's parents called the police first.

I have entirely given up hope that MCPS can enforce ANYTHING AT ALL. It has many great things going for it, but enforcement is not one of them.

So again - talk to your kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are parents not parenting their kids? If families took responsibility for the actions of their kids, schools would be in better shape. For every kid that gets disciplined, families threaten to sue the school, threaten the teachers and admin, etc. It is a huge headache and nobody is getting paid enough to deal with it.

Thank you for saying this. Parents have outsourced raising their kids to MCPS instead of taking responsibility to raise them well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the issue for me (not the OP) is that there are very few consequences when a students is caught doing drugs AT school. It makes it more acceptable to deal/do drugs.

We need more security and we need administration to be able to crack down on drug offenses AT school. That is not happening at our non-Bethesda MS/HS. The drug use at school is rampant. And it shouldn’t be that way.

Yup. MCPS's response from a security and discipline perspective with regard to this issue has been lackluster at best and appalling at worst. And every time MCPS is asked about this angle, they punt. Probably because they don't want to admit their failures in a public forum for litigation reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are parents not parenting their kids? If families took responsibility for the actions of their kids, schools would be in better shape. For every kid that gets disciplined, families threaten to sue the school, threaten the teachers and admin, etc. It is a huge headache and nobody is getting paid enough to deal with it.

Thank you for saying this. Parents have outsourced raising their kids to MCPS instead of taking responsibility to raise them well.

No, parents have not. MCPS is liable and accountable for what happens on school grounds, period. Not parents.

Stop punting and deflecting. Parents are absolutely responsible for what their kids do outside of school and at home, yes. Hold parents accountable for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the issue for me (not the OP) is that there are very few consequences when a students is caught doing drugs AT school. It makes it more acceptable to deal/do drugs.

We need more security and we need administration to be able to crack down on drug offenses AT school. That is not happening at our non-Bethesda MS/HS. The drug use at school is rampant. And it shouldn’t be that way.

I think it’s a countywide issue, but agree that there need to be consequences at school, meaningful consequences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You sound completely deranged.

I think they're posting from an alternative reality using alternative facts.

Alternative facts? Which ones? MCPS has had to use narcan half a dozen times since mid-Dec. It's a cold hard fact. Sorry your fragile mind can't handle it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are in a Bethesda-area high school and middle school. We received alerts to talk to our kids about fentanyl-laced pills, especially the ones that look like candies - just one pill can kill you. MCPS has drug and substance abuse awareness programs for students every year, which are very informative. I have personally warned my children never to take pill-shaped items from someone else in or out of school without verifying with me. My son has ADHD meds that he sometimes has to carry on his person, in the original prescription bottle, and he knows exactly what the markings are and how many he has.

I know you created this thread to blame MCPS for everything, but I'm addressing the readers: MCPS can't detect pills. Metal detectors don't work in this situation. Strip and body cavity searching is not in the cards. What do you want MCPS to do that they are not already doing?

Fentanyl is a societal problem, and needs to be addressed at the national level. Drugs streaming across the border are as urgent a conversation as gun control, and indeed are linked to guns and trafficking.

Talk to your kids. Listen to them. Build trust from a young age.

I don’t think that the OP is expecting MCPS to somehow solve the problem of drugs/gangs here in the US.

However, it is fair to ask MCPS to crack down on drug use AT school. Why is it accepted that kids can smoke weed in all the HS bathrooms? It’s still illegal for kids to smoke weed.

Our schools need more well-trained security walking the halls. Bring back SROs and hire more of them. More cameras outside of bathrooms and in hallways and at each set of doors.

There is more that MCPS can do, but it seems like some is us parents have given MCPS a pass. Why are we so ready to just throw up our hands and say there’s nothing we can do about drugs at school because drugs are everywhere?

PP you replied to.

I agree with you and the other posters who say that more enforcement would be helpful, but... my oldest is a senior. From the moment he entered K, there was a whole thing about restorative justice (advantages the perpetrator, in a bid to keep offenders in school and out of jail); kids could misbehave in class with little consequences; and everything was always about equity. My daughter at Chevy Chase ES was in art class one day when one perturbed child began tearing up the artwork, upending tables, throwing chairs and screaming. There was an all-hands-on-deck call for all the adults in the school while the students huddled in the corridor. In terms of criminal offenses, please remember the sexual assault case at an upcounty high school (Damascus, I believe) where the Principal made every effort to interrogate the victim and suspects and handle evidence instead of turning over everything to the police as they should have done. The victim's parents called the police first.

I have entirely given up hope that MCPS can enforce ANYTHING AT ALL. It has many great things going for it, but enforcement is not one of them.

So again - talk to your kids.

Thank you for your reply. I'm the PP again.

My oldest is in 10th grade and we had a similar student at our ES in 4th and 5th grade. Not in Chevy Chase, but another ES. The kid would throw things, elope from the classroom, hit the teacher, knock over recycling bins on purpose, throw chairs, hit other students. It was terrible. And, like you said, the focus is on Equity and Restorative Justice, so there wasn't much admin could do.

I guess I'm arguing that it shouldn't be this way. We need to do better. MCPS needs to do better. The school environment needs to be safe for ALL students.

The fact that MCPS can't enforce anything is not great, and it's not good for any of our students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You sound completely deranged.

I think they're posting from an alternative reality using alternative facts.

What are the alternative facts? The fact is that drug use at school is a huge problem in MCPS. Why is that? What can we do about drug use at school, even in kids as young as 5th grade?

Yes, it's a problem everywhere but not exclusive to MCPS. It's a bigger problem for society at large. At our school I guess there are some kids who are into this but that's not really a school problem. It has more to do with their values and family life which we can't legislate.

Oh, so it's only kids whose 'family life' is problematic who smoke weed at school? LOL. Not a chance. Plenty of kids from 'good families' are smoking weed illegally at my kids' high school. Don't delude yourself that drugs won't affect your kid. It is a pervasive problem that can unfortunately families from all SES/religions/races have to deal with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are parents not parenting their kids? If families took responsibility for the actions of their kids, schools would be in better shape. For every kid that gets disciplined, families threaten to sue the school, threaten the teachers and admin, etc. It is a huge headache and nobody is getting paid enough to deal with it.

Thank you for saying this. Parents have outsourced raising their kids to MCPS instead of taking responsibility to raise them well.

Precisely. MCPS and staff are baby sitters and alternative parents, not educators. So why do we pay so much in taxes for hardly any learning and what is now tantamount to a gigantic and expensive baby sitting program rampant with out of control substance abuse and no discipline? If kids aren't being educated and they're not being baby sat, then what am I paying money for? Just to give them tons of space to use drugs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's like a dozen topics on this board about this issue, so I don't know why you're acting like no one is talking about it or not outraged.

You should probably just not click on this thread. It is pretty obvious from the title what the thread is about. Why click on it if you don't want to see another thread about it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are in a Bethesda-area high school and middle school. We received alerts to talk to our kids about fentanyl-laced pills, especially the ones that look like candies - just one pill can kill you. MCPS has drug and substance abuse awareness programs for students every year, which are very informative. I have personally warned my children never to take pill-shaped items from someone else in or out of school without verifying with me. My son has ADHD meds that he sometimes has to carry on his person, in the original prescription bottle, and he knows exactly what the markings are and how many he has.

I know you created this thread to blame MCPS for everything, but I'm addressing the readers: MCPS can't detect pills. Metal detectors don't work in this situation. Strip and body cavity searching is not in the cards. What do you want MCPS to do that they are not already doing?

Fentanyl is a societal problem, and needs to be addressed at the national level. Drugs streaming across the border are as urgent a conversation as gun control, and indeed are linked to guns and trafficking.

Talk to your kids. Listen to them. Build trust from a young age.

I don’t think that the OP is expecting MCPS to somehow solve the problem of drugs/gangs here in the US.

However, it is fair to ask MCPS to crack down on drug use AT school. Why is it accepted that kids can smoke weed in all the HS bathrooms? It’s still illegal for kids to smoke weed.

Our schools need more well-trained security walking the halls. Bring back SROs and hire more of them. More cameras outside of bathrooms and in hallways and at each set of doors.

There is more that MCPS can do, but it seems like some is us parents have given MCPS a pass. Why are we so ready to just throw up our hands and say there’s nothing we can do about drugs at school because drugs are everywhere?

Why do you think SRO are the answer to everything? There was weed smoking in bathrooms when there were SROs too.

I didn't say that SROs are the answer to everything. Please go back and re-read. They are part of the answer and clearly MCPS needs to do more to crack down on the rampant drug use at our MCPS MS/HSs.

Which MCPS high school do your kids attend?

Mine attend RM and there is a fantastic article (written by a student!) about the SRO program. I wish I could post it on here. Clearly the recent incidents at RM have highlighted issues and SROs are one part of a multi-faceted approach to improving security at our schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's like a dozen topics on this board about this issue, so I don't know why you're acting like no one is talking about it or not outraged.

You should probably just not click on this thread. It is pretty obvious from the title what the thread is about. Why click on it if you don't want to see another thread about it?

I didn't say I don't want to see another thread about it.

But there quite literally is a thread in this exact tone and complaint that tax dollars are going to waste because MCPS is a shit show right here: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1108199.page

I'm just saying, don't be redundant and don't act like you're the first person to notice there's an issue, which was the tone and posture of the OP.