MCPS to Address Opioid/Fentanyl Crisis

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the haters.

A public school system with limited enforcement capabilities just cannot deal with drugs. All they can do, and they do it very well, is INFORM, both parents and students.

I am satisfied with this response. Already I feel they've gone above and beyond. Public schools cannot strip search every single student daily. Pills are tiny and don't show up on metal detectors!

+1. The school is providing education and information to both students and parents. They are warning people of the dangers because sometimes(a lot of times) being informed repeatedly helps to engage the consciousness of a person(this is why we teach kids healthy habits). Also by informing parents and the community, parents will hopefully have more and meaningful conversation with the kids. The community will hopefully be in the lookout for things that could indicate drug use and or people selling to kids. MCPS is not going to be able to get drugs off the streets nor are they going to do a full on search of every kid every school day, nor are they going to monitor kids outside of school. What more does anyone expect them to do?

What more could MCPS do?

1) Enhance and increase security staff monitoring of bathrooms where much of the drug use is taking place

2) Enhance the disciplinary policy so that it meaningfully deters kids from using substances on campus

3) Establish a dedicated task force or unit within MCPS under its student wellbeing department to deal with those who use drugs on campus so that they are intercepted early and before their substance abuse and the chaos associated with it spill over to the non-using student population

4) Develop more meaningful systems to early detect (adding smoke detectors in the bathroom for example, that are tuned for marijuana and other substance smoke)

5) Developing a tight relationship with MCPD to investigate and filter out suspected distributors on campus

I mean, these are just 5 things I thought of off the top of my head. It isn't hard to start thinking about could be done differently if you actually care about the safety and wellbeing of the kids.

But if you're more interested in defending the status quo at MCPS, or maybe feel that any criticism of MCPS is unfounded and unfair because you have some ridiculous loyalties to the system, then you'll lack for imagination.

There are literally people who get paid a full-time salary whose job titles include "student safety & wellbeing" and "security" and you're asking why people expect MCPS to do anything. Unreal.

If they did this people would complain. Where are parents in all this?

LOL WHAT? Who says parents would complain? And even if a parent or two did complain, does that constitute the majority?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I often chime in to some of these posts about kids and drugs. I am a parent of a child in recovery. They are just like all your kids -yes, it is your kid.

The county and the school system is not prepared for this epidemic that has started. When our child was in crisis we called the crisis center and met with them, she was then sent to the ER and then sent to the mental health unit and then released after a 15 minute meeting with a doctor after a weekend stay. The doctors are not there on weekends so it is techs watching the kids making sure they don't hurt themselves or use substances.

After being released and back at school the use continued. The school staff-teachers, security, and counselors are not trained to deal with this, it is all talk and they take minimal training. I have taken the Narcan training and it is a 30 minute course, it is great and i hope all of you take it and carry it.

Getting treatment is a joke, insurance is a hassle and congress won't act on it, mental health treatment is also a joke and you spend so much time seeking the proper treatment.

Then yo have to battle the passing of recreation use of substances and their mentality is, it is legal now so.... The thing is the black market is never going to go away, kids will always have dealers and this is a huge issue that I am sure the tax money hungry politicians didn't think about.

I really am sorry for that parent in the video as well as the Whitman parents form last year. We are fortunate that our child was able to receive treatment and is doing much better.

This nice PR message form the schools is just that. They are not equipped to handle things and this is just putting parents on notice that this problem is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

This is also true for private schools, In the unit at the hospital, it was a 50/50 split between public and private kids, all the same story. Get treatment, MCPS and Montgomery County, get your act together. You can' wash your hands of it.

God bless you and your family. I'm so sorry our system, MCPS, MCPD and our health systems have completely failed you. This is beyond sad.

MCPS is not a rehab facility. It provides public education. You are right these are big issues that fall outside of the school system.

People now want mcps to parent their kids. The county has teen drug programs. Expecting a school with 2000 or more kids and at best a few hundred staff to catch and treat every issue is not reasonable Parents need to parent.

Why do people keep parroting this BS?

No one WANTS MCPS to parent their kids. But while our children are under MCPS's care, YES, we expect them to have rules and safety measures in place and uphold a high standard to ensure the learning environment is secure and not riddle with crime, violence and illegal substances.

This expectation is now too high to expect of MCPS? You people are sick and sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They can’t even stop the vaping happening in front of their faces, how are they going to manage drug use?

Because vaping does not kill you.

But it can.

[Anonymous]

I have a couple thoughts…firstly, i expect mcps to PROTECT my kid. I am an mcps teacher. My first charge to keep the kids safe, then to educate them. I expect no less when I send my children to school.
I’d like to know more about the WJ situation alluded to earlier in this thread. I am about to be a WJ parent and would like to understand more about this topic and the history.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I often chime in to some of these posts about kids and drugs. I am a parent of a child in recovery. They are just like all your kids -yes, it is your kid.

The county and the school system is not prepared for this epidemic that has started. When our child was in crisis we called the crisis center and met with them, she was then sent to the ER and then sent to the mental health unit and then released after a 15 minute meeting with a doctor after a weekend stay. The doctors are not there on weekends so it is techs watching the kids making sure they don't hurt themselves or use substances.

After being released and back at school the use continued. The school staff-teachers, security, and counselors are not trained to deal with this, it is all talk and they take minimal training. I have taken the Narcan training and it is a 30 minute course, it is great and i hope all of you take it and carry it.

Getting treatment is a joke, insurance is a hassle and congress won't act on it, mental health treatment is also a joke and you spend so much time seeking the proper treatment.

Then yo have to battle the passing of recreation use of substances and their mentality is, it is legal now so.... The thing is the black market is never going to go away, kids will always have dealers and this is a huge issue that I am sure the tax money hungry politicians didn't think about.

I really am sorry for that parent in the video as well as the Whitman parents form last year. We are fortunate that our child was able to receive treatment and is doing much better.

This nice PR message form the schools is just that. They are not equipped to handle things and this is just putting parents on notice that this problem is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

This is also true for private schools, In the unit at the hospital, it was a 50/50 split between public and private kids, all the same story. Get treatment, MCPS and Montgomery County, get your act together. You can' wash your hands of it.

God bless you and your family. I'm so sorry our system, MCPS, MCPD and our health systems have completely failed you. This is beyond sad.

MCPS is not a rehab facility. It provides public education. You are right these are big issues that fall outside of the school system.

People now want mcps to parent their kids. The county has teen drug programs. Expecting a school with 2000 or more kids and at best a few hundred staff to catch and treat every issue is not reasonable Parents need to parent.

Why do people keep parroting this BS?

No one WANTS MCPS to parent their kids. But while our children are under MCPS's care, YES, we expect them to have rules and safety measures in place and uphold a high standard to ensure the learning environment is secure and not riddle with crime, violence and illegal substances.

This expectation is now too high to expect of MCPS? You people are sick and sad.

I've never expected much of MCPS based off my experience but parents need to step up and make sure their kids don't bring it to school, and use it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a couple thoughts…firstly, i expect mcps to PROTECT my kid. I am an mcps teacher. My first charge to keep the kids safe, then to educate them. I expect no less when I send my children to school.
I’d like to know more about the WJ situation alluded to earlier in this thread. I am about to be a WJ parent and would like to understand more about this topic and the history.

Having had multiple bad MCPS teachers for my kids, I don't expect much of anything from MCPS or the teachers. Kinda sad but that's reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just want to give a shout out to our head of security who administered Narcan in November and saved a life. Kids need to be able to report a suspected overdose immediately without fear of major repercussions. Luckily for this teen another student ran to security.

They need to just distribute Narcan the same way they have COVID tests. This isn’t rocket science. A kid living should not be dependent on the correct personnel being around, because they often are not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I often chime in to some of these posts about kids and drugs. I am a parent of a child in recovery. They are just like all your kids -yes, it is your kid.

The county and the school system is not prepared for this epidemic that has started. When our child was in crisis we called the crisis center and met with them, she was then sent to the ER and then sent to the mental health unit and then released after a 15 minute meeting with a doctor after a weekend stay. The doctors are not there on weekends so it is techs watching the kids making sure they don't hurt themselves or use substances.

After being released and back at school the use continued. The school staff-teachers, security, and counselors are not trained to deal with this, it is all talk and they take minimal training. I have taken the Narcan training and it is a 30 minute course, it is great and i hope all of you take it and carry it.

Getting treatment is a joke, insurance is a hassle and congress won't act on it, mental health treatment is also a joke and you spend so much time seeking the proper treatment.

Then yo have to battle the passing of recreation use of substances and their mentality is, it is legal now so.... The thing is the black market is never going to go away, kids will always have dealers and this is a huge issue that I am sure the tax money hungry politicians didn't think about.

I really am sorry for that parent in the video as well as the Whitman parents form last year. We are fortunate that our child was able to receive treatment and is doing much better.

This nice PR message form the schools is just that. They are not equipped to handle things and this is just putting parents on notice that this problem is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

This is also true for private schools, In the unit at the hospital, it was a 50/50 split between public and private kids, all the same story. Get treatment, MCPS and Montgomery County, get your act together. You can' wash your hands of it.

God bless you and your family. I'm so sorry our system, MCPS, MCPD and our health systems have completely failed you. This is beyond sad.

MCPS is not a rehab facility. It provides public education. You are right these are big issues that fall outside of the school system.

People now want mcps to parent their kids. The county has teen drug programs. Expecting a school with 2000 or more kids and at best a few hundred staff to catch and treat every issue is not reasonable Parents need to parent.

Why do people keep parroting this BS?

No one WANTS MCPS to parent their kids. But while our children are under MCPS's care, YES, we expect them to have rules and safety measures in place and uphold a high standard to ensure the learning environment is secure and not riddle with crime, violence and illegal substances.

This expectation is now too high to expect of MCPS? You people are sick and sad.

maybe because it's true?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the haters.

A public school system with limited enforcement capabilities just cannot deal with drugs. All they can do, and they do it very well, is INFORM, both parents and students.

I am satisfied with this response. Already I feel they've gone above and beyond. Public schools cannot strip search every single student daily. Pills are tiny and don't show up on metal detectors!

+1. The school is providing education and information to both students and parents. They are warning people of the dangers because sometimes(a lot of times) being informed repeatedly helps to engage the consciousness of a person(this is why we teach kids healthy habits). Also by informing parents and the community, parents will hopefully have more and meaningful conversation with the kids. The community will hopefully be in the lookout for things that could indicate drug use and or people selling to kids. MCPS is not going to be able to get drugs off the streets nor are they going to do a full on search of every kid every school day, nor are they going to monitor kids outside of school. What more does anyone expect them to do?

What more could MCPS do?

1) Enhance and increase security staff monitoring of bathrooms where much of the drug use is taking place

2) Enhance the disciplinary policy so that it meaningfully deters kids from using substances on campus

3) Establish a dedicated task force or unit within MCPS under its student wellbeing department to deal with those who use drugs on campus so that they are intercepted early and before their substance abuse and the chaos associated with it spill over to the non-using student population

4) Develop more meaningful systems to early detect (adding smoke detectors in the bathroom for example, that are tuned for marijuana and other substance smoke)

5) Developing a tight relationship with MCPD to investigate and filter out suspected distributors on campus

I mean, these are just 5 things I thought of off the top of my head. It isn't hard to start thinking about could be done differently if you actually care about the safety and wellbeing of the kids.

But if you're more interested in defending the status quo at MCPS, or maybe feel that any criticism of MCPS is unfounded and unfair because you have some ridiculous loyalties to the system, then you'll lack for imagination.

There are literally people who get paid a full-time salary whose job titles include "student safety & wellbeing" and "security" and you're asking why people expect MCPS to do anything. Unreal.

1) With what funding and people
2) What would that look like? Detention, Suspension, Expulsion… you know these things that exist as policy today and have for decades. Yet kids still use drugs.
3) Again, with what funding and people? Counselors already have heavy case loads and they are exactly who would be needed in such a task force. Further, given that MCPs is currently waging its own public health campaign alongside MoCo, what makes you believe they haven’t already convened a committtee with this exact goal.
4) Because folks just wouldn’t tamper with these smoke detectors, causing damage to systems and necessitating repairs? So additional cost for installation, monitoring, replacement
5) Fairly certain MCPS already has a tight relationship w/MCPD.

Throwing out ideas is easy. It’s thinking about the efficiency, efficacy, legality, implementation, and cost that takes work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the haters.

A public school system with limited enforcement capabilities just cannot deal with drugs. All they can do, and they do it very well, is INFORM, both parents and students.

I am satisfied with this response. Already I feel they've gone above and beyond. Public schools cannot strip search every single student daily. Pills are tiny and don't show up on metal detectors!

+1. The school is providing education and information to both students and parents. They are warning people of the dangers because sometimes(a lot of times) being informed repeatedly helps to engage the consciousness of a person(this is why we teach kids healthy habits). Also by informing parents and the community, parents will hopefully have more and meaningful conversation with the kids. The community will hopefully be in the lookout for things that could indicate drug use and or people selling to kids. MCPS is not going to be able to get drugs off the streets nor are they going to do a full on search of every kid every school day, nor are they going to monitor kids outside of school. What more does anyone expect them to do?

What more could MCPS do?

1) Enhance and increase security staff monitoring of bathrooms where much of the drug use is taking place

2) Enhance the disciplinary policy so that it meaningfully deters kids from using substances on campus

3) Establish a dedicated task force or unit within MCPS under its student wellbeing department to deal with those who use drugs on campus so that they are intercepted early and before their substance abuse and the chaos associated with it spill over to the non-using student population

4) Develop more meaningful systems to early detect (adding smoke detectors in the bathroom for example, that are tuned for marijuana and other substance smoke)

5) Developing a tight relationship with MCPD to investigate and filter out suspected distributors on campus

I mean, these are just 5 things I thought of off the top of my head. It isn't hard to start thinking about could be done differently if you actually care about the safety and wellbeing of the kids.

But if you're more interested in defending the status quo at MCPS, or maybe feel that any criticism of MCPS is unfounded and unfair because you have some ridiculous loyalties to the system, then you'll lack for imagination.

There are literally people who get paid a full-time salary whose job titles include "student safety & wellbeing" and "security" and you're asking why people expect MCPS to do anything. Unreal.

1) With what funding and people
2) What would that look like? Detention, Suspension, Expulsion… you know these things that exist as policy today and have for decades. Yet kids still use drugs.
3) Again, with what funding and people? Counselors already have heavy case loads and they are exactly who would be needed in such a task force. Further, given that MCPs is currently waging its own public health campaign alongside MoCo, what makes you believe they haven’t already convened a committtee with this exact goal.
4) Because folks just wouldn’t tamper with these smoke detectors, causing damage to systems and necessitating repairs? So additional cost for installation, monitoring, replacement
5) Fairly certain MCPS already has a tight relationship w/MCPD.

Throwing out ideas is easy. It’s thinking about the efficiency, efficacy, legality, implementation, and cost that takes work.

1) There was an increase of funding for virtual tutoring options to combat the learning loss, some $2 million, even though only 15% of kids are using. So there's some funds that could be reallocated to start. But you didn't want to engage in any problem solving, you just wanted to be a negative nancy because you benefit or think the status quo is acceptable for some reason.

2) Do I work in education policy? I believe those ideas and potential solutions would be up to the experts and professionals who are supposed to be tasked with managing and overseeing student discipline. Some mix of the above makes sense to me. If those exist and are failing to deter the unwanted behavior, it sounds like some new mix of those tactics or new ideas should be considered.

3) Didn't MCPS invest millions in hiring and increasing the number of counselors and psychologists for precisely this reason?

4) Do you not install fire alarms because kids will tamper with them? Your argument here is ridiculous and you know it.

5) Actually, no. The SROs being pulled by Elrich created distance and loosened the community and information sharing on a school-by-school basis. Again, you're just being obtuse for the sake of it.