Petition to bring back SROs
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Anonymous
And, how do you propose that? |
Anonymous
Start a petition to keep schools free from people with guns? |
Anonymous
Think the students with guns will agree? There are already rules against weapons in school buildings, yet students bring them. Are you really suggesting no adults with guns? See, I feel better with well-trained adults holding them. I don’t care for the idea of ghost guns and other weapons in the hands of children. |
Anonymous
The students w/ guns know about SROs and bring bigger and nastier guns because of their presence. Not to mention they are reluctant to do anything when things get rough like with Parkland or Uvalde. This is exactly why the research shows that SROs make schools less safe. |
Anonymous
It'll be as useful as this petition! |
Anonymous
| My problem with this thread and others is the idea that bringing SROs into each HS is some magical solution. As opposed to comprehensive safety and security which would include: 1) Increased training and evaluation for other school security personnel, 2)Additional social work and counseling resources, 3) Increased training and PROPER implementation of restorative justice with key resources, 4) A hybrid of the current CEO program such that CEO are stationed in HS, but also making rounds in their cluster of schools and communities. |
Anonymous
In the same way you're accusing people of using SROs as a magical solution, you are as well with the oft-used but never useful phrase "increased training." People love to throw out the phrase "increased training" as if MCPS has an incredibly talented but well-meaning staff who just need to be told what to do so they can do their jobs. First off, what training are you recommending and who do you recommend do the training? If precedence is the past and MCPS is running it, I assure you said training will be underwhelming, a one-off and ineffective at solving the safety and security problems we're facing. Secondly, you're also throwing out the other magical phrase, "counseling services." We DID add more counseling services. Specifically, MCPS spent $1.6 million on telehealth mental services in 2022: https://moco360.media/2022/02/17/mcps-adds-nearly-6-million-to-proposed-budget-to-address-school-safety/ We also staffed these positions for mental health last year: • $2,022,365 for 20.0 psychologist positions • $1,735,046 for 19.0 parent community coordinator positions • $300,000 for contractual services • $414,716 for professional part-time salaries If this is the result we're getting with this level of investment in mental health services, why do we need to invest? If we're going to meaningfully address the safety problem, we're going to need to deal in facts and figures. Not hopes and dreams. Or political ideologies. |
Anonymous
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^^ PP here. Sorry, the numbers I posted were "efficiencies" for the Office of Well-Being, Learning and Achievement, which is where MCPS houses a lot of its mental health service supports.
The total budget for the strategic initiatives under that department is $10 million, with these items called out in the budget: • $1,600,000 is added to the budget to support contractual services for therapeutic mental health andtelehealth services. Recognizing the mental health crises impacting our students, this funding provides for intensive mental health therapeutic services to students whose families cannot afford access to mentalhealth care due to gaps in insurance coverage, lack of insurance coverage, or who struggle to pay the insurance co-pays. • $3,177,754 is added to the budget to fund $142,554 for a 1.0 supervisor position and $3,035,200 for 32.0 social worker positions to support the well-being of students and families by providing direct therapeutic counseling, diversion strategies, behavioral health intervention, and support services. These positions play a key role in supporting schools by serving as members of the student well-being teams and are the liaisons to the Bridge to Wellness staff. Additionally, $889,503 is added to Chapter 10, Department of Employee and Retiree, Services, for employee benefits. • $741,786 for 6.0 instructional specialist positions is added to the budget to support the restorative justice work of the district. These positions support students, families, and staff in creating a strong positive school climate through building relationships, working on self-care and conflict resolution, and reducing exclusionary practices that contribute to disproportionate discipline and chronic absenteeism. As a result, $209,778 is added to Chapter 10, Department of Employee and Retiree Services, for employee benefits SOURCE: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/district/departments/budget/fy2025_recommendedbudget.pdf#page=94 |
Anonymous
Do you have a citation for any of this, specifically your reference above that MCPD is “reluctant to do anything when things get rough.” I’ve seen absolutely no evidence that is true, and I’m fairly confident you won’t be able to produce any. Is your suggestion that we continue to allow students to bring in guns, but restrict police from doing the same? Because that’s simply not a solution. The logical choice would be to have SROs as part of a broad network focusing on student safety, including counselors and other professionals. But we let political ideologies dictate decisions instead of logic in MoCo. |
Anonymous
| If no SROs, what next? |
Anonymous
Um, CEOs. |
Anonymous
| Um, try again PP. |
Anonymous
| CEOs are a big improvement over the SRO, but I'm not against BROs for bathroom duty. |
Anonymous
And, how do you propose keeping people with guns out of schools? |
Anonymous
which are SRO's |