is MS13 a big issue in your DC school

[Anonymous]

MY DD said she doesn't know about it. She said there might be but she doesn't noticed them.. from her knowledge there isn't a lot of fights at the school. So Is MS13 a big issue in a lot of school or is the media just making it seem like a big issue? she attends a FCPS school.

[Anonymous]

Some areas of the county are more affected than others.

[Anonymous]

I've worked in two different schools in the area. One school had some students involved in gangs. I had some in my classes and sometimes you knew they were involved. They were not behavior problems or causing issues in the classroom. The biggest issue was the chronic absences. The school I work at now does not have students involved in gangs. If there are some I don't know about it. As PP mentioned, it is a different part of the county. Neither school had problems with fights.

[Anonymous]

When MS-13 was found to be recruiting in Longfellow's district (10 or so years ago), they developed the after school programs to keep the affected students at school longer and less susceptible to recruitment. I don't know if they are still around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MY DD said she doesn't know about it. She said there might be but she doesn't noticed them.. from her knowledge there isn't a lot of fights at the school. So Is MS13 a big issue in a lot of school or is the media just making it seem like a big issue? she attends a FCPS school.

How would she notice them? It's not like they're walking around in MS-13 t-shirts. I teach in FCPS and we have a gang presence at our school. For the most part, they keep to themselves and lay low. They may be doing things inside school like dealing drugs, but they are not instigating fights in the hallways. Much of the recruitment is done online or outside of school. Plus, many of these kids are in ESOL and are often separated from the mainstream students at the school for most of their classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MY DD said she doesn't know about it. She said there might be but she doesn't noticed them.. from her knowledge there isn't a lot of fights at the school. So Is MS13 a big issue in a lot of school or is the media just making it seem like a big issue? she attends a FCPS school.

How would she notice them? It's not like they're walking around in MS-13 t-shirts. I teach in FCPS and we have a gang presence at our school. For the most part, they keep to themselves and lay low. They may be doing things inside school like dealing drugs, but they are not instigating fights in the hallways. Much of the recruitment is done online or outside of school. Plus, many of these kids are in ESOL and are often separated from the mainstream students at the school for most of their classes.

Does your school work with local law enforcement to shut down illegal activity?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MY DD said she doesn't know about it. She said there might be but she doesn't noticed them.. from her knowledge there isn't a lot of fights at the school. So Is MS13 a big issue in a lot of school or is the media just making it seem like a big issue? she attends a FCPS school.

How would she notice them? It's not like they're walking around in MS-13 t-shirts. I teach in FCPS and we have a gang presence at our school. For the most part, they keep to themselves and lay low. They may be doing things inside school like dealing drugs, but they are not instigating fights in the hallways. Much of the recruitment is done online or outside of school. Plus, many of these kids are in ESOL and are often separated from the mainstream students at the school for most of their classes.

Does your school work with local law enforcement to shut down illegal activity?

Yes. We have a SRO (School Resource Officer) in our school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MY DD said she doesn't know about it. She said there might be but she doesn't noticed them.. from her knowledge there isn't a lot of fights at the school. So Is MS13 a big issue in a lot of school or is the media just making it seem like a big issue? she attends a FCPS school.

How would she notice them? It's not like they're walking around in MS-13 t-shirts. I teach in FCPS and we have a gang presence at our school. For the most part, they keep to themselves and lay low. They may be doing things inside school like dealing drugs, but they are not instigating fights in the hallways. Much of the recruitment is done online or outside of school. Plus, many of these kids are in ESOL and are often separated from the mainstream students at the school for most of their classes.

Does your school work with local law enforcement to shut down illegal activity?

Yes. We have a SRO (School Resource Officer) in our school.

I'm guessing this is either Glasgow or Stuart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How would she notice them? It's not like they're walking around in MS-13 t-shirts. I teach in FCPS and we have a gang presence at our school. For the most part, they keep to themselves and lay low. They may be doing things inside school like dealing drugs, but they are not instigating fights in the hallways. Much of the recruitment is done online or outside of school. Plus, many of these kids are in ESOL and are often separated from the mainstream students at the school for most of their classes.

This was exactly the case when I taught in FCPS. Yes, there was a law enforcement officer based in our school.

[Anonymous]

Nope. But there are only about 6 Hispanic kids per class. TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MY DD said she doesn't know about it. She said there might be but she doesn't noticed them.. from her knowledge there isn't a lot of fights at the school. So Is MS13 a big issue in a lot of school or is the media just making it seem like a big issue? she attends a FCPS school.

How would she notice them? It's not like they're walking around in MS-13 t-shirts. I teach in FCPS and we have a gang presence at our school. For the most part, they keep to themselves and lay low. They may be doing things inside school like dealing drugs, but they are not instigating fights in the hallways. Much of the recruitment is done online or outside of school. Plus, many of these kids are in ESOL and are often separated from the mainstream students at the school for most of their classes.

Does your school work with local law enforcement to shut down illegal activity?

Yes. We have a SRO (School Resource Officer) in our school.

I'm guessing this is either Glasgow or Stuart.

Actually, it's not. It's one of the highly rated FCPS high schools that is recommended on this site quite often. I believe every FCPS high school has an SRO.

[Anonymous]

Our middle school has an SRO, and he is kept quite busy

[Anonymous]

Every FCPS HS has its own SRO. There is a gang presence at many, many schools in FCPS. I am a criminal defense attorney so I can pick them out pretty easily -- typically their clothing gives them away to me, but honestly most adults not involved in the criminal justice system don't recognize the signs of gang involvement very well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every FCPS HS has its own SRO. There is a gang presence at many, many schools in FCPS. I am a criminal defense attorney so I can pick them out pretty easily -- typically their clothing gives them away to me, but honestly most adults not involved in the criminal justice system don't recognize the signs of gang involvement very well.

What are the signs then?

[Anonymous]

Google says:

The gang typically wears the colors blue and white, which is the color of the El Salvadoran flag. MS-13 may carry a bandana, which most of the time are blue but sometimes they may even be black or white. They wear them in any place on their body, so they could be on their waist, around their head, or hanging out of their pocket. They also wear clothing like sports jerseys that have the numbers 13, 23, or 3. Their favorite sport jerseys because they resemble the gang’s trademarks are Allen Iverson (Blue 3) and Kurt Warner (Blue 13).