Working in the county school system, I know positively that bullying occurs at less wealthy schools in the county. This is not a money issue though many on these boards would like to make it one. Unfortunately, very little is done in those schools either to counter the bullying. In fact, those students often have even less resources to to deal with the bullying and many times won't even report it.

Anonymous wrote:How many instances of black bullying of white and Asian students elsewhere in MCPS are met with principals alerting the entire school community about unacceptable behavior? This goes on all the time and is largely ignored because leadership is afraid of driving those families away.

You're comparing bullying by a student who is black of a student who is white or Asian-American to somebody drawing a Nazi symbol on the school.

Please don't do that.

How many instances of black bullying of white and Asian students elsewhere in MCPS are met with principals alerting the entire school community about unacceptable behavior? This goes on all the time and is largely ignored because leadership is afraid of driving those families away.

Anonymous wrote:How many of these have been verified as real incidents vs. hoaxes?

How many of them have been hoaxes?

How many of these have been verified as real incidents vs. hoaxes?

Anecdotally, I see more unaddressed bullying in wealthier schools. It is maybe because the administration can’t really believe it is happening in their school, or wants to perpetuate the idea the parents have that their school is somehow full of “nice kids.” Not sure. Anyway, the counselors sure do a lot of programming with ES kids about kindness, but if a child starts bullying (3rd grade is when this often starts to emerge), the school doesn’t respond enough, in my opinion. No one seems to want to really believe it is true, and they just seem to hope the problem is a one time thing or a phase that will go away on its own (but it usually just gets worse and worse).

Anonymous wrote:MCPS curriculum is not responsible for preventing bullying. Parents are.

No. Bullying is the responsibility of the school.

It starts young and kids need to be suspended.

Anonymous wrote:And people here brag the W schools are better.. clearly not.

Test scores only

Racism, elitism and drugs are not measured.

MCPS curriculum is not responsible for preventing bullying. Parents are.

Given the vagueness of the latest email, I would think that yesterday's incident was more than just drawing a swastika. Don't know for sure because details were left out of the principal's email.

Anonymous wrote:Wow. What was the incident?

Swastikas drawn on a desk.

And people here brag the W schools are better.. clearly not.

Wow. What was the incident?

This is awful.

I am losing count as to the number of emails as to serious incidences that have occurred at Churchill this year. Was today's email the 4th in which the police department became involved with investigating? At this rate, the police needs to ramp up the number of permanent Resource Officers assigned to Churchill if criminal charges is the appropriate course of action for these types of actions. Even with their involvement and only one incident solved, there is never a clear outcome from this course of action.

Frankly, the MCPS K - 12 curriculum lacks programming aimed at preventing bullying. I believe this is why there has been a rising uptick in these types of incidences county wide. There has been a lack of prevention and it is not a problem that the police involvement will solve. Thus far this year at Churchill, there hasn't been a school wide assembly, class discussions, or a community wide evening parental meeting at Churchill to address the poor climate issues. A survey was conducted by Mrs. Heckert in November but no announcement as to the results was announced. I don't know of a single trip a school in our cluster has ever taken to the Holocaust Museum when students study WWII in middle school and high school. My child's grandparents were babies during that time, so most current high schoolers are almost 3 generations removed from what symbols of hate from that era represent. Only one class at Churchill has made a trip to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Education is key to solving this problem.

It is easy for students to drown out the principal emails and not report when they witness hate in the school on a daily basis because Churchill has a long history of ignoring bullying reports in the past and even letting open retaliation occur when these types of incidences were reported. To drive out bigotry and hate, the principal should not only be looking at the students but also at staff members who are ignorant of the example they provide to the student body by their direct actions or inactions. Most students just try to come to school on a daily basis and not be a target.

This is the email the principal sent this afternoon if you are not on the list serve:

The purpose of this message is to make you aware that we are investigating a racist and ignorant incident that occurred today during school. At this time, we are working with the Montgomery County Police Department to ensure it is addressed swiftly and seriously. I intend to share more detailed information and how we will work together to eliminate this type of behavior from our community.

Please continue to encourage your children to speak out against any type of behavior that demonstrates racism or discrimination. It has no place at Winston Churchill High School.

Brandice C. Heckert
Principal
Winston Churchill High School
Go Bulldogs!
@ChurchillPrin