Anonymous
Post 12/05/2018 11:22     Subject: Enough is Enough
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:MCPS currently has teachers going through mandatory safety and security training, however, these incidents have happened very recently:

At Clarksburg, a security guard entered the boy's locker room to break-up a fight over a cell phone, then was jumped by three students. He was beat up pretty badly and dragged out of the locker room by the students.
At Sherwood, a substitute teacher was beat up last Monday.
Yesterday at Northwest, a student had an unloaded gun.
Last week, also at Sherwood, a student left bullets in a classroom. The school went on lockdown and was searched.

Funny, I am going to bet most of you haven't heard about a single one of these incidents.

I am sick and tired of MCPS not taking a stand when it comes to student security. No longer can they suspend students. It used to be 10 days for a fight, but students were missing too much "instructional time" so suspensions are frowned up. The county is terrified to say "no".

It is getting worse. It is going to take something major for there to be any changes made, and at this point, I don't know if THAT would even change anything.

The public deserves to know. Parents deserve to know about every single violent incident that happens within a public school building.



OP, how do you know all of these things happened? Just curious. Also, did any of the victims call the cops? Nothing, not even MCPS, can stop a victim from calling the cops.


It’s not hard to find out.

Yes, anyone can call the cops but MCPS actively discourages it and says they’ll handle it. Most parents are not as vigilant, and most parents trust that MCPS will handle things. Many parents don’t want to get the parents involved and of course, there are some parents who just don’t care about/are too busy to care about what’s going on with their kids.


Also, a lot of parents/students are not familiar with their rights. They take school officials at their word and don't realize they CAN press charges, or seek help outside of the school.
Not everyone is as educated about their rights as the common DCUMer.


OP, you're still not answering the question though. HOW did you find out? Regardless of whether it was difficult or not, please let us know. If there's a source out there that reports on these things, it would be great for parents to know otherwise, your post isn't too helpful.


There isn't a "source", and if there were, and MCPS had anything to do with what gets reported, I wouldn't trust it. That is my whole point. This goes on within our schools and you don't hear about it.
I got this information from a security guard in my school, as well as two teachers from the other schools. It is purely anecdotal. While anecdotal evidence isn't always 100% correct, I can tell you, I personally know of many incidents in just the past five years that are similar.

This was from a year ago. Notice the teacher didn't want to be on camera. We have a lot to lose.
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Gaithersburg-High-School-Teachers-Say-Violence-is-Out-of-Control--461130893.html
Anonymous
Post 12/05/2018 11:22     Subject: Enough is Enough
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:MCPS currently has teachers going through mandatory safety and security training, however, these incidents have happened very recently:

At Clarksburg, a security guard entered the boy's locker room to break-up a fight over a cell phone, then was jumped by three students. He was beat up pretty badly and dragged out of the locker room by the students.
At Sherwood, a substitute teacher was beat up last Monday.
Yesterday at Northwest, a student had an unloaded gun.
Last week, also at Sherwood, a student left bullets in a classroom. The school went on lockdown and was searched.

Funny, I am going to bet most of you haven't heard about a single one of these incidents.

I am sick and tired of MCPS not taking a stand when it comes to student security. No longer can they suspend students. It used to be 10 days for a fight, but students were missing too much "instructional time" so suspensions are frowned up. The county is terrified to say "no".

It is getting worse. It is going to take something major for there to be any changes made, and at this point, I don't know if THAT would even change anything.

The public deserves to know. Parents deserve to know about every single violent incident that happens within a public school building.



OP, how do you know all of these things happened? Just curious. Also, did any of the victims call the cops? Nothing, not even MCPS, can stop a victim from calling the cops.


It’s not hard to find out.

Yes, anyone can call the cops but MCPS actively discourages it and says they’ll handle it. Most parents are not as vigilant, and most parents trust that MCPS will handle things. Many parents don’t want to get the parents involved and of course, there are some parents who just don’t care about/are too busy to care about what’s going on with their kids.


Also, a lot of parents/students are not familiar with their rights. They take school officials at their word and don't realize they CAN press charges, or seek help outside of the school.
Not everyone is as educated about their rights as the common DCUMer.


OP, you're still not answering the question though. HOW did you find out? Regardless of whether it was difficult or not, please let us know. If there's a source out there that reports on these things, it would be great for parents to know otherwise, your post isn't too helpful.


This post is absolutely helpful. Sometimes the source cannot give out too much information for fear their privacy/anonymity is lost.
Anonymous
Post 12/05/2018 11:20     Subject: Enough is Enough
Kevin Lewis is good, too. He sniffs out news.
Anonymous
Post 12/05/2018 11:19     Subject: Re:Enough is Enough
Anonymous wrote:As MCPS staff I’m going to go with whistleblower too. I hope more step up. I know there are plenty who would speak if the press contacted them directly and gave them anonymity.


OP here, I don't know if "MCPS Whistleblower" is a thing, I am just really frustrated with the direction this county has gone and I don't know how much parents know.
If it is a real thing, count me in. I would love to tell the press what I know. And so would about half of the teachers I work with.
Teachers are fed up.
The county got rid of suspensions a while back because there were a disproportionate amount of black and Latino students suspended and those students, who were already not performing as well as their white and Asian counterparts, were missing a ton of instructional time. The problem is, teenagers aren't dumb. They recognized pretty quickly that there are no consequences for their actions (not just fighting, but also insubordination, bullying, cursing out teachers, absences). This has lead to a slow trickle of behaviors becoming accepted, and those behaviors will continue to be allowed until something BIG happens.
So we are being trained on how to take down an assailant, meanwhile, students in our classrooms are our biggest threat.
Anonymous
Post 12/05/2018 11:19     Subject: Enough is Enough
Also, a lot of parents/students are not familiar with their rights. They take school officials at their word and don't realize they CAN press charges, or seek help outside of the school.

Not everyone is as educated about their rights as the common DCUMer.


This is very true as well. And it takes a very brave principal these days to take a stand against central office. That's the biggest worry I have for ANY system - lots of bloat (been there, done that) and ruling by fear.

Central Office has its place, I suppose. But many of the decisions could be made by strong, local leaders who know their school community.

Fear rules. I've seen it now in three different systems, and I'm just going to learn to hide in my classroom where the real magic can take place.
Anonymous
Post 12/05/2018 11:16     Subject: Enough is Enough
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:MCPS currently has teachers going through mandatory safety and security training, however, these incidents have happened very recently:

At Clarksburg, a security guard entered the boy's locker room to break-up a fight over a cell phone, then was jumped by three students. He was beat up pretty badly and dragged out of the locker room by the students.
At Sherwood, a substitute teacher was beat up last Monday.
Yesterday at Northwest, a student had an unloaded gun.
Last week, also at Sherwood, a student left bullets in a classroom. The school went on lockdown and was searched.

Funny, I am going to bet most of you haven't heard about a single one of these incidents.

I am sick and tired of MCPS not taking a stand when it comes to student security. No longer can they suspend students. It used to be 10 days for a fight, but students were missing too much "instructional time" so suspensions are frowned up. The county is terrified to say "no".

It is getting worse. It is going to take something major for there to be any changes made, and at this point, I don't know if THAT would even change anything.

The public deserves to know. Parents deserve to know about every single violent incident that happens within a public school building.



OP, how do you know all of these things happened? Just curious. Also, did any of the victims call the cops? Nothing, not even MCPS, can stop a victim from calling the cops.


It’s not hard to find out.

Yes, anyone can call the cops but MCPS actively discourages it and says they’ll handle it. Most parents are not as vigilant, and most parents trust that MCPS will handle things. Many parents don’t want to get the parents involved and of course, there are some parents who just don’t care about/are too busy to care about what’s going on with their kids.


Also, a lot of parents/students are not familiar with their rights. They take school officials at their word and don't realize they CAN press charges, or seek help outside of the school.
Not everyone is as educated about their rights as the common DCUMer.


OP, you're still not answering the question though. HOW did you find out? Regardless of whether it was difficult or not, please let us know. If there's a source out there that reports on these things, it would be great for parents to know otherwise, your post isn't too helpful.
Anonymous
Post 12/05/2018 11:12     Subject: Enough is Enough
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:MCPS currently has teachers going through mandatory safety and security training, however, these incidents have happened very recently:

At Clarksburg, a security guard entered the boy's locker room to break-up a fight over a cell phone, then was jumped by three students. He was beat up pretty badly and dragged out of the locker room by the students.
At Sherwood, a substitute teacher was beat up last Monday.
Yesterday at Northwest, a student had an unloaded gun.
Last week, also at Sherwood, a student left bullets in a classroom. The school went on lockdown and was searched.

Funny, I am going to bet most of you haven't heard about a single one of these incidents.

I am sick and tired of MCPS not taking a stand when it comes to student security. No longer can they suspend students. It used to be 10 days for a fight, but students were missing too much "instructional time" so suspensions are frowned up. The county is terrified to say "no".

It is getting worse. It is going to take something major for there to be any changes made, and at this point, I don't know if THAT would even change anything.

The public deserves to know. Parents deserve to know about every single violent incident that happens within a public school building.



OP, how do you know all of these things happened? Just curious. Also, did any of the victims call the cops? Nothing, not even MCPS, can stop a victim from calling the cops.


It’s not hard to find out.

Yes, anyone can call the cops but MCPS actively discourages it and says they’ll handle it. Most parents are not as vigilant, and most parents trust that MCPS will handle things. Many parents don’t want to get the parents involved and of course, there are some parents who just don’t care about/are too busy to care about what’s going on with their kids.


Also, a lot of parents/students are not familiar with their rights. They take school officials at their word and don't realize they CAN press charges, or seek help outside of the school.
Not everyone is as educated about their rights as the common DCUMer.
Anonymous
Post 12/05/2018 11:09     Subject: Re:Enough is Enough
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:As MCPS staff I’m going to go with whistleblower too. I hope more step up. I know there are plenty who would speak if the press contacted them directly and gave them anonymity.


WaPo, are you reading this?


Have Sartucci at the PC read this thread.
Anonymous
Post 12/05/2018 11:04     Subject: Re:Enough is Enough
Anonymous wrote:As MCPS staff I’m going to go with whistleblower too. I hope more step up. I know there are plenty who would speak if the press contacted them directly and gave them anonymity.


WaPo, are you reading this?
Anonymous
Post 12/05/2018 11:03     Subject: Enough is Enough
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Yet ...Pat O'Neil was reelected to BOE...LOL! Are the people of this county deserving of MCPS?

People need to start suing MCPS and start calling the press and the police.


Suing a school district takes money. Lots of it. Most of us (despite DCUM's apparent wealth) do not have that type of money.


Class action suit then.
Anonymous
Post 12/05/2018 11:00     Subject: Enough is Enough
Anonymous wrote:Yet ...Pat O'Neil was reelected to BOE...LOL! Are the people of this county deserving of MCPS?

People need to start suing MCPS and start calling the press and the police.


Suing a school district takes money. Lots of it. Most of us (despite DCUM's apparent wealth) do not have that type of money.
Anonymous
Post 12/05/2018 10:40     Subject: Enough is Enough
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:MCPS currently has teachers going through mandatory safety and security training, however, these incidents have happened very recently:

At Clarksburg, a security guard entered the boy's locker room to break-up a fight over a cell phone, then was jumped by three students. He was beat up pretty badly and dragged out of the locker room by the students.
At Sherwood, a substitute teacher was beat up last Monday.
Yesterday at Northwest, a student had an unloaded gun.
Last week, also at Sherwood, a student left bullets in a classroom. The school went on lockdown and was searched.

Funny, I am going to bet most of you haven't heard about a single one of these incidents.

I am sick and tired of MCPS not taking a stand when it comes to student security. No longer can they suspend students. It used to be 10 days for a fight, but students were missing too much "instructional time" so suspensions are frowned up. The county is terrified to say "no".

It is getting worse. It is going to take something major for there to be any changes made, and at this point, I don't know if THAT would even change anything.

The public deserves to know. Parents deserve to know about every single violent incident that happens within a public school building.



OP, how do you know all of these things happened? Just curious. Also, did any of the victims call the cops? Nothing, not even MCPS, can stop a victim from calling the cops.


It’s not hard to find out.

Yes, anyone can call the cops but MCPS actively discourages it and says they’ll handle it. Most parents are not as vigilant, and most parents trust that MCPS will handle things. Many parents don’t want to get the parents involved and of course, there are some parents who just don’t care about/are too busy to care about what’s going on with their kids.
Anonymous
Post 12/05/2018 10:39     Subject: Re:Enough is Enough
As MCPS staff I’m going to go with whistleblower too. I hope more step up. I know there are plenty who would speak if the press contacted them directly and gave them anonymity.
Anonymous
Post 12/05/2018 10:33     Subject: Enough is Enough
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:MCPS currently has teachers going through mandatory safety and security training, however, these incidents have happened very recently:

At Clarksburg, a security guard entered the boy's locker room to break-up a fight over a cell phone, then was jumped by three students. He was beat up pretty badly and dragged out of the locker room by the students.
At Sherwood, a substitute teacher was beat up last Monday.
Yesterday at Northwest, a student had an unloaded gun.
Last week, also at Sherwood, a student left bullets in a classroom. The school went on lockdown and was searched.

Funny, I am going to bet most of you haven't heard about a single one of these incidents.

I am sick and tired of MCPS not taking a stand when it comes to student security. No longer can they suspend students. It used to be 10 days for a fight, but students were missing too much "instructional time" so suspensions are frowned up. The county is terrified to say "no".

It is getting worse. It is going to take something major for there to be any changes made, and at this point, I don't know if THAT would even change anything.

The public deserves to know. Parents deserve to know about every single violent incident that happens within a public school building.



OP, how do you know all of these things happened? Just curious. Also, did any of the victims call the cops? Nothing, not even MCPS, can stop a victim from calling the cops.


THIS.
Anonymous
Post 12/05/2018 10:33     Subject: Re:Enough is Enough
OP is probably an MCPS whistleblower. MCPS has a database where this is logged. Can MCCPTA safety and climate chairs dig this info out and confirm that this is indeed happening.

Unfortunately, when PTA is given access to this kind of information, they are also often muzzled so that they cannot give out this information.