There have always been gangs and drugs at MCPS schools, including the W schools and BCC. It just gets more attention with the internet and easy access to media.

Why are you sending your kid to a downcountry school? It makes no sense if you don't live in the area.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter was in MOCO high school with known gang members. It’s one of the reasons we moved to Burke. I was really worried. However, she never felt at all unsafe. She said gang members do not mess with the kids taking AP classes and singing in the chorus. Haha. She told me that gang members were always nice to her. It wasn’t enough for me to feel comfortable, but I can certainly understand why some parents are ok with it.

I think that's mostly true. But, I think the concern for most parents when there is known gang activity in a HS is that students might bring weapons (knives, guns) to school. Even if it's just that they're keeping a switchblade in their pocket as protection on their way to and from school. Sometimes if violence occurs at school, innocent kids to end up in the midst of it.

Yes, of course there are drugs at all schools, but if your kid chooses not to get involved, then it won't be an issue. But, gang violence can potentially affect other kids at the school. Even those who are NOT involved in gangs.

YMMV

That’s exactly why we moved out to Burke. She wasn’t concerned, but I was. For exactly the reasons you stated. No school is perfect, but I felt 100X safer with my kids at Lake Braddock.

Those are completely valid concerns, IMO. Especially with MCPS' track record of not adequately addressing parents' concerns about student safety.

Last year's incident where kids brought guns to a MS was particularly disturbing for me and many of my neighbors.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter was in MOCO high school with known gang members. It’s one of the reasons we moved to Burke. I was really worried. However, she never felt at all unsafe. She said gang members do not mess with the kids taking AP classes and singing in the chorus. Haha. She told me that gang members were always nice to her. It wasn’t enough for me to feel comfortable, but I can certainly understand why some parents are ok with it.

I think that's mostly true. But, I think the concern for most parents when there is known gang activity in a HS is that students might bring weapons (knives, guns) to school. Even if it's just that they're keeping a switchblade in their pocket as protection on their way to and from school. Sometimes if violence occurs at school, innocent kids to end up in the midst of it.

Yes, of course there are drugs at all schools, but if your kid chooses not to get involved, then it won't be an issue. But, gang violence can potentially affect other kids at the school. Even those who are NOT involved in gangs.

YMMV

That’s exactly why we moved out to Burke. She wasn’t concerned, but I was. For exactly the reasons you stated. No school is perfect, but I felt 100X safer with my kids at Lake Braddock.

Anonymous wrote:My daughter was in MOCO high school with known gang members. It’s one of the reasons we moved to Burke. I was really worried. However, she never felt at all unsafe. She said gang members do not mess with the kids taking AP classes and singing in the chorus. Haha. She told me that gang members were always nice to her. It wasn’t enough for me to feel comfortable, but I can certainly understand why some parents are ok with it.

I think that's mostly true. But, I think the concern for most parents when there is known gang activity in a HS is that students might bring weapons (knives, guns) to school. Even if it's just that they're keeping a switchblade in their pocket as protection on their way to and from school. Sometimes if violence occurs at school, innocent kids to end up in the midst of it.

Yes, of course there are drugs at all schools, but if your kid chooses not to get involved, then it won't be an issue. But, gang violence can potentially affect other kids at the school. Even those who are NOT involved in gangs.

YMMV

My daughter was in MOCO high school with known gang members. It’s one of the reasons we moved to Burke. I was really worried. However, she never felt at all unsafe. She said gang members do not mess with the kids taking AP classes and singing in the chorus. Haha. She told me that gang members were always nice to her. It wasn’t enough for me to feel comfortable, but I can certainly understand why some parents are ok with it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tell them they should be more worried about drugs.

+1 Gangs normally don't go after the studious kids in AP classes. I went to a HS with real gangs.

+1. Put 2 kids through MCPS - two different DCC high schools. There were gang members in each school. They did not cause my kids a lick of trouble. TBH, I was more worried about the UMC kids who were lightly supervised and had cars, more disposable income and/or access to their parents' liquor and drug cabinets.

Anonymous wrote:Tell them they should be more worried about drugs.

+1 Gangs normally don't go after the studious kids in AP classes. I went to a HS with real gangs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Please. That is a study put out BY MCPS. I would take that with a grain of salt.

Talk to actual parents. Lots of MCPS have been sorely disappointed in MCPS’ approach to school/student safety over the past few years. Multiple incidents of sexual assault, gang acitivity, weapons in school, etc.

So systematic data from MCPS is less reliable than anecdotes from individual parents?

That data is derived from what schools self report. One year we has a child with severe aggression. Issues. She beat a kids with a stick, scratched a kid in the face and pushed another down a staicase. I know for a fact that our elementary school did not report ANY of those incidents.

No, this particular item is derived from the parent survey.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Please. That is a study put out BY MCPS. I would take that with a grain of salt.

Talk to actual parents. Lots of MCPS have been sorely disappointed in MCPS’ approach to school/student safety over the past few years. Multiple incidents of sexual assault, gang acitivity, weapons in school, etc.

So systematic data from MCPS is less reliable than anecdotes from individual parents?

That data is derived from what schools self report. One year we has a child with severe aggression. Issues. She beat a kids with a stick, scratched a kid in the face and pushed another down a staicase. I know for a fact that our elementary school did not report ANY of those incidents.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think your daughters are reasonable to have this as a consideration. What’s more important that feeling safe at school?

Where did OP say that OP's twins are daughters?

But, speaking of feeling safe at school, you can look at the school safety reports. They're for 2015-2016, and MCPS didn't administer the School Survey of Environment to students that year, but for parents, the percent of parents who agreed with "my child feels safe at school" was

Blair - 98%
Paint Branch - 91%
Einstein - 91%
Kennedy - 91%
Northwood - 90%
Wheaton - 91%

and for reference

Whitman - 97%
Wootton - 96%
Churchill - 95%
Walter Johnson - 97%

I doubt there's a meaningful difference between 95% and 91%. So I think your twins will be ok.

Please. That is a study put out BY MCPS. I would take that with a grain of salt.

Talk to actual parents. Lots of MCPS have been sorely disappointed in MCPS’ approach to school/student safety over the past few years. Multiple incidents of sexual assault, gang acitivity, weapons in school, etc.

Find out which schools have in house parole officers. The schools with the higher number of offenders, like Blair, have in house parole and probation officers. It's an easy indicator of the activity at the school.

+1

Agree with the PP

Anonymous wrote:I have been taking our twins to the open houses for high schools around the county. We are up-county, but they can attend DCC as they went to school in DCC already. In assessing the schools they are taking into consideration "gang activity" as being a criteria. They will not even consider Blair or Paint Branch as they say their friends have cited Gang issues at those two schools. Does anyone have any experience with these issues? I hate to take schools off the list due to gossip..thanks.

I live near PB and my stepchild attended the school for a short while (custody issues). It was fine and he felt perfectly safe there. I do have a neighbor that went there and withdrew pretty quickly, but that child is a special case in my opinion but I won't elaborate on here. My view may be colored a little by the fact that I attended a high school in another city that had a decent amount of gang activity, and that really didn't affect me, maybe just opened my eyes. Actually it affects me more now when I look people up on Facebook only to find that they'd been killed in the mid-late 90's, after graduating (or at least after I graduated). Anyway, I definitely wouldn't discount those schools based on gossip and rumors.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think your daughters are reasonable to have this as a consideration. What’s more important that feeling safe at school?

Where did OP say that OP's twins are daughters?

But, speaking of feeling safe at school, you can look at the school safety reports. They're for 2015-2016, and MCPS didn't administer the School Survey of Environment to students that year, but for parents, the percent of parents who agreed with "my child feels safe at school" was

Blair - 98%
Paint Branch - 91%
Einstein - 91%
Kennedy - 91%
Northwood - 90%
Wheaton - 91%

and for reference

Whitman - 97%
Wootton - 96%
Churchill - 95%
Walter Johnson - 97%

I doubt there's a meaningful difference between 95% and 91%. So I think your twins will be ok.

Please. That is a study put out BY MCPS. I would take that with a grain of salt.

Talk to actual parents. Lots of MCPS have been sorely disappointed in MCPS’ approach to school/student safety over the past few years. Multiple incidents of sexual assault, gang acitivity, weapons in school, etc.

Find out which schools have in house parole officers. The schools with the higher number of offenders, like Blair, have in house parole and probation officers. It's an easy indicator of the activity at the school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of this will depend on your kid. What I've heard from my child's friends is that the Latino/Hispanic parents are MUCH more concerned that their kids will be targeted than the Anglo parents.

So, I know a Salvadoran mom with a really smart kid who didn't apply to a specific magnet program because her perception was that her child would be targeted for recruitment despite being a middle-class kid of well-educated parents, but with family back home in El Salvador.

This is so true. MS-13 is not trying to recruit Mr. AP cross-country track Larlo. And they certainly aren't going to be jumping him or bothering him. They've got their sights on other targets.

Although the anglo kids could be targets for drugs, assults and thefts

Anonymous wrote:Some of this will depend on your kid. What I've heard from my child's friends is that the Latino/Hispanic parents are MUCH more concerned that their kids will be targeted than the Anglo parents.

So, I know a Salvadoran mom with a really smart kid who didn't apply to a specific magnet program because her perception was that her child would be targeted for recruitment despite being a middle-class kid of well-educated parents, but with family back home in El Salvador.

This is so true. MS-13 is not trying to recruit Mr. AP cross-country track Larlo. And they certainly aren't going to be jumping him or bothering him. They've got their sights on other targets.

Some of this will depend on your kid. What I've heard from my child's friends is that the Latino/Hispanic parents are MUCH more concerned that their kids will be targeted than the Anglo parents.

So, I know a Salvadoran mom with a really smart kid who didn't apply to a specific magnet program because her perception was that her child would be targeted for recruitment despite being a middle-class kid of well-educated parents, but with family back home in El Salvador.