"Left to broil and dehydrate"

Dear Dr. Weast,

I am the mother of a sixth grade student at Robert Frost Middle School. I am writing to express my outrage over the actions of Dr. Joey Jones, the Principal of Frost MS, and the entire school staff, for their inexcusable treatment of 1,300 students during the bomb threat on Wednesday. The fact that 24 children FAINTED while being forced to sit without water (while watching their teachers drink water) under the direct sun for almost three hours while an air-conditioned auditorium at Wootton High School sat empty a couple of hundred meters away is unprecedented; I cannot believe this actually happened in a Blue Ribbon School in MCPS.


The incompetence of the school staff is beyond comprehension. I am a Russian émigré and former teacher who is now a US citizen, and I do not have words to express my feelings on this matter. I do not know what information you have received through "official" channels, but it is essential that you follow up on this incident immediately. We got a voice mail from Principal Jones at 4:30 PM about what happened and a weakly worded follow up letter, but neither even began to address the situation. Mr. Jones and his staff demonstrated a complete inability to handle a situation of this magnitude and we have lost complete confidence in his ability to safeguard our children.

Everybody knows how important it is to practice sun protection… the children were in direct harsh sun at the most dangerous time of the day for sun protection for three hours getting extreme sun damage during a very hot, cloudless day, yet even when multiple children started to faint from extreme exposure and dehydration, the clueless staff did not take any actions.

Dehydration is a severe threat to health, especially for children, and my son has asthma, which exacerbated the situation. I am also shocked that the children were seated relatively close to the building; if there was a bomb threat, why weren't they moved to the lower field away from the building. The breakdown on Wednesday was complete at every level. Even the medical technicians treating the children did not recognize the urgency of the lack of water and shade.

Inexplicable. Words fail me for this failure. And where was Principal Jones during this time? My son did not see him at all outside. He just saw staff doing nothing and drinking beverages while not even letting kids stand up.

One kid accidentally had carried his lunch outside and when he tried to eat it, he was harshly reprimanded by the same staff person who was drinking comfortably earlier. Every outdoor event for children that I have attended such as field days puts a paramount importance on having abundant water suppliers; EVERYONE knows how important this is. Meanwhile, our kids were left to broil and dehydrate in the direct sun for no apparent reason except sheer incompetence.

Dr. Weast, I hope you will take the appropriate actions quickly and decisively before other parents and I go to the media; this endangerment and abuse of children is beyond the pale and cannot be excused with typical bureaucratic nonsense.

The Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland thanks this parent for forwarding this letter to us. This parent wishes to remain anonymous in this posting. For the reference of our readers, here is the Google Earth image showing Frost Middle School and Wootton High School.