Gazette: County budget trim slashes after-school funds

Police watching for juvenile crime spike


by Andre L. Taylor
Staff Writer

..."The Sports Academy kept some students out of trouble," Cunningham said. "Now some of us just hang out in the halls after school to avoid getting in trouble."

After-school hours are peak hours for youth to get in trouble, said Montgomery County Police Capt. Thomas Didone, commander of the 5th District station in Germantown.

"The perceived impact is when students don't have structured after school activities, they're more prone to get into mischievous things," Didone said. "We appreciated the program at Seneca Valley and we hope it can return. That would support a critical need for after school activities."

Seneca Valley's program was the only Sports Academy to be cut, Albornoz said. The programs at Montgomery Blair, Springbrook, Wheaton, Paint Branch and Einstein were not affected, he said.