Howard County Public Schools Only Found Out About Arrest of Substitute on Saturday. Sub was still Working for HCPSS During Investigation.

Dear Community,

I want to follow up on the message I sent to you Saturday night and provide some additional information about our efforts since then.

As soon as I learned of the arrest of Steven Katz, I took immediate steps to notify the community and begin the communication process through our principals. My letter was followed by a message from school administrators to their communities. These messages provided information on the dates we know that this individual served as a substitute in those schools. We also provided resources to assist parents with talking to their children about this very difficult topic. Additionally, every school also has student services staff that any student or family can access for support.

I appreciate the supportive response by the Howard County community since Saturday and I am encouraged by your collaboration to keep our children safe. Staff have already begun to review the process for evaluating substitutes and putting in place a system to more periodically conduct background checks.

Since I reached out on Saturday, we have gathered a bit more information. 

The most important information that I can share is that if you suspect that your child may have had an inappropriate encounter with this individual - or any individual - please contact Howard County Police Department Detectives at 410-313-2630 or the Department of Social Services at 410-872-4203. This communication is critical. 

My office and our school leaders have been asked why this individual was able to work as a substitute teacher during the time he was being investigated by the Montgomery County Police Department. Unfortunately, news of the arrest came as a surprise to us as we were not aware that this individual was suspected of these charges until Saturday, March 17. This put us in a position of responding to a situation without having many details. Over the next several days, we will be working with our law enforcement counterparts as well as neighboring school systems to ensure that we implement stronger communication protocols when sharing information related to the safety and security of our children.

We know that this individual has been a substitute teacher in Howard County for the past six years. The vendor that we use to track and fulfill substitute teaching positions allows us to easily access the past two years of jobs he had accepted. In those two years, this individual had been a substitute teacher at 43 HCPSS schools. We are currently working with the vendor to access additional schools in which he may have worked prior to two years ago. The list of schools is included at the end of this letter. To this point, we are not aware of any formal complaint lodged against this individual that would have permitted the system and police to conduct a child abuse investigation.

We are all here to keep our children safe and provide any additional supports that they require.

Sincerely,
Michael J. Martirano
Interim Superintendent

Steven Katz has been a substitute teacher in the following schools during the past two years:

Atholton Elementary School
Bollman Bridge Elementary School
Bryant Woods Elementary School
Bushy Park Elementary School
Clarksville Elementary School
Cradlerock Elementary School
Dayton Oaks Elementary School
Ducketts Lane Elementary School
Fulton Elementary School
Gorman Crossing Elementary School
Guilford Elementary School
Hammond Elementary School
Ilchester Elementary School
Lisbon Elementary School
Longfellow Elementary School
Manor Woods Elementary School
Pointers Run Elementary School
Rockburn Elementary School
Running Brook Elementary School
Stevens Forest Elementary School
Swansfield Elementary School
Triadelphia Elementary School
Veterans Elementary School
Waverly Elementary School
West Friendship Elementary School
Worthington Elementary School

Bonnie Branch Middle School
Dunloggin Middle School
Ellicott Mills Middle School
Folly Quarter Middle School
Harpers Choice Middle School
Lime Kiln Middle School
Mayfield Woods Middle School
Mount View Middle School
Murray Hill Middle School
Oakland Mills Middle School
Patapsco Middle School
Wilde Lake Middle School

Atholton High School
Glenelg High School
Hammond High School
Howard High School
Reservoir High School