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Friday, February 15, 2019

Police sources: Magruder H.S. breaches policy by not calling 911 following violent fight



Three law enforcement sources say Magruder High School violated clear, written policy by not calling 911 or the school resource officer following a violent fight earlier this week.
The altercation, which took place around 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, left a freshman in the ICU with a skull fracture and blood clot in his head. Surgery might be required.
"They told his mother, your son's puking, I think you need to take him to an emergency room," the boy's father, Shane Van Dyken, told ABC7 earlier this week. "They didn't call an ambulance, they didn't call nobody... Makes no sense."
Van Dyken said his wife picked up their 14-year-old son around 12:50 p.m. He was "covered in vomit" and showing "clear signs" of a head injury. Their first stop was MedStar Montgomery Medical Center in Olney, but staff there explained the teen's injuries were severe. They directed the family to seek advanced treatment at Children's National Medical Center in D.C.
"I mean my son's here, at the hospital with a fractured skull and bleeding from his head and nothing was done at the school."

https://wjla.com/news/local/magruder-hs-violates-policy-by-not-calling-911-following-violent-fight

11 comments:

  1. In my humble opinion, the 15-page policy exceeds by far the attention span of the administration.
    https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/departments/security-new/Executed%20SRO%20MOU.PDF

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  2. One disaster after another for Dr. Dolittle Jack Smith. MCPS BOE, please do something about this. A student is in the hospital with a fractured skull and Dr. Dolittle "isn't available" for comment? Aside from buffet meals, what IS he available for? This sends a very loud and clear message that Dolittle doesn't care. Dolittle has got to go!

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    1. What disaster? Smith just got a $15k raise last year that supposedly he didn't ask for. Approved unanimously by the BOE. Then the voters re-elected all the incumbents.

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    2. By "Doolittle" are you implying that he is multilingual?

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  3. This is video from another kids phone. The beginning of this altercation would only be seen on the school security video. That video will show where each boy was prior to actual physical contact. Parents are allowed to view those videos. It is my understanding neither the SRO nor the nurse was in the building at the time and two administrators were at a mandated MCPS training. Any altercation, especially during lunch, is chaotic and limited staff makes it worse. When parents are called regarding any injury or health concern, and the parent indicates they will arrive in a very short period of time, th school will defer to the parent regarding Medical attention, unless of course it is obvious it is life or death. That said, the leap to judgement regarding administration is misplaced. MCPS has made it very clear they don’t want to involve police that may in turn draw media attention or the attention of the community. I have seen administrators get reprimanded by MCPS for calling police before calling the “powers to be” in Central Office. Did you know all communications from administrators to parents is edited and approved by central office? Administrators are not empowered by MCPS. All of this said, a kid was seriously hurt and this boy and his parents need to focus on recovery. The police and States Attorney will investigate to get the complete story so no one has to rely on police sources or the media.

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    Replies
    1. Can you please explain the difference between MCPS and administration?

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    2. @6:33 PM "When parents are called regarding any injury or health concern, and the parent indicates they will arrive in a very short period of time, th school will defer to the parent regarding Medical attention, unless of course it is obvious it is life or death."

      This was obviously life and death. This was a "talk and die" situation. 911 should have been called immediately!

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  4. There are 6 administrators at the school. There is one principal and 4 assistants and a business manager. There is no way that all of the administrators were out of the building. I don't want to speak for Anonymous @ 6:33 but the principal reports to a Director of Learning, Achievement, and Administration that director reports to an Area Superintendent who reports to the Deputy Superintendent who reports to the Superintendent of Schools. You end up with a school administrative team and a central office administrative team.

    Serious incidents involving police have to be reported to the state. It appears that Jack Smith is looking to decrease the number of serious incidents reported so he's having the school deal with the central administrative team first to see if they can "fix" the situation. Jack would then get to spin this as a decrease in serious incidents in MCPS.

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    1. https://www.orgchartpro.com/wp-content/uploads/Tall-vs.-Flat-Organization.jpg

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    2. And Smith, the Superintendent of Schools, reports to the elected BOE. Who report to the voters. That needs to be added to your chain-of-command discussion. The voters are fine with this.

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  5. "The police and States Attorney will investigate ..."
    That's the scary part.

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