Former MCPS Superintendent Joshua Starr Now Says: "For all the wonderful officers who worked in my districts, there were others who needlessly antagonized students and escalated minor conflicts with them, willfully disregarding their own rules of engagement."

For context, please note that this is an article written by former MCPS Superintendent Joshua Starr.  While MCPS Superintendent, Joshua Starr was notified that MCPS teacher John Vigna was lap sitting with little girls and even with that notification, Mr. Vigna was allowed to remain in MCPS classrooms to abuse more victims. 

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...Much more serious are problems that have to do with the ways SROs interact with students and respond to conflicts within the school and the surrounding community. For instance, I’ve seen SROs yell at kids for minor infractions in a school that was working hard to establish a positive culture of respect among children and adults. I’ve heard of students being arrested in class and taken away in handcuffs for something that occurred outside school, even though this went against district rules. Likewise, I’ve seen cases where students got into a fight and the principal responded by offering conflict resolution, only to learn that the SRO decided to charge the participants with a crime...

...Personally, during my time in Montgomery County, I found it incredibly valuable to maintain a close partnership with the police chief, Tom Manger, who was forthcoming, thoughtful, and always willing to work with me and my team to make sure we agreed on what makes for a safe and positive school environment...

• Work with the police department to decide exactly which kinds of school safety data will be collected and reported to the public. Neither school leaders nor police officials should be taken by surprise when the other shares information about campus incidents, student-on-student crime, the confiscation of weapons, or other matters...

https://kappanonline.org/starr-armed-officers-in-schools-the-good-bad-and-ugly/?fbclid=IwAR0XWwJUZXI9eWpqoGbyQvyA4cY3BJLtAEzbWRBhbgsZC0tQG17alIi7B6I