The Parents' Coalition had filed a Maryland Public Information Act request and upon receipt of our request, we were contacted by the Center for School Safety for a telephone conference with their staff attorney Dawn Luedtke. Dawn Luedtke is now a Montgomery County Councilmember.
The documents we obtained showed that MCPS had not complied with Maryland law with regard to reporting serious incidents. ABC7 reported on this revelation.
MCPS gave the excuse that their Chief Safety Officer, Edward Clarke, was not aware of the filing requirements. But Edward Clarke was formerly the head of the Maryand Center for School Safety and had lobbied for the creation of that office.
On June 27, 2023, the Montgomery County Board of Education appointed a new Chief Safety Officer, Pamela B. Wheeler-Taylor.
A flowchart at every school principal's desk could be helpful.
ReplyDeleteI has all the markings of a spatial assignment.
ReplyDelete"MCPS gave the excuse that their Chief Safety Officer, Edward Clarke, was not aware of the filing requirements."
ReplyDeleteUmmm . . . is that a fundamental part of his job?
Ed Clarke is 69 ½ years old. It's a bit late for him to be changing careers. Isn't it time for him to retire? Or from the sound of things, he's been emotionally retired for some time while still on the MCPS payroll.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/veteran-police-officer-to-lead-md-center-for-school-safety/2014/02/09/906fa7be-82dc-11e3-bbe5-6a2a3141e3a9_story.html
Stop making Mr Clarke the escape goat on this. MCPS hides so many issues internally. Perfect example is the latest principal that had numerous internal sexual and harassment complaints. What happened? He got promoted! Parents should be looking at our leaders of MCPS and make sure they’re not being transparent. Look into Mr Clarke and see what he has done for the students and safety of our schools. Look at the millions of dollars he has received in grants for the safety of our children and staff. You can’t implement changes if the individuals at the top won’t approve them! Look at your school base security. You can work at McDonalds for the same pay rate with the increase of the minimum wage. You’re not getting the best of applicants that are applying. Look at the building service workers that make just more then the minimum wage and are cleaning up feces smeared on the walls of the students bathrooms. You would think this is in elementary schools. No, this is in your high schools that our children are attending. The students are running these schools. How can you have students that are graduating with 80 plus absences from school. This is in one year. Still was able to get a diploma. The school budget was increase this year. Who received any compensation? Leaders hired more central office staff making more money then 3 of 4 new security positions. You could of hired 6 building service workers. Mr Clarke did his job and gave his heart to MCPS, and now someone in a higher position wants to make him the scape goat. Need to take a look at the bigger picture and ask the employees of MCPS to be honest and give there input about the policies set force by the leaders and ask them how the last couple of years have been. Teachers are frustrated! On a last issue, why had there been such a departure of highly qualified leaders under the superintendent the past couple of years. FRUSTRATION!
ReplyDeleteYou want us to look into what Mr. Clarke done for the students and safety of our schools. If you know, please tell us. And what did he know about Beidleman before the Post made his transgressions public? And what else does he know that has been covered up?
DeleteI guess your stuck on Mr Clarke. You can’t see the big picture of the school system in whole that’s failing!
DeleteI guess you're stuck on writing "your" when you should write "you're".
DeleteYou don't seem to know the difference between "there" and "their".
What is an "escape goat"?
Are you an MCPS graduate?
I can spell “Ass”! Take a hint!
DeleteMCPS is using Mr Clarke (who I had heard last school year was retiring) as it’s scape goat. Ridiculous. Every interaction I ever had with this man was professional and he cared about the kids. My son did something very stupid (and illegal) a few years back. Mr. Clarke made sure was not only held accountable but that he also had a path back to good graces. Don’t let MCPS do this to a good man. Look at who he worked for and you’ll find your answers.
ReplyDeleteSomeone should ask the question of why is it that when they got rid of Ed Clarke, MCPS exploded that office by adding so many new personnel/positions to the Office of Systemwide Safety and Emergency Management? They doubled the number of cluster security coordinators, added a trainer (a position that was done away with when the previous trainer retired), increased the salary/position of the two secretaries, added another supervisor position, and I think they added two more positions below the director??????? Ed and others were asking for more staffing for years and they wouldn't give it to him. The school system, parents, and the public in general would be HORRIFIED if they knew the BIG PICTURE of what happens in MCPS on a daily basis in their 200+ schools. Changes needed to be made yes, but not to the boots on the ground that were doing the hard work every day. But from the thinking at CESC!!!
ReplyDelete"Are you an MCPS graduate?"
ReplyDeleteWhat are you insinuating?
Whos is running MCPS security now? Their last Chief left after two months. Dana Edwards was overseeing security, but now she's on admin leave. The person kind of running the show now worked at MCPS for less than a year awhile back, and now has returned. She knows NOTHING about security, much less school security. Someone should look into this!
ReplyDelete