Breaking: MCPS Chief Safety Officer Ed Clarke Removed from Position. Parents' Coalition had Exposed Failure to Report as Required by Law @mcps @mocoboe @pcmc1

In December of 2022, the Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, MD obtained documents from the Maryland Center for School Safety regarding MCPS' compliance with Maryland's serious school incident reporting requirements.  

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.  

Since the ABC7 news report aired in December, Edward Clarke has been removed from his position and placed in MCPS Human Relations Department with the position of Administrator Special Assignment. 

On June 27, 2023, the Montgomery County Board of Education appointed a new Chief Safety Officer, Pamela B. Wheeler-Taylor.