Wheaton Wrestling Saga Continues: Principal Plans to File 2nd Appeal

Wheaton High School’s wrestling season was suspended after it was revealed they were using an ineligible athlete on the team. Following this discovery, the Parents’ Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland sent out a statement regarding their concerns with the decision. The parents expressed their issues about the lack of due process in the investigation, the dismissal of the coaching staff and the overall treatment of their student-athletes.

Since the initial decision, there have been developments:

On Feb. 13, Principal Joshua Munsey submitted an appeal to the Maryland Public Secondary School Athletic Association (MPSSAA). it was denied after being filed by the MPSSAA which was confirmed to myMCM by Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Director of Public Information, Jessica Baxter. She says the appeal was reviewed in conjunction with the MPSSAA handbook...

Wheaton Wrestling Saga Continues: Principal Plans to File 2nd Appeal - Montgomery Community Media (mymcmedia.org)

Breaking: Wheaton High School Wrestling Team Parents Issue Statement in Response to Students Being Punished for Coach's Use of Ineligible Player

We

Wheaton High School wresting parents respond to MCPS shutting down all 3 wrestling teams.

...We assume that MCPS procedures would be consistent with MPSSAA procedures on issues such as this. However, to date, we have not received any clear explanation of what the violations were, how the procedures outlined in the MPSSAA Handbook (“Handbook”) were applied, and how the penalty was decided. For example, rule 3.05 (Handbook p. 25) differentiates between a coaching violation and a team violation. Why is this being assessed as a team violation rather than a coaching violation?...

Links in this PDF shown below. 

February 2023 Statement Fro... by Parents' Coalition of Montg...

Paragraph with hyperlinks: 

...The penalties handed down to the coaching staff also seem arbitrary and capricious. For

example, we are aware of this incident in MCPS where football coaches actively incited a

physical altercation, and were punished with a one game suspension; and of this incident

where it took a full 15 months to obtain a resignation from a football coach whose players

sexually assaulted fellow team mates. It is quite difficult for us to see any consistent

application of the rules at a county level, or to understand the reasoning around these

disparate treatments. It appears that a technical infringement has been managed with far

more alacrity and severity than incidents that have directly jeopardized students’ safety and

well-being. We are looking for an explanation of why Coach Ellis was targeted for such a

comparatively harsh response...

Breaking: Wheaton Students Punished for Coach's Violation: NBC4 Wheaton High Wrestling (3 Teams) Season Canceled Over Ineligible Athlete

UPDATE: Wheaton HS Wrestling Parents Statement.

All 3 Wheaton High School wrestling teams had their season canceled by MCPS because of a violation by their coach. 

Students have been punished for the coach's violation of rules. 

Jeff Sullivan is currently the MCPS Director of Athletics. 

Mr. Sullivan is also currently involved in litigation in federal court alleging that MCPS knew about hazing in football locker rooms for years.

Why does Montgomery County 911 Refer a Sex Assault Call from Wheaton High School to Park Police?

❓ On December 9, 2022, Montgomery County's 911 call center received a call reporting a sex assault that occurred earlier at Wheaton High School.  When the dispatcher put out the call at 2:24:34 PM here is what transpired with the responding officer:

Dispatcher:  Sex assault, occurred earlier Wheaton High School.  Suspect not on scene. Student reporting sex assault...

Officer: Do you mind just passing that over to the Park Police? They are responsible now for Wheaton High School. 

Montgomery County Police: A 17-year-old high school student has been arrested after being found in possession of a firearm in a Montgomery County school.

A 17-year-old high school student has been arrested after being found in possession of a firearm in a Montgomery County school.

On Tuesday, Jan. 11, high School staff came into contact with a male student who had a strong smell of marijuana.

Staff escorted the student into the main office where he consented to a self-search, and during that self- search, staff discovered a loaded handgun and marijuana.

The student was separated from the firearm and school administration called police.

Montgomery County Police were dispatched to Wheaton High School at approximately 1:55 p.m.

Once police arrived, he was placed under arrest and transported to the Wheaton District station.

Berniz Garza-Mayorga of Silver Spring was charged with multiple weapons offenses and transported to the Central Processing Unit, where he is currently being held.

#MCPD #MCPNews

A teacher’s perspective on why snow days can’t be flipped to virtual days

Students in the D.C. area haven’t had much school this week due to a pair of winter storms that dropped several inches of snow on the region.

But with all the technology available to teachers and students, why can’t snow days simply become virtual days? Is it really necessary to cancel school altogether?

It’s a complicated question for educators such as Karen Kraus, a biology and chemistry teacher at Wheaton High School in Montgomery County, Maryland.

“The school system often doesn’t make a decision on whether to have a snow day until five in the morning or even later,” Kraus said...

https://wtop.com/education/2022/01/a-teachers-perspective-on-why-snow-days-cant-be-flipped-to-virtual-days/?fbclid=IwAR21F8a3lfCAtDSGL0MOrwU3Eh8qPN3gKpMA2MBRdQNSPRSRibYDBEy7y4E

Board of Education Funds Identity, Inc. $212,324 to operate Learning Center

From the October 26, 2021, Montgomery County Board of Education Consent Agenda: 

The 21st Century Community Learning Centers are funded by Grants as shown in this January 28, 2021, Board of Education memorandum.  

Is the Board of Education action above in addition to the Grant funds that have already been designated for these Learning Centers?  

Does the Board of Education know what they are paying Identity, Inc. to do at these Learning Centers?

Again, this item is on the Consent Agenda and the Board of Education approves these expenditures without ever seeing any documentation or contracts associated with these expenditures.

"FAULTY and UNSAFE" Cell Tower Application for Wheaton High School, But Board of Education will Ignore. Board of Ed will Let Application Proceed Because Children's Safety is Never on Their List.

Date: Mon, Oct 4, 2021 at 4:38 PM

Subject: FAULTY & UNSAFE Dish application at Wheaton HS

To: Lawrence, Boyd <Boyd_Lawrence@mcpsmd.org>
Cc:  Debbie <Debbie.Spielberg@montgomerycountymd.gov>, Wolff, Brenda <Brenda_Wolff@mcpsmd.org>

 

Dear Mr. Lawrence,

 

As you had predicted, the Dish wireless application for co-location on the cell tower that immediately abuts Wheaton High School is on the October agenda, returning for review for the Tower Committee. The Environmental Assessment (EA) was updated to include 12 T-Mobile antennas, rather than 9 T-Mobile antennas. In doing so the EA report more than doubled the ERP attributed to the T-Mobile antennas from 17266.65 watts to 35647.95 watts. However, as in the case with the old EA report, with prompting from the CTC Tower Coordinator, the Dish applicant continued to plug in dummy/generic numbers for the T-Mobile antennas rather than relying upon the readily-available County records for antenna data, and those dummy/generic numbers, unlike the actual numbers for the proposed Dish antennas, did not parse out individual antenna frequencies/channels. The T-Mobile antennas that were installed just months before the Dish application was filed had an estimated in T-Mobile’s application for minor modifications at the site maximum ERP of 91140.4 watts. Yet, the Dish EA estimates ERP levels for T-Mobile’s antennas that are less than half of T-Mobile’s max ERP. As a result, the Dish application in essence suggests that the addition of the second array of antennas to the Wheaton High School cell tower by Dish would produce a total ERP for the cell tower of 72045.07 watts; in other words, there would be a reduction in the ERP over the current 91140.4 watts that are being produced by the antennas on the cell tower right now. And the Dish EA report asserts that this would be accomplished by the addition of Dish antennas that would have max ERP of 36698.07 watts. Of course, these asserted results are ludicrous (though less ludicrous than the results in the previous Dish EA that only included 9 of T-Mobile’s antennas)!  Even if the Tower Coordinator and the Tower Committee will be turning a blind eye, MCPS and the Board of Education should not!

 

In updating the application, Dish only updated its Environmental Assessment and not the structural analysis, which was performed by an agent of the tower owner on February 23, 2021, and does not appear to be an arms-length engineers’ evaluation. The Dish structural analysis was performed before the installation of the T-Mobile antenna upgrade, which installed more and heavier antennas to the cell tower. Note that T-Mobile’s structural analysis rated the foundation’s critical demand capacity ratio at 105%, and cautioned that “any further changes to the appurtenance configuration should be reviewed with respect to their effect on structural loads prior to implementation (see below).

I know from past experience that bringing issues concerning structural sufficiency to the Tower Committee would be futile. These days, the Tower Committee’s response is that structural sufficiency issues are not its job, even when the documentation is supplied in the TFCG records. The Tower Committee simply hopes that DPS will catch the problem and act. Again, even if the Tower Coordinator and the Tower Committee is turning a blind eye to these matters, MCPS and the Board of Education should not!

 

As the representative for the Land Owner, you can stop this application from advancing now, and I ask that you do so.

 

Thank you.

 

Sue Present

Man working on a project for an MCPS contractor at the time sentenced to 15 years in prison for raping 12-year-old girl in his vehicle

 

A man accused of raping a 12-year-old girl in his vehicle nearly two years ago was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Thursday.

James Allen Booker, now 61, picked up a girl who was walking home from school during a thunderstorm on May 23, 2019, police said at the time.

Police said Booker drove the girl to her home, parked in front and raped the girl inside the vehicle.

The girl told her parents what had happened. Police arrested Booker five days later.

Booker was charged with one count of second-degree rape and six counts of third-degree sex offense. Court records indicate that he pleaded guilty on Dec. 6, 2019, to the rape charge and one count of third-degree sex offense...

https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/courts/man-sentenced-to-15-years-in-prison-for-raping-12-year-old-girl-in-his-vehicle/

School Teacher Arrested for Inappropriate Sexual Contact with Student; Possibility of Additional Victims a Concern

Detectives from the Montgomery County Department of Police – Special Victims Investigations Division (SVID) have arrested and charged Maxwell Alexander Bero, age 30, of Gate Rail Road in Clarskburg, with offenses related to his inappropriate sexual contact with a fourteen-year-old female.  The offenses occurred from August 2014 to June 2015, when the female victim was an eighth-grade student and Bero was her teacher at the Col. E. Brooke Lee Middle School in Silver Spring.  The sexual interactions occurred after school hours on school property.

On July 28, 2020, SVID detectives began an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse of the (now 19-year-old) victim by Bero.  Detectives learned that during the 2014-2015 school year, Bero engaged in inappropriate sexual contact and exchanged inappropriate sexual materials and messages with the juvenile victim/student.

Earlier today, August 26, Bero was served with an arrest warrant charging him with offenses to include sexual abuse of a minor and multiple counts of committing a third-degree sexual offense. He was transported to the Central Processing Unit. Bond information is not available at this time.

Detectives are concerned there may be additional victims of Bero and are asking anyone who believes that he/she is a victim to call SVID detectives at 240-773-5400.

Bero’s current teaching assignment is at Watkins Mill High School in Gaithersburg.  Bero has been placed on administrative leave by the school system.  Inquiries regarding his employment should be directed to Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS).

Bravo to this former MCPS Student for Speaking Up! Another arrest of a MCPS teacher for a sex offense. Board of Education Continues Their Silence on These Arrests and Convictions. No Support for the Victims from Board of Education.

Please note that this announcement to the public was written by Derek G. Turner, the former public information officer for MCPS, Mr. Turner is now one of 3 administrators running MCPS.  Superintendent Jack R. Smith promoted Mr. Turner from the position of public information officer to administrator in charge of 1/3 of MCPS.  

~~~~~

Dear Parents and Guardians:

I am writing to inform you about the arrest of Mr. Maxwell Bero, a Watkins Mill High School teacher, head boys’ varsity lacrosse coach and assistant varsity football coach, on charges of sex abuse of a minor and multiple counts of third-degree sex offense. The charges stem from alleged inappropriate sexual contact between Mr. Bero and a former Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) student while Mr. Bero was employed at Col. E. Brooke Lee Middle School during the 2014-2015 school year.

MCPS is fully cooperating with law enforcement on this matter. Mr. Bero has been placed on administrative leave.

Mr. Bero has been employed with MCPS since 2009. He worked as a substitute teacher at various MCPS schools from 2009 to 2013. In 2013, he worked as a long-term substitute at Wheaton High School and also served as head boys’ varsity lacrosse coach and assistant varsity football coach. He worked at Lee Middle School from 2013 to 2016, and has worked as a social studies teacher at Watkins Mill High School since 2016.

These charges are deeply concerning and unacceptable and represent a complete breach of trust, responsibility, integrity and the law. We hold our employees to a high standard of character and these allegations violate that. Please know that the safety of our students is our top priority and we are committed to ensuring we maintain a safe learning environment for all.

Counseling staff will be available to connect with students virtually and provide any needed counseling or support this week. Students who may need to speak with someone can reach out to their school’s counseling office for support. 

If you or your child has any information that may be helpful to the investigation, please call the Special Victims Investigations Division of the Montgomery County Police Department at 240-773-5400.

Derek G. Turner
Chief of Engagement, Innovation, and Operations
Montgomery County Public Schools

---

Estimados padres, guardianes, miembros del personal y estudiantes,

Les escribo para informarles sobre el arresto del Sr. Maxwell Bero, maestro de Watkins Mill High School, entrenador de lacrosse y asistente del entrenador de fútbol americano, acusado de abuso sexual de un menor y múltiples cargos de delitos sexuales en tercer grado. Los cargos radican en un presunto contacto sexual inapropiado entre el Sr. Bero y un ex alumno de Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) mientras el Sr. Bero trabajaba en Col. E. Brooke Lee Middle School durante el ciclo escolar 2014‒2015.

MCPS está cooperando plenamente con las autoridades de seguridad en este caso. El Sr. Bero ha sido puesto en licencia administrativa.

El Sr. Bero trabaja en MCPS desde el 2009. Trabajó como maestro suplente en varias escuelas de MCPS del 2009 al 2013. En el 2013, trabajó como suplente a largo plazo en Wheaton High School y también se desempeñó como entrenador titular de lacrosse masculino y como asistente del entrenador de fútbol americano. Él trabajó en Lee Middle School del 2013 al 2016, y ha trabajado como maestro de estudios sociales en Watkins Mill High School desde 2016.

Estos cargos son profundamente alarmantes e inaceptables y representan una total violación de la confianza, la responsabilidad, la integridad y la ley. Nosotros exigimos de nuestros empleados un alto nivel de conducta y estas acusaciones son una violación de eso. Por favor sepan que la seguridad de nuestros estudiantes es nuestra mayor prioridad y estamos comprometidos a asegurarnos de mantener un entorno de aprendizaje seguro para todos.

Los consejeros escolares estarán disponibles para conectarse con los estudiantes virtualmente y proporcionarles cualquier asesoramiento o apoyo que necesiten esta semana. Los estudiantes que necesiten hablar con alguien pueden acudir a la oficina de los consejeros escolares de su escuela para recibir apoyo.

Si usted o su hijo tienen alguna información que pueda ser útil a la investigación, por favor llame a la División de Investigaciones de Víctimas Especiales del Departamento de Policía del Condado de Montgomery, teléfono 240-773-5400.