"...a previously unreported traffic incident has come to light. Now, a third student has been injured near school grounds..."

 

After-school pedestrian safety under scrutiny after death and multiple child injuries

Since the October 2025 death of 11-year-old sixth-grader Summer Lim, near Earle B. Wood Middle School in Rockville, a previously unreported traffic incident has come to light. Now, a third student has been injured near school grounds. Are two new stop signs enough to keep our children safe? MCM News asked a traffic safety expert to provide insights...

https://www.mymcmedia.org/after-school-safety-its-complicated/

Read the Report MCPS Does Not Want You to See: CESO Assessment of MCPS Department of Transportation

@mocoboe Paid $168,380 for Comprehensive Analysis of @mcps Transportation, Then Shelved the Report.

Here is the 5 Part CESO report the Montgomery County

Board of Education doesn't want the public to read. 

 

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Montgomery County Public Sc... by Parents' Coalition of Montg...

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Montgomery County Public Sc... by Parents' Coalition of Montg...

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Montgomery County Public Sc... by Parents' Coalition of Montg...

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Montgomery County Public Schools, MD: 4 CESO Deliverable 01.31.2024 by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland on Scribd

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Montgomery County Public Sc... by Parents' Coalition of Montg...

School Board, Staff Not Responsible for Student’s Death in 2015, Judge Rules

After years of court proceedings, the Montgomery County public school system was found not responsible for the 2015 death of a 14-year-old Gaithersburg High School student, who died after an asthma attack in physical education class.

On Friday, a month shy of the fourth anniversary of Taylor Walton’s death, Montgomery County Judge Nelson Rupp ruled that neither the local school board nor its employees was negligent in caring for her or was responsible for her death.

“It’s an absolute tragedy what happened. … It just breaks your heart,” Rupp said during a court hearing Friday. “… The bottom line is, giving the plaintiff the benefit of all of the evidence that’s been submitted, even in the light most favorable, there’s no evidence that would permit a jury to conclude there was a standard of care … that was breached that caused (Taylor’s) death.”

The case was expected to go to trial this month. Georgia Grant-Walton, Taylor’s mother, was seeking more than $20 million in damages.

On Nov. 30, 2015, Taylor was in P.E. class, participating in “station” exercises, in which students participated in various exercises like walking, running and doing push-ups or sit-ups.

A video, submitted to court records and described by Rupp on Friday, showed Taylor participating, occasionally raising her arms above her head or leaning on a friend. Eventually, Taylor left the class. Shortly after, she was found lying unconscious in the hallway outside the gym.

Gaithersburg High School’s staff administered CPR and first aid and called for an ambulance, according to court documents. Taylor was pronounced dead upon arrival at a hospital about 4 miles away.

It was Taylor’s first semester back in public school, according to Rupp. She had been home schooled by her mother following her father’s death six years prior.

In 2017, Grant-Walton filed a lawsuit in Montgomery County Circuit Court alleging the P.E. teachers, Karen Philbin and Jeffrey Rabberman, denied Taylor’s requests to get her inhaler from her gym locker before she collapsed.

In her lawsuit, Grant-Walton said MCPS’ staff failed to provide “reasonable care” to protect her daughter from harm and teachers “falsely imprisoned” Taylor by denying her access to her inhaler. Additionally, she alleges the Board of Education failed to properly train the staff about how to identify and treat asthma-related medical issues...

https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/courts/school-board-staff-not-responsible-for-students-death-in-2015-judge-rules/

MCPS Has No Formal Policy on Motorized Room Partitions

MONTGOMERY COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Total number of motorized partitions: 82

No written policy.

After a 9-year-old boy was crushed to death by a motorized room partition in his Northern Virginia school this spring, a News4 consumer investigation found that nearly 500 of the partitions are located in schools in the D.C. area.

Of the 21 school districts that have the powerful devices, 17 districts had no formal, written policies on who is allowed to operate them...

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/In-Wake-of-Students-Death-See-Which-DC-Area-Schools-Have-Motorized-Classroom-Partitions-493309421.html?_osource=SocialFlowTwt_DCBrand

UMD President Loh's Letter

Lawsuit Over Gaithersburg Teen’s Death in Gym Class Continues in County Court

...The mother of Taylor Walton, a 14-year-old Gaithersburg High School student, filed the lawsuit after Taylor’s death in 2015 after an asthma attack in gym class.
The complaint claims that Taylor started having trouble breathing during her gym class on Nov. 30, 2015, and asked permission to get her inhaler out of her locker. Her gym teacher wouldn’t let her leave class after two requests.
Taylor later left the class without permission and was found unconscious near the gymnasium a short time later, according to court filings.
The federal complaint claimed that two Gaithersburg High School teachers were grossly negligent in refusing Taylor’s requests to leave class to get an inhaler and violated her civil rights by denying her permission to leave, and that the Board of Education was negligent in hiring and supervising employees...

Lawsuit Over Gaithersburg Teen’s Death in Gym Class Continues in County Court: A federal judge denied claim of Fourth Amendment violation, but made no decision on negligence claims