Maryland education leaders commit to improve communication to keep students safe

Baltimore (WBFF) — State education leaders say they are committed to improving the lines of communication to help keep your children safe in school.

This after a Project Baltimore investigation found an MS-13 gang member and now convicted murderer, Walter Martinez, attended two Maryland public schools and no one in the schools knew.

For more than a month, Fox45 News has been trying to speak with Maryland Department of Human Services Secretary Rafael Lopez. DHS oversees the state’s foster care system. Project Baltimore would like to ask Lopez about the lack of communication that allowed Martinez to attend Lansdowne High School in Baltimore County and then Edgewood High School in Harford County, in late 2022...

Maryland education leaders commit to improve communication to keep students safe

Mom of murdered student files wrongful death suit against Montgomery County Public Schools

The mother of an 11th-grader who was killed in 2022 filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Montgomery County Public Schools on Wednesday, arguing the school system failed to protect her son from bullying.

Alexis Jones-McDaniel, the mother of Jailyn Jones, sued MCPS, the Montgomery County Board of Education and the county itself in federal court.

“Not only did Northwest High School fail to protect Jailyn Lawrence Jones in any way, MCPS made informed decisions and took steps which actively increased the danger to and created new dangers Jailyn could not abate,” the complaint states...

...At the new school, the complaint states, Jones “was placed in classes with the same students by whom he had been bullied and had conflict at Clarksburg High School.”..

Mom of killed student sues Montgomery County Public Schools

MCPS faces criticism for employing 2 former principals involved in 2018 assault cases

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (7News) — At a February 8 Montgomery County Council meeting about the Inspector General report on MCPS' complaint processing, a councilmember referred to the 2018 Damascus High School sexual assault case.

Laurie-Anne Sayles asked MCPS Chief of Human Resources April Key a pointed question about the school's former principal and head football coach.

"Is the coach and principal still employed by MCPS?" she queried.

"Yes, they are," answered Key regarding former Damascus High Principal Casey Crouse and former coach Eric Wallich...

https://wjla.com/news/local/montgomery-county-public-schools-mcps-faces-criticism-for-employing-former-principals-involved-in-2018-assault-cases-damascus-gaithersburg-high-school-councilmember

Ed Department Finds Students With Disabilities Disproportionately Disciplined

For the first time in years, federal education officials are releasing data showing how the experiences of students with disabilities in the nation’s schools vary from others and the picture is stark.

Students with disabilities account for a larger percentage of those attending public schools than just a few years ago, according to findings from the U.S. Department of Education’s latest civil rights data collection. At the same time, these children are far more likely than others to be subject to restraint and seclusion, be suspended or expelled or referred to law enforcement.

The information offers a look at the situation across more than 17,000 school districts and over 97,000 public schools during the 2020–2021 school year...

Ed Department Finds Students With Disabilities Disproportionately Disciplined - Disability Scoop

Maryland Public School Suspensions by School and Major Offense Category Out-of-School Suspensions and Expulsions 2018-2019

 

Go to page 226 for Montgomery County details on individual schools:

https://www.marylandpublicschools.org/about/Documents/DCAA/SSP/20182019Student/2019SuspensionsbySchoolOUT.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1nfu7gpAcz1VxoS5KbNopuRCYCxsawzEYslNXpsj2iLKd_hSLlGYWDODc

ABC7: Anti-police bias suspected as motive in Damascus locker room rapes

Sources tell ABC7 that two of the three main victims in the Damascus broomstick sex assaults are sons of Montgomery County law enforcement.

According to a police report, only weeks before the Halloween day locker room attacks, the alleged ringleader told one would-be victim, "I know your dad is a police officer."

That victim's father told ABC7 the alleged ringleader took issue with his son's Montgomery County Police Special Olympics T-shirt...

https://wjla.com/news/local/damascus-rape-victims-suspect-anti-police-bias-as-motive?fbclid=IwAR141vfnLL8xrtAg7V8ALFERJ1PSV2YpGsV3yo9CmuqQInqeGjBcNw1HBGk

WUSA9: Coverage of Hearing in Damascus HS Rape Case - Stay tuned for the list of suspensions against her son from his previous schools: Rocky Hill middle school, Clarksburgh HS and Damascus HS.

Read the entire thread at this link.

CONTINUING COVERAGE OF DEMASCUS RAPE CASE: Denfense’s 1st witness is Clincial Psychologist Randi Wortman.  https://t.co/pLNDJ5uPK9 @wusa9

— Ariane Datil (@arianedatil) March 19, 2019

Picking back up after lunch with the Damascus HS rape case. Defendant’s mother, a detective and a school official were called as witnesses. @wusa9

— Ariane Datil (@arianedatil) March 19, 2019

Today on Kojo: On Halloween, four football players were sexually assaulted with a broomstick as part of a hazing ritual at Damascus High School. #rape @mcps @MontgomeryCoMD

Thursday, Nov 08 2018 • 12 p.m. (ET)

Disturbing Incidents Of Hazing At Maryland Schools

https://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2018-11-08/disturbing-incidents-of-hazing-at-maryland-schools?fbclid=IwAR1I5SFDVQvIbt_qbSuHYD1gwKrPoEj5fAtAjtY6A2iiRDKBugvSM9KLxj8

NBC4: Teen Girl Injured in Fight at Gaithersburg High School, Both Students Charged

Two Maryland high school students have been charged in connection to a fight at Gaithersburg High School in October.

Diana Melendez, 16, suffered a concussion in the fight and said another student started arguing with her in a girls bathroom at the school in October. The argument quickly turned into a fight.

"So she hit me and I hit her and then I remember going into the wall in between the sinks because I didn't want to fall into the sink and I remember hitting the back of my head on the cinder block wall," Diana said.

But the father of the other student told News4 Melendez assaulted his daughter and scratched her face.

He said his daughter was defending herself from Melendez. Gaithersburg police are investigating the fight and said the original report listed Melendez as the victim, but that as they developed more information they decided to charge both students.

On Thursday, a Gaithersburg High School employee leaked videos of fights at the school to News4. Diana's mother, Erika Melendez, contacted News4 after seeing the report...

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Teen-Girl-Says-Student-Attacked-Her-at-Gaithersburg-High-School-461362033.html

Black Students More Likely to Be Arrested at School

In 43 states and the District of Columbia, black students are arrested at school at disproportionately high levels, an analysis of federal data by the Education Week Research Center finds.
And one reason may be that black students are more likely than students in any other racial or ethnic group to attend schools with police, according to the analysis of 2013-14 civil rights data, the most recent collected by the U.S. Department of Education.
In most of the jurisdictions with disproportionate arrests of black students, the disparities are significant. In 28 states, the share of arrested students who are black is at least 10 percentage points higher than their share of enrollment in schools with at least one arrest. In 10 of those states, that gap is at least 20 percentage points.
No other student racial or ethnic groups face such disparities in as many states...

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/01/25/black-students-more-likely-to-be-arrested.html

FYI: Statement of Dr. Ursula A. Hermann, Director, Department of Student Services Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland NASP Briefing: Effective Discipline Policies and Practices Thursday, April 18, 2013

Presentation given to National Association of School Psychologists
by MCPS administrator on MCPS discipline policies. 

   MCPS District Overview Testimony by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland

Maryland School Discipline Analysis Shows Racial Disparities

Researchers from the Institute of Education Sciences' Mid-Atlantic Regional Education Laboratory, working in partnership with the state's department of education to analyze data from the 2009-10, 2010-11, and 2011-12 school years, found that "in all 24 Maryland school systems, black students received out-of-school suspension or expulsion at more than twice the rate of white students."

The report also showed higher rates of classroom removal for special education students, and researchers found that black students had higher rates of out-of-school suspension or expulsion than did Hispanic or white students. Says the report:

"These disparities are a concern because exclusionary discipline has been linked to poor academic achievement, grade retention, recurrent misbehavior, dropout, juvenile delinquency, and other undesirable outcomes."...full article at link below... 

Education Week:  Maryland School Discipline Analysis Shows Racial Disparities

  2014 Disproportionality in Maryland Report by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland

Montgomery student disciplinary decisions to include more discretion

Montgomery County school administrators will be able to use their discretion when it comes to deciding appropriate disciplinary action against students involved in major offenses after the state school board’s adoption Tuesday of new regulations.
In addition, the regulations call long-term suspensions and expulsions as “last resort options,” and outline the actions required of schools to help suspended students receive certain services, according to the state board’s proposed regulation.
Montgomery County Public Schools — along with other Maryland school districts — have until the beginning of next school year to update their policies...

 http://www.gazette.net/article/20140131/NEWS/140209999/1144/montgomery-student-disciplinary-decisions-to-include-more-discretion&template=gazette

ACLU SEEKING MCPS STUDENTS

The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland is hoping to talk to students who were suspended or expelled from Montgomery County schools for non-violent, non-threatening behavior. 

If you or somebody you know has a kid(s) who was suspended or expelled for things like not doing classwork, wandering the halls, etc., please call me at 718-510-6289 or e-mail aclustoryfinder@gmail.com

Many thanks!

Sincerely yours, 
Alisa Roth

NBC4 I Team Investigation: More than 1,000 students have been suspended...for bringing weapons to school...including Montgomery County.

More than 1,000 students have been suspended in the past four years for bringing weapons to school in Maryland, including Montgomery County. The I-Team's Scott MacFarlane reports.

http://www.nbcwashington.com/video/#!/investigations/video/Surge-in-Weapons-Suspensions-in-Some-Md--School-Districts/220574891

Examiner: Md. board OKs overhaul of school discipline

Maryland school officials approved sweeping changes to the state's discipline policy Tuesday, banning zero-tolerance approaches and requiring local school boards to emphasize rehabilitation over punishment.In a unanimous preliminary vote, the State Board of Education emphasized that cutting down on expulsions and long-term suspensions would translate to more classroom time and higher achievement for students, the ultimate goal of the state's school system. The changes are subject to state review and public comment and will be put to a final vote next month."No student comes to school 'perfect,' academically or behaviorally. We do not throw away the imperfect or difficult students," the state board wrote in a report explaining the changes.The board also directed the state's Education Department to identify local districts that disproportionately suspend and expel minority students, giving these systems one year to reduce the disparity and three years to eliminate it...

continue reading article at this link.

State wants to curb student suspensions

State wants to curb student suspensions

...The board wants to "get everybody to focus on the fact that this is part of our educational mission" and that "we are clear that every kid counts," DeGraffenreidt said. 

In addition to reducing suspensions, the board is proposing to eliminate expulsions except in the case of students who have a firearm.
Eight percent of students in the state were suspended last school year, DeGraffenreidt said, and half the suspensions were for nonviolent offenses, such as disrespect or defacing school property. Minority and special education students are far more likely to be suspended than their peers. Board members believe there is a link between the high suspension rate for those groups and low achievement.
"In disproportionate numbers, the very students who are lagging behind are those who are being suspended," DeGraffenreidt said...

African American students suspended and expelled two to five times as often as whites

Across the Washington area, black students are suspended and expelled two to five times as often as white students, creating disparities in discipline that experts say reflect a growing national problem.
An analysis by The Washington Post shows the phenomenon both in the suburbs and in the city, from the far reaches of Southern Maryland to the subdivisions of Fairfax, Prince George's and Montgomery counties... 

...In Montgomery, Deputy Superintendent Frieda K. Lacey said the district has trained principals and administrators in new approaches, which include involving a team of administrators in suspension decisions.
Still, she said, much remains to be done. Nearly 6 percent of black students were suspended or expelled from school last year, compared with 1.2 percent of white students. The gap remains even as suspensions are down since 2006 across all racial groups.
She pointed to one unsettling statistic: 71 percent of suspensions for insubordination, a relatively rare offense in the county, were handed out to black students. African Americans make up 21 percent of students in Montgomery’s schools. The goal is to dig deeper into the data, offer more professional development and share best practices, she said. “We don’t try to minimize the data,” Lacey said. “We just try to talk about it the way it exists.”

Read the entire Washington Post article at this link. 

State school board to review effects of long-term suspensions, expulsions -- baltimoresun.com

State school board to review effects of long-term suspensions, expulsions -- baltimoresun.com

The Maryland state school board is beginning a major review of statewide policies on long-term suspensions and expulsions after concerns over a case involving a student who was suspended for nearly an entire school year without being given any access to public education...



Posted using ShareThis