2/18/26: MCPS Director of Security at BCC High School on VOLT AI Pilot

Notes from the PTSA meeting held at BCC High School on February 18, 2026. 

The topic of the meeting was the surprise announcement of a pilot of the VOLT AI system.  MCPS Director of Security Marcus Jones was the only speaker on this topic.  No representatives from VOLT AI spoke. 

Director Jones said that MCPS was approached and offered a no cost, 30 day trial of the VOLT AI product.

The 30 day pilot will be at three schools:  Seneca Valley HS because it is the largest high school in the state of Maryland, BCC High School because it is urban, and Magruder High School because it is suburban.  They asked the principals if they would participate. The pilot will begin March 2nd. 

Director Jones said this is the "evaluation phase."  There will be weekly reports and a final report. MCPS schools already have cameras. The VOLT AI system will only be on 30 cameras per school.  Each school has about 200 cameras. Currently, existing MCPS cameras are not monitored.  

A question was asked about what data MCPS currently has on incidents at schools and if that data would be used to compare to to the data generated from the VOLT AI pilot.  Director Jones said there isn't any data and you can't know what will happen in a school any given week.  There are no plans to evaluate data and no metrics for evaluating the system were stated. 

The agreement to do this pilot was reviewed by MCPS legal counsel. 

Director Jones said that nothing is off the table with regard to school security. 

Once installed, MCPS will run tests to see how VOLT AI responds.  They will set up test scenarios and see response. A human at VOLT AI will receive the alerts, review the video and contact MCPS.  A question was asked about where the VOLT AI human was located, the answer was USA. 

VOLT AI will retain the video for 30 days and then it will be deleted. 

Director Jones said he can not speak to the cost of VOLT AI.  He said he is not the decision maker.  The decision maker are the elected officials.  Even though VOLT AI is from Bethesda, they won't be given preference. 

Director Jones will not tell principals how to use the information from VOLT AI. 

 

Once again, MCPS skips public bidding process for "pilot" with unknown cost/benefit. Future cost could be tens of millions.

The Montgomery County Board of Education has had no public discussion of this pilot. The Board of Education has not voted to pilot this company's system and did not pick the 3 schools.

In 2024, MCPS estimated that weapons detection systems for secondary schools would cost $11,000,000.

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What we know about an AI-powered weapons detection system coming to county schools

The day before gunfire pierced a Montgomery County high school, the district quietly began rolling out a pilot program for an AI-powered weapons detection system.

Chief Safety Officer Marcus Jones wrote to families in three high school communities — Seneca Valley, Bethesda-Chevy Chase* and Magruder — to tell them that their campuses were poised to test VOLT AI.

“This pilot is a careful, short-term opportunity to test a potential tool,” the Feb. 8 letter reads...

...How much does it cost?

Sokolowski isn’t charging Montgomery County for its 30-day pilot.

“We are confident in our technology, so we allow companies and school districts to pilot completely for free.”

He said he has not yet discussed future pricing models with the district...

https://www.thebanner.com/education/k-12-schools/ai-powered-weapons-detection-montgomery-schools-wootton-HX2I2EI5YZC2NAK4OMDITQX2PU/

*Note: Superintendent Thomas Taylor has said he grew up in the BCC High School community and would be moving home when he took the MCPS superintendent position. 

Montgomery parents of color call for more info on students’ reading skills

Parents say they struggle to understand if their child is reading below grade level.

Montgomery County advocacy groups and afterschool service providers say they have noticed a troubling trend: Students of color were not reading on grade level, but their parents had no idea because a report card indicated the child was passing in the subject...

https://wapo.st/4hTWwez

Autism Communication Pilot Project

Syracuse Institute on Communication and Inclusion

Do you have a non-verbal child with Autism?

Do you think your child could use technology to communicate: like an iPad?

Montgomery County Government has funded an "autism communication pilot project" that is being implemented in TWO schools. For FIVE children. These schools are in Bethesda and Potomac.

Resources, training, and technology are being lavished on these five children. Today, we heard the Montgomery County Innovation Officer and Chris Richardson speak effusively about training for parents, training for siblings, expansion of use of the technology into afterschool programs, working with the recreation department, etc etc.

I am fuming mad.

Not because these FIVE children don't deserve every bit of this effort. They absolutely do.

But there are many many other parents across Montgomery County who are DESPERATE for this type of intervention and technology for their child. I know, I have talked or emailed with some of you. But Chris Richardson and Dan Hoffman seem to be comfortable limiting this program to the five privileged familes at these two wealthy schools. The County Council ED committee (Craig Rice, Phil Andrews, Cherie Branson) seems to be willing to let them get away with that.

Does the community think this is "fair"? Does the community think this is "equitable?"

I don't. I think we need to make an appointment with Craig Rice and outline to him just exactly why it is patently unfair to limit this potentially life-altering technology to five kids...while at the same time approving MCPS to purchase $15 million dollars worth of Chromebooks to be distributed across MCPS.

The Superintendent is always babbling about Equity. From the disability community perspective, this Autism Pilot Project is so blatantly INEQUITABLE that I think we need to make a stand.