At least thirteen students were arrested on the grounds of Montgomery County Public Schools in the most recent school year — up from three during the academic year prior.
The data was shared by school officials in a presentation on student well-being and safety during a June 27 Board of Education meeting. Eight of the students arrested during the 2022-2023 school year were Black, and five were white, according to county data. The data doesn’t cite what the students were arrested for.
Some school board members expressed frustration that Hispanic students weren’t included in the data. Dana Edwards, the school’s systems chief of district operations, said some Hispanic students were arrested in the 2022-23 year, but it wasn’t included in the presentation because “it’s not an identified race” in federal reporting procedure.
The presentation came after Superintendent Monifa McKnight condemned a rise in hate and bias incidents at county schools this year and discussed ways to respond to a rise in youth overdoses.
“I have not yet found an issue that we’re trying to solve in the school system,” McKnight said, “that is one that is isolated here, just in Montgomery County Public Schools or in the state of Maryland.”
Across the district, the county reported 1,708 “serious incidents” last school year, down from 1,758 in 2021-22. Those incidents, Edwards said, include things that may feature “some level of risk or harm that could disrupt school operations.”
There were 840 incidents involving medical assistance; 237 involving drugs alcohol or another controlled substance; 283 about weapons; and 348 involving fighting or an attack on a student or adult, according to school system data.
The county also reported 1,330 bullying incidents during the last school year, and 237 hate/bias incidents. However, of those 237, 108 were between January and March, according to Associate Superintendent Damon Monteleone.
“We know that these reports included racial discrimination, such as the use of the N-word, religious and cultural discrimination, such as antisemitism, and discrimination against our LGBTQ+ community,” Monteleone said.
McKnight condemned the rise in the hate/bias incidents during a speech earlier this year, and reiterated during the meeting that “what happens in schools, it’s a microcosm of what’s happening in our community.”
Regarding arrest data, Jordan Satinsky, captain of community engagement for Montgomery County police, said what officers can make an arrest for changed due to recent legislation. Effective last summer, police can’t arrest juveniles younger than 13.
“Unless it’s murder or a sexual assault, there’s nothing my officers can do,” Satinsky said.
He pointed to that as “one of the reasons you’re seeing different (arrest) numbers.”
The school system, Edwards said, has made sure police have key fobs to enter school buildings, so they don’t have to wait to be let in during an emergency. It’s also working to ensure all elementary schools have cameras, already adding them on 37 campuses and planning to have another 22 schools outfitted by the beginning of the year.
Six Montgomery County high schools also implemented a vape detection system in school bathrooms last year as part of a pilot program.
