Sam Ross, a junior at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, told her local school board how a rash of bomb threats — three at her school alone — have helped to create “fear in the community.”
Ross told the Montgomery County Board that in addition to the bomb threats, a student was found with a gun on campus Monday at Walter Johnson High School, and on the same day, a gun was also found at an elementary school.
“I could go on, you know this,” Ross told the board.
Ross said that students she has worked with have come up with a resolution to address security concerns and work towards solutions.
That work was done in tandem with Sami Saeed, the student member of the Board of Education, who told WTOP in a phone interview that “action is needed” and that student input should be included in the school system’s security plans.
Among the suggestions included in the student resolution is an expansion of an ID program first piloted in select high schools in the county in the spring.
Saeed told WTOP that in those schools, “students are required to show their student ID to an administrator or security guard before entering their school building.”
The measure is necessary, Saeed said, because it’s too easy for non-students to enter school buildings, despite rules requiring anyone visiting an MCPS building to sign in and obtain a visitor’s pass.
Other elements of the security protocols suggested by the students include increased training for students and security staff around safety procedures, enhanced monitoring of restrooms in school buildings, and implementing “additional security technology” in schools.
Saeed said another component in the resolution is improving the communications around school security and the reporting when incidents do occur.
“The resolution’s pushing the administration to receive more student feedback around student safety,” Saeed said.
Asked if he believed the ID requirement would be workable given the large size of Montgomery County high schools, Saeed said it’s already in place at Walter Johnson High School.
MCPS did announce a pilot program where students would be required to show their IDs in order to enter school buildings in April.
WTOP contacted MCPS to ask which schools are involved in the pilot, but did not hear back by the time this story was filed.
Montgomery County police announced Thursday that a 15-year-old had been responsible for making a bomb threat against Paint Branch High School that morning. A 12-year-old had also been recently identified as being responsible for at least seven bomb threats directed at the school system.
Saeed was asked about that and said his reaction was one of “utter disappointment —disappointment that kids can think it’s OK to do something like this.”
“We need a moment to address school safety right now,” Saeed said, who went on to say that when he surveyed students, “only 5% said they always feel safe” inside school buildings.
Saeed explained that a majority of students he asked said they “mostly feel safe” in school, but that the goal should be to get to a point where students always feel secure, whether in class or attending school events.
WTOP’s Kate Ryan reported from Chevy Chase, Maryland.
