School safety a top priority, Montgomery Co. schools superintendent says

When students fight in Montgomery County Schools in Maryland, the incidents are considered serious, school system Superintendent Monifa McKnight said.

“My top priority as superintendent is to ensure that every student that comes into a school feels safe,” McKnight said Friday.

When she introduced her $3.3 billion operating budget last month, McKnight pointed out that the school system has added more security staff, cameras and “enhanced infrastructure” to deal with a 65% increase in “serious incidents” compared to the same time last year.

Under the school system’s guidelines, a serious incident is: “Any incident that includes some level of risk, harm, or threat of harm to staff or students, seriously disrupts school operations, or concerns staff or students and could escalate to a community concern or elevated police or legal matter.”

McKnight, who was visiting Seneca Valley High School on Friday to talk about the dual enrollment program that allows students to get college credit while still in high school, was asked about the recent fight at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School and how student discipline is carried out.

Any time a student gets into a physical altercation with another student or staff member, said McKnight, “That is serious,” and not just for the participants and victims.

“Individuals who may not [be] impacted physically, if they observe it, they’re impacted, and so a community is absolutely harmed,” McKnight said.

In his email to parents on Thursday, B-CC Principal Shelton Mooney explained that while the students would be disciplined, that might not result in out-of-school suspensions.

McKnight said, “There’s a wide range of accountability” that school administrators can impose, but that a restorative justice component is required as part of the disciplinary process.

Montgomery County schools’ student code of conduct lays out five levels of discipline, from detention and counseling to long-term suspension or expulsion, depending on the severity. But McKnight said, along with the disciplinary action, there must be the opportunity for restoration.

In her proposed operating budget, McKnight said there was an added $500,000 for the Department of Investigations and Compliance unit, which focuses on dealing with incidents involving hate, bias and bullying.

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