The coordination between law enforcement and school officials in Montgomery County — along with the initial report from a witness — was credited for averting a potential catastrophe after an 18-year-old student was charged with making a threat of mass violence targeting Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville, Maryland.
The incident came a week after Montgomery County Public Schools heard from student school board member Sami Saeed who urged the board to move faster on school safety. At that meeting, Saeed cited his own survey of students and said that many felt nothing was being done to deal with their concerns about safety in their own schools.
During a news conference regarding the arrest of 18-year-old Alex Ye, Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones was asked if he believed that school resource officers (SROs) should be brought back.
“Our officers are committed to being in those schools when needed and being visible when required,” Jones said.
In 2021, the SRO program, which placed officers in a single school full-time, was eliminated. Instead, Montgomery County schools have community engagement officers (CEO) in place, which assigns an official to a single high school cluster and gives them access to a workspace. According to a Montgomery County Public Schools survey, the officer responds “when called upon by the school leadership.”
After the news conference, Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy told WTOP he had never supported removing SROs from schools. He’s been receiving messages from parents and community members detailing fights, including videos taken by students inside schools.
“I can’t help but believe that some of the violent attacks that we’re seeing in our schools that are being photographed by other kids — and these are pretty vicious attacks — would not occur if a police officer was on school property,” McCarthy said.
At the same news conference, Montgomery County Council member Will Jawando, who heads the council’s Public Safety Committee, said he doesn’t see the need to restore SROs.
“I see our CEOs active in the schools.” Jawando said, adding that the difference with the new model is “they’re not patrolling the hallways. They’re not there all day, but if there’s an issue, they’re right there.”
On Friday, Kennedy High School Principal Vickie Adamson sent a letter home to parents explaining that a trespasser had entered the school during lunch and “brandished a knife.” According to the letter, security disarmed the trespasser, and the school’s CEO was “already on school grounds, and security quickly alerted her to the situation.”
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
