From vaping, the cost of supplies to cellphone policies, the WTOP team is studying up on hot-button topics in education across the D.C. region. Follow our series “WTOP Goes Back to School” on air and online this August and September.
Montgomery County high schools in Maryland begin their football season in two weeks and, once again, safety and security remain atop everyone’s playbook.
Many can’t forget an ugly incident that took place in September 2022 when a fight broke out on the field between Gaithersburg and Northwest high school involving players and coaches that eventually led to both programs being temporarily suspended.
Last September, after a game between two rivals featuring Walter Johnson and Bethesda-Chevy Chase high schools, a fight broke out near the Bethesda Metro station with students from both schools in which several altercations took place.
For this season, Montgomery County Public Schools has implemented some different rules for family, friends, and students, who plan to attend upcoming sports events at county high schools.
According to Jeff Sullivan, MCPS’ director of athletics, a positive move has been the addition of an old familiar face to county law enforcement. On July 1, retired county police chief Marcus Jones was named chief of security and compliance for MCPS.
Sullivan told WTOP: “I am very much looking forward to him and his expertise and leadership, what he is going to bring not just MCPS athletics, but MCPS as a whole, to really enhance what we’re doing.”
In early July, the school board voted unanimously to appoint Jones, whose resume includes 38 years with the Montgomery County Police Department. Now, the 59-year-old is responsible for safety and security for the district’s more than 200 schools.
As far as new rules for those attending county sports events, Sullivan said elementary and middle school students will be required to have parental supervision to enter a facility, there’s no reentry to any venue, and no backpacks will be allowed. In addition, high school students will be required to show a current school ID or class schedule and must be a member of one of the participating schools playing that location’s game.
Sullivan added: “We’ll have security and administrators at the gate, which we’ve had in the past, and we’ll also have police presence there as well at our games.”
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