A day after a shooting inside a Montgomery County high school left one student injured, the superintendent of Maryland’s largest school district attempted to calm concerned community members and described steps the division plans to take to keep students safe.
During one of two community meetings Tuesday, Superintendent Thomas Taylor said new cameras and door safety features are being installed at Wootton High School. There will be extra security help for the remainder of the school year and a greater law enforcement presence will be in place, he said.
Still, despite those steps, some parents left the session frustrated. The meeting, called the “Community Caregiver Support Information Session,” offered tips for parents and students navigating the days after the shooting.
Rockville City police offered insight into their response, emphasizing they entered some classrooms multiple times and wore tactical gear as part of standard protocol. Initially, officers didn’t know there was one shooter, and believed otherwise, Deputy Chief Barry Dufek said.
Taylor, meanwhile, said the district chose another school to reunite students with their families because Wootton remained a crime scene until about 10 p.m.
But as the meeting concluded, several parents shouted questions and concerns at Taylor. Questions could be submitted, and more community meetings would be planned, Taylor assured them.
Eventually, as the comments continued, Taylor told families he knew his responses would be “unfulfilling and unsatisfactory,” and then ended the meeting.
“That was very embarrassing,” one parent said. “We came here because we expected that they were going to answer our questions, but unfortunately, they didn’t answer our questions.”
Monday afternoon’s shooting left one student hurt and another facing an attempted second-degree murder charge. The 16-year-old charged is expected to appear in court Wednesday afternoon.
“I’m right there with our parents,” Taylor told reporters after the meeting. “I’m angry, I’m upset, I’m frustrated, I’m exhausted, just like they are and just like their kids are, and just like our teachers are.”
The campus opened for classes Tuesday, and Taylor said the 40% attendance rate was higher than he expected.
Wootton’s normal attendance rate is more than double that.
Mental health professionals have been available to students, and instead of normal classwork, kids are engaging in “light academic activities,” Taylor said.
The decision to open the school the day after the shooting was based on research suggesting the sooner students are offered mental health support, the better the outcomes, Taylor said.
“In hindsight, candidly, I probably should have gone with a two-hour delay (Tuesday) to give our faculty and staff a little bit of extra time to get adjusted this morning. That’s on me. Our faculty and staff, they’re exhausted,” Taylor said.
Beth Steiner, whose son is a freshman at Wootton, praised teachers and staff and said she gives district leaders some grace, because “they don’t have all the answers right now. And is it better to take the questions and not have the answers? Is that going to lead to more frustration?”
Adelaida Pifano, whose son is a sophomore, said the county needs to “take actions in order to prevent this. This is kind of concerning, but we have to do something. This can’t keep happening. This needs to stop.”
While the division will consider weapons detectors, Taylor warned they “may be a good fit for us. It may not be a good fit for us.”
Three Montgomery County High Schools — Magruder, Seneca Valley and Bethesda-Chevy Chase — are piloting the artificial intelligence weapons detectors program.
“I am shocked,” Andrea Bernardo said. “And yet, can we be shocked? We have a huge gun violence problem in this country, and I don’t understand why on Earth we can’t do something about it.”
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