by Ella Scher ‘23

Just a few weeks into the New Year, MCPS has already been shaken by not one but four reports of guns in schools–one of which left a Magruder student in critical condition after being shot in the abdomen during a dispute in a school bathroom. More than 5,000 MCPS students, parents, and teachers have now signed a change.org petition started by Stephen Austin, a controversial local activist who unsuccessfully ran for an at-large position on the MCPS Board of Education, to reinstate School Resource Officers (SROs) back in schools.

After the shooting at Magruder, which left fifteen-year-old DeAndre Thomas in critical condition, the calls for MCPS to step up their protection against gun violence in schools have only increased in number. The shooter, 17-year-old Stephen Alston Jr., reportedly assembled an untraceable ‘ghost gun’, using it to threaten and eventually shoot Thomas. Alston Jr. is being held without bond and is charged as an adult for attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault, and three firearm-related charges.

The day after the shooting at Magruder, MCPS held a 2-hour Zoom session with the school community that included presentations from the MCPS superintendent, the Montgomery County police chief, the supervisor of MCPS counseling, as well as Magruder’s head of security and all the school’s administrators. The intention was to offer support and comfort to a shaken community, but there was no discussion about whether new safety measures will be implemented at MCPS schools. 

“I’m concerned because this is not the first ghost gun that’s been seized from a minor or a child in Montgomery County,” State’s Attorney John McCarthy said in a press conference, citing that there have been five ghost guns found in county schools. Ghost guns are weapons without serial numbers that are untraceable, meaning that they are privately assembled and distributed. 

On January 12, a Wheaton student was charged with having a loaded handgun in school. In another incident, 27-year-old Jesus Guadalupe-Santaclaya is currently being held without bond for bringing a loaded AR-style rifle (another ghost gun) to Gaithersburg High School, where it was reported that he had arranged to sell the weapon to a student. A security officer stopped the unfamiliar car from entering the school parking lot. 

Now, parents, teachers, and MCPS students are taking to the Internet to voice their displeasure with the situation, many unanimous in their agreement that SROs have been and would continue to be an effective deterrent to on-campus gun threats. “Ending the school resource officer program in favor of some future mental health counseling is as stupid as banning paramedics in lieu of accident prevention programs,” commented change.org petition signer John Converse. Another signer, Sheryl Berlin, agreed, commenting: “Our SRO was not only a safety officer, but he was a role model and mentor to LOTS of kids. Big mistake to remove them.”

The Magruder victim’s mother agreed. “In the event that DeAndre wasn’t the only target, I do think it would have helped to have SROs in the school,” Karen Thomas said. 

The Thomas family attorney, Rob Rowe, argued in favor of SROs, claiming that MCPS is now deliberately unprepared for gun violence.”[SROs] were disarming children who brought guns to schools,” Rowe said. “Who thought it would be a good idea just to remove [them] from our school premises and not provide any substitute for safety?”

For the past nineteen years, SROs have been on MCPS campuses, serving as a security presence and community models for students. Now, those roles have shifted to the Community Engagement Officer (CEO) program. Rather than being a security presence, they are intended as mental health counselors, each one being responsible for a high school and all the feeder middle schools in its cluster. The idea is, rather than a police presence to help in a crisis, mental health resource officers will stop the crisis before it ever occurs by connecting with students.