by Lauren Hill ‘22

In the wake of the shooting that occurred on January 21 at Magruder, which left one 15-year-old student critically injured, MCPS has vowed to reevaluate every aspect of school safety. The newly appointed MCPS Superintendent, Dr. Monifa McKnigh,t promised a review of the current security plan which would include consideration of reintroducing Student Resource Officers (SROs) back into schools.

County leaders voted in 2021 to end the SRO program and take armed police officers out of all schools county wide. The program, which had been in place for 19 years, was  criticized for negatively affecting minority and special education students.The program was changed to a Community Engagement Officer (CEO) program where officers are assigned to cover school clusters, and are only allowed inside a school building if they are called for an emergency. Following the shooting at Magruder, the MCPS Chief of Teaching, Learning, and Schools, Ruschelle Reuben, announced some of MCPS’s proposals for security that include giving the county more say in which officers participate in the CEO program and more direct communication between schools and CEOs. This proposal is expected to be discussed in greater detail during a planned joint Education & Culture/Public Safety Committee meeting on February 24. CEO program proposals cannot take effect until there is a signed memorandum of Agreement between MCPS and the Montgomery County Education Association.

Another proposal made by a group of MCPS students is increased resources for mental and emotional health. At an MCPS school board meeting, high school students spoke to board members about what they believe will be the most beneficial in the long run. Magruder student Himanshu Gediya, a member of the school SGA, stated that the shooting was a sign of a widespread mental health crisis. 

“SROs were taken out of MCPS schools this year to provide more funding toward mental health support, but that transition was rushed … I stood here on this podium a week before the shooting incident asking for mental health resources at Magruder and I still haven’t seen anything,” Gediya stated. While some attendees of the board meeting supported the SRO program being reinstated, multiple students advocated for shifting the focus away from redoing the SRO program and concentrating more effort toward mental health services.

A community letter stated that in the months ahead, MCPS leadership will collaborate with county officials, community partners, and school-based staff to conduct a review of all school safety and security practices, and address concerns regarding police presence on school campuses. While it is unclear whether or not police officers will be back in schools, McKnight has agreed that there were many issues with the former SRO program, and that it promoted inequity in some cases. “I don’t want to see any particular program come back … there were positives to that program, there were also negatives to the program. And, so, it’s more about what … type of environment that we want to create in our schools that creates a safe one,” McKnight stated at a press conference in late January.

While it is unclear what security measures will be taken in the wake of the shooting, MCPS is required by state law to review the incident and response at Magruder and submit a report to the Maryland Center for School Safety. The center will then evaluate the report and participate in an after-action critique and review to add safety measures to schools.