Montgomery

County Council

For Immediate Release

December 9, 2014

Contact: Neil H. Greenberger 240-777-7939 / Delphine Harriston 240-777-7931 / Namita Acharya 240-777-7819

Montgomery Councils Education

Committee to Review How MCPS and
Agencies Can
Work Together on Student Abuse
Reports
On Monday, Feb. 2, Committee Will Look at Recent
Cases of Abuse in Schools and How to Improve Followup Procedures
ROCKVILLE, Md., December 9, 2014The Montgomery County Councils
Education Committee has scheduled a worksession on Monday, Feb. 2, on the

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Montgomery County Public Schools policies and procedures regarding child

abuse allegations that occur on school property. The worksession was
scheduled in response to community concerns regarding MCPS delays in
informing the respective school communities when alleged incidents of abuse
were recently reported at multiple schools.
The Education Committee, which is chaired by Craig Rice and includes
Councilmembers Marc Elrich and Nancy Navarro, will meet at 9:30 a.m. on
Feb. 2 in the Third Floor Council Conference Room of the Council Office
Building in Rockville.
Professionals in education and health have been required for
many years to report possible abuse to the police or to child
protective services, said Councilmember Rice. We have
become accustomed to seeing such reports of abuse shared
with parents. Why these particular incidents did not follow the
same practice needs to be addressed.
Recently, some of us have been shaken by multiple reports of possible abuse
at public schools in Montgomery County. To heighten our concern, these
incidents have spurred a larger discussion within the county as to how these
incidents are handled and whether additional measures may need to be taken to
ensure the safety and wellbeing of our students.
Councilmember Rice said Superintendant of Schools Joshua Starr and the
members of the Board of Education will be invited to participate in the

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worksession. He said that the committee will not only review the facts around
the two recent incidents, but also will look at how procedures can be improved
in the future and how MCPS could work with other governmental agencies to
appropriately address such situations.
Our focus will be on how the school system and appropriate county agencies
can work together to more quickly and decisively address such allegations,
said Councilmember Rice. In addition, two other areas require immediate
attention: Communicationparticularly within the school communityand
prevention.
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