The Montgomery County Board of Education approved Monday updates to its child abuse and neglect policy that will impose stricter standards for reporting and dealing with alleged cases of child abuse in county public schools.
The policy aims to ensure employees understand they must recognize and report suspected child abuse; that children and vulnerable adults who are alleged victims of abuse are supported; and that new processes are in place to better screen existing and new employees.
The policy also recommends the school system develop new professional learning programs for school employees to provide them with more information about child abuse.
The new standards were developed by a work group of parents, school staff and community members who consulted with the Montgomery County police department and the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office.
The updated policy revises the child abuse standards last updated in 1986 and reviewed in 2007.
The board is scheduled to receive an update from school staff on the new policy next June.
Community members urged the school system to update its standards after a string of recent incidents involving school staff or outside contractors. A substitute teacher, Jose Pineda, was sentenced to five years in prison in May for groping teenagers while he worked in county schools. In March, a former contractor, John Epps Jr., pleaded guilty to inappropriately touching a 12-year-old girl—an incident that was caught on camera at Baker Middle School in Damascus. Also in May, a Silver Spring music teacher, Lawrence Joynes, pleaded guilty to abusing 15 victims ranging from kindergarten to second-grade students while working at MCPS middle schools.
Critics accused the school system of not doing enough to notify parents and the community of the incidents or to remove the teachers and contractors from local schools.
Some children’s advocates weren’t satisfied with the new policy and called for the school system to bring in an outside investigator to examine cases of alleged abuse, according to The Washington Post.
