The Montgomery County school board this week added funds to the next year’s proposed budget that coincide with a sweeping review of school safety, including expanding “wellness rooms” to all schools and offering more virtual mental health services.
New funds also include $500,000 to hire a communication firm to help manage messaging to families.
The safety-related amendments to the proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2023 total nearly $6 million, though some of it is expected to be paid for with federal COVID-19 relief funds.
The district’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year totals about $2.9 billion.
The amendments expected to be funded with federal relief money include:
• Expanding well-being spaces: $1,161,563
• Expanding student well-being teams: $226,065
• Expanding daily social and emotional wellness time to all schools: $452,130
• Telehealth mental health services available to all students: $1,600,000
The amendments that would need to be funded by the county include:
• Hiring a communication firm: $500,000
• Hiring 12 security positions that would focus primarily on elementary schools: $866,201
• Adding three cluster security coordinators: $351,030
• Adding two security training coordinators: $245,820
• Summer security training stipends: $243,950
• Purchasing 100 security cameras for elementary schools: $250,000
The additions come as MCPS conducts a sweeping review of school safety following a shooting at Col. Zadok Magruder High School.
On Jan. 21, a 15-year-old student was shot in a bathroom during the school day, police said. A 17-year-old student has been charged as an adult with attempted second-degree murder. The victim was seriously injured.
Some Magruder families criticized MCPS the afternoon of the shooting for offering few details about the situation. Principal Leroy Evans apologized that evening for one of the messages he sent earlier in the day that said there was no threat to other students, despite the school remaining in lockdown for several hours.
“We regret using that language as the police continued to actively conduct an investigation inside the school,” his message said.
In the days that followed, MCPS Interim Superintendent Monifa McKnight pledged to conduct a “comprehensive review” of the district’s safety measures, including its relationship with police.
Prior to the start of this school year, officers were removed from buildings for the first time in nearly two decades, at the direction of County Executive Marc Elrich. They were replaced with community engagement officers who patrol geographic areas around schools, rather than being stationed in them.
Last week, MCPS leaders said during a school board meeting that they are considering modifying that program to allow the officers to have a “dedicated work station” in high schools, but not be stationed there permanently.
Principals could contact them directly, if needed. Currently, schools go through a dispatcher when they need to reach an officer.
This week, after listening to testimony from dozens of students and community members who called for a more urgent implementation of mental health services, McKnight said MCPS is “experiencing a mental health crisis in a way that I have never seen in my 20 years of education.”
That’s why, she said, it’s necessary to make the proposed changes to the next budget, to add funds for mental health services, as well as the other safety measures.
“Initially, we proposed a same services budget …,” she said, referring to no increases. “However, we now recognize that the same services budget we presented does not meet our needs. … We’ve had more than enough circumstances and tragedies this past month. It says that we have to really address these needs in a variety of ways.”
The wellness rooms, which would be expanded to all schools, are spaces in which students can practice meditation, yoga or breathing exercises, or spend time with a therapy dog, if available. The goal is to provide “de-escalation space” for students, according to Acting Associate Superintendent Everett Davis.
Fifty-one of MCPS’ 209 schools have wellness rooms, he said. Storage rooms, closets or unused classrooms can be converted for the wellness rooms.
To illustrate the increased need for the space, Everett said Argyle Middle School had 74 requests to use their wellness room between September 2019 and January 2020. Between September 2021 and January 2022, there were 512 requests, he said.
“For every student who proactively accesses a wellness space, that is one less student who potentially receives an office referral or necessitates an administrative response,” he said. “… Wellbeing can no longer be seen as an ancillary activity in our schools.”
The additional funds would also add a dozen new “security rovers,” who would be assigned to schools as needed, but primarily focus on elementary schools where there are currently no security staff.
The district also budgeted a quarter of a million dollars to purchase additional security cameras for elementary schools.
A public hearing about the budget is scheduled for Tuesday. The school board will then take action to adopt the budget on Thursday and send it to the Montgomery County Council and County Executive Marc Elrich for review.
Caitlynn Peetz can be reached at caitlynn.peetz@moco360.media
