MCPS: Suspensions down compared to start of prior school year

District attributes decline to increased staff presence

September 16, 2024 7:33 p.m.

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) saw a decrease in the number of suspensions and serious incidents in the first week of the current school year when compared to the number of incidents reported at start of the prior year, according to district officials.  

The school district also hired more than 600 teachers and 700 support staff for the 2024-2025 school year–leaving roughly 80 full-time teacher positions and more than 300 full-time support staff jobs remaining to be filled, according to an MCPS presentation to the school board last week.  

Peter Moran, MCPS chief of schools, told the county school board Thursday the district saw 36 suspensions, 18 fights resulting in suspension and 124 serious incidents across all 211 schools in the first week of the 2023-2024 school year. 

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This school year, Moran said, 10 suspensions, two fights resulting in suspension and 86 serious incidents were reported during the first week after classes began Aug. 26. Moran also said there were decreases in the number of reports of drugs and controlled substances on campus.

Serious incidents are defined as those that involve some harm, risk or threat of harm to staff or students; seriously disrupt school operations; or concern staff or students and could escalate to a community concern or police/legal matter. 

Moran said he believed the number of fights resulting in suspensions decreased because more school staff are present in hallways.  

“I don’t think something like that just happens by chance,” Moran said. “Our principals have gotten buy-in from their staff to be a presence in the building, a presence in the hallways, to be interacting with students, having conversations.”  

School board President Karla Silvestre noted that Moran and other MCPS staff previously had told the board they are encouraging schools to report incidents, so the decrease shouldn’t be considered a result of underreporting. Marcus Jones, the former county police chief who now heads the MCPS Department of Security and Compliance, said he hasn’t received evidence that suggests underreporting.  

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MCPS Superintendent Thomas Taylor has said that safety is the district’s “No. 1 priority.” The district is reevaluating how serious incidents are reported and is implementing other safety measures such as mandatory IDs, the installation of vape detectors and a cell-phone restriction pilot program.  

The district hired thousands of employees for the new school year, but still has vacancies to fill, according to an MCPS presentation to the board.  

MCPS hired 645 teachers, 318 of which are new to the profession and 327 with experience, according to the presentation. The school district also hired 725 support staff, 44 principals, 65 assistant principals and 13 school administrators.  

A majority of both the teachers and administrators who were hired are white – 44.4% and 47.5% respectively. Of the hired teachers, 14.1% are Asian, 17.2% are Black/African American, 17.2% are Hispanic and about 7% had not disclosed their race, according to the presentation.  

Of the new administrators, 36% are Black/African American, 11.5% are Hispanic, 2.5% are Asian and 2.5% are two or more races.  

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While officials note that job vacancy data changes from day to day, MCPS still needs to hire about 80 full-time teachers, 140 paraeducators and 330 full-time support staffers, according to the presentation.  

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