On March 4, in response to Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School’s two lockdowns in six days, Montgomery County Councilmember Andrew Friedson (Dist. 1) organized a community meeting to discuss safety at B-CC and in its surrounding Bethesda community.
Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) leaders were there. County police were in the house. Approximately 100 parents, students and community members, according to Bethesda Today, were in attendance, too.
Notably absent was the B-CC administration.
How notably?
This is how Bethesda Today education reporter Ashlyn Campbell described the meeting vibe in her March 5 recap: “During the meeting at B-CC, Friedson noted the frustration in the auditorium was palpable, with several expressing anger that B-CC leadership didn’t attend the meeting.”
What was not clarified was why B-CC administrators were a no-show.
According to multiple sources, their superiors in MCPS specifically told the B-CC administrators not to come to the meeting. If that is the case, who told them not to attend?
Dr. Peter Moran, chief of MCPS School Support and Improvement, did not mention these important details from the stage that evening, according to Bethesda Today; nor did he find space to mention it in his lengthy letter to the school community a few days later.
If MCPS did, in fact, tell B-CC administrators not to attend the March 4 meeting, we all deserve an explanation and the B-CC administration deserves a very public apology.
As the old saying goes, “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.” It pains my soul to think our administrators may have been put on the menu on purpose.
Let’s be clear. The answer to our school safety problems does not lie on the other side of a revolving door of administrators. The people working at B-CC today would do everything in their power to defend this school, the students, their colleagues and the community. Don’t believe that? Be my guest during our next lockdown.
More turnover and upheaval is not what we need. So where can we find answers to our safety concerns?
Someday, we may need metal detectors and school resource officers in the building. But right now, we need to get back to the basics.
Basic No. 1: Learning happens and our community flourishes when students are in class or participating in extracurricular activities that foster relationships with other students, staff and neighbors. In other words, school safety requires we solve the dual chronic absenteeism and truancy epidemics.
Basic No. 2: Schools need more autonomy — not less — when it comes to solving chronic absenteeism and truancy. After all, B-CC administrators did not invent the lax attendance and grading policies. They just do their darndest to implement them in accordance with MCPS guidelines. In other words, there are no “one-size-fits-all-schools” solutions.
Basic No. 3: We need to gather all stakeholders in the same room and hammer out real solutions based on basics Nos. 1 and 2. In other words, stay clear of the scapegoat on the menu.
These three basics may not make for dramatic town hall moments or dynamic speeches. But that’s OK. The MoCo to the Rescue Show was always a bit too bloviated for my taste anyway.
Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School teacher David Lopilato teaches grade 10 English and Anthropology and Cultural Studies.
