Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) will gather feedback from students, staff and community members on the effectiveness of the Community Engagement Officer (CEO) program with a November deadline to report back to the board, according to a school board resolution approved Thursday.
The CEO program involves county police officers assigned to a specific high school and its feeder schools, known as a cluster. The officers have an office in their assigned high school, but do not patrol hallways.
The program was introduced in the 2022-2023 school year after MCPS removed county police officers, known as school resource officers, from campuses the previous year following concerns over students of color being disproportionately disciplined. Some community members have argued that returning to using school resource officers, who were assigned to high schools and patrolled campuses, would make schools safer.
On March 18, school board member Brenda Wolff (Dist. 5) put forth a resolution directing MCPS Superintendent Thomas Taylor to “solicit student, staff, parent and community input on the current CEO program within the context of school safety.” On Thursday, the board unanimously approved the resolution.
Wolff told Bethesda Today on Monday that her resolution was not directed at any specific problem with the CEO program. Rather, she said all programs should be regularly evaluated and it was time for an evaluation of the CEO program after roughly three years of implementation. She noted her resolution isn’t an effort to revert to implementing a school resource officer program.
Wolff said the board hears many concerns about school safety from community members and wants to see if the CEO program needs to be improved.
“The role the [CEO] can or should play in this effort has been a topic of significant debate within our community,” Wolff’s resolution said. “It is important that all stakeholders are able to share their experiences and perspectives to inform decision making as the school system continues to grapple with the complexity of maintaining safe learning environments.”
Safety issues
Over the past two school years, MCPS has experienced a variety of incidents concerning safety. During the 2023-2024 school year alone, schools were subjected to numerous bomb threats, two students arrested at two high schools for possession of loaded guns, hate-based graffiti was discovered on campuses and several fights gained attention.
This school year, John F. Kennedy High School in Silver Spring experienced a back-to-back lockdown and shelter-in-place in January.
At Bethesda-Chevy Chase High in February, two students were arrested after a shooting in a nearby park, in which no one was hurt. Almost a week after the park shooting, the school was forced to go on a lockdown after another Bethesda-Chevy Chase High student was reported to have an airsoft gun.
On Thursday, a student at Gaithersburg High was arrested for possession of a loaded gun on campus.
Board President Julie Yang and Taylor shared comments similar to Wolff’s about evaluating the CEO program at a May 6 County Council meeting while discussing the proposed fiscal year 2026 MCPS operating budget request.
“There are a lot of conversations … about the CEO program,” Yang told the council. “I think it is high time that we take a look and evaluate the effectiveness of the program.”
At the council meeting, Taylor noted that CEOs work in the schools to enforce laws, while school security staff are focused on student conduct and school safety.
According to the resolution, MCPS will gather feedback on how the CEO program is working, if there are any challenges with the program and if there are any areas for improvement. Taylor is set to provide the board with an update on the matter by November.
