Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) reported a roughly 10% decrease in student safety infractions in the 2024-2025 school year when compared to the previous school year. That drop came amid the implementation of initiatives, including the installation of vape detectors, to address safety and security concerns in schools, according to a June 24 county school board presentation.
Some of those initiatives faced challenges during the school year, such as the vape detectors triggering an “overwhelming” number of false alarms, according to MCPS staff.
Moving forward into the 2025-2026 school year, the district is looking to focus on updates to the student code of conduct and implementing standard protocols for emergency response. MCPS won’t be implementing a weapons detection pilot for the 2025-2026 school year, according to district officials.
Safety data
According to the presentation, 966 student infractions that impacted school safety occurred from August 2024 to May 2025. That figure represents a 10% decrease from the total of 1,069 student infractions that impacted school safety during the 2023-2024 school year.
About 34%, or 330, were reported as fighting/attacks on others. Infractions related to knives or other weapons and those related to drugs were the next most commonly reported, at about 29% and 21% respectively. Bomb threats accounted for about 9% of the infractions and 6% were related to trespassing.
Bomb threats and false alarms for safety incidents were the only category that increased — from 79 student infractions during the 2023-2024 school year to 88 during the academic year that ended in June.
According to the presentation, 30% of student safety infractions in elementary schools from August 2024 to May 2025 resulted from fighting/attacks and 27% were related to knives or other weapons. Of the remaining infractions issued in elementary schools, 20% were related to false alarms/bomb threats, 13% were for trespassing and 10% involved drugs or other controlled substances.
In middle schools, 37% of student infractions from students involved fighting or attacks on others, with infractions related to knives and other weapons at 35%. Infractions related to drugs and controlled substances made up 19% of the infractions, 5% were due to false alarms/bomb threats and 4% were due to trespassing from August 2024 to May 2025.
In high schools, student infractions due to fighting or those involving drugs or knives and other weapons each accounted for about one-third of all reported infractions. False alarms and bomb threats made up 6% and another 4% was for trespassing.
Current safety initiatives
Marcus Jones, the former county police chief who now heads the MCPS Department of Security and Compliance, said during the school board meeting that MCPS staff completed “school safety walks” to assess safety practices in all 25 high schools and installed vape detectors in each one.
“This was important to see again what is happening in our schools and to learn from principals and security staff the best practices and challenges,” Jones said.
According to school board documents, the safety walks helped officials determine “a strong collaboration” exists between administrators and safety, with administration checking in with security and supporting with rule enforcement, and whether school entrances are monitored. Schools also faced safety challenges during lunch and in hallways due to high traffic and a lack of clarity around expectations for hall passes for students and staff.
In October, the district received $2 million in settlement money to purchase vape detection devices that were installed in all high schools. The funding came from a state grant created after the Juul vape company was ordered to pay $7.5 million to the state for marketing its products to minors.
While the vape detectors have worked as a deterrent to some extent, administrators, security team members and other school staff members said in a survey that they received an overwhelming number of notifications and false positives from the sensors, according to school board documents.
“To be blunt, the sensors are going off too often for them to be useful. Perhaps they are too sensitive? Today, a SINGLE normal school day, our sensors generated LITERALLY over 500 alerts by the final school bell,” one survey respondent noted, according to the documents. “Checking these alerts with that frequency is no more useful than random checks when individuals may be present. Furthermore, checking all of those alerts is NOT sustainable.”
Jones said MCPS was working with its vendor to “determine how to balance device effectiveness and more accurate notifications to decrease this response” for the 2025-2026 school year.
Moving forward
During the coming school year, Jones and Peter Moran, the MCPS chief school leadership officer, said the district would be implementing an emergency response protocol used nationwide and addressing behavior with a revised student code of conduct.
While Jones has discussed looking into installing weapons detection systems in the past, he said the district will not have a weapons detection pilot program for the 2025-2026 school year.
According to the presentation, MCPS will be adopting a standard response protocol from the I Love U Guys Foundation, a nonprofit started in 2006 by Ellen and John-Michael Keyes after their daughter Emily was killed in a school shooting. According to school board documents, the protocol is focused on five key actions: hold, secure lockdown, evacuate and shelter.
“This is a nationally recognized model designed to enhance school safety and crisis response,” Jones said during the meeting.
MCPS is also currently adjusting its student code of conduct starting with the 2025-2026 school year to emphasize student accountability and to promote safe schools, according to district staff. Some expected revisions include increasing the severity of possible punishments for infractions such as drug possession and distribution, theft, making bomb threats and attacks on students and staff.
Moran said impacts on safety data due to changes in the code of conduct would differ from school to school. Moran said while some safety incident numbers may increase due to shifts in the code of conduct, positive relationship building will help decrease negative behavior.
“There is a relationship movement in our school system,” Moran told the board. “There is a fundamental focus on the quality of relationships that principals have with teachers, teachers have with students, you know, staff have with families … I think those relationships will result in a decrease in just negative behavior.”
