In the past year, threats and safety concerns in the Montgomery County school district have left students outraged and scared and the County is trying to resolve the issue.
Because of events like the Sandy Spring attack as well as other attacks on schools, MCPS is cautious when it deals with these kinds of threats because they don’t know which one of the threats could become real.
On Mar. 16, there was a rape case at Rockville High School where two students were accused of attacking aother student. After the case went through the court, the charges for the teens were dropped. According to the Washington Post, “One caller threatened to burn down Rockville High School. Another vowed to show up to shoot the illegals.”
Students here haven’t had to deal with an event like the one experienced at Rockville and they are grateful for that. “I can’t imagine what the students at Rockville High School were thinking after the threats they received. I am glad that it hasn’t happened to us,” senior Justin Slud said.
On Mar. 29, the Montgomery County police investigated phone threats to Argyle Middle School and East Silver Spring Elementary School. According to mymcmedia, the individual message attacking both schools threatened that the suspect had guns and was planning to shoot up the schools. The students remained in the learning area as the teachers continued their teaching.
The principal then went on the loudspeaker and said that the police said that there was nothing to worry about. Even though the person who wrote it wasn’t being serious, MCPS still took extremely cautious steps to make sure nothing happened to the school district.
Here,students feel safe knowing that security is on top of everything that happens. “It makes me feel safer that even if there is a little problem that comes up, MCPS treats it as a bigger problem to make sure everyone is safe,” junior Ethan Kach said.
This school has been affected also. This past weekend, the school received information online about a gun being present at school. The threat was immediately taken to the police to make sure that students were safe. When there was a search of the school, the police and security found no weapons in the building.
No threat to the school is taken lightly, real of fake, and security guards continue to ensure that not just this school, but schools around the county are always safe.
Drew Schrager
Staff Writer
