Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) is revising how administrators should respond to hate-bias incidents involving students this month. This comes in response to concerns over an exponential increase of reported hate-bias incidents in recent years.
According to the district’s Student Welfare and Compliance webpage, there is now a “tiered-response” system with escalating consequences.
Unintentional acts or incidents where students lacked context or knowledge are classified under the lowest level of “yellow.”
Serious offenses that have the potential to impact the community, such as fights or verbal altercations, are classified as “orange.” At this level, administrators will contact police for consultation.
For the most egregious incidents that have a “significant impact on school community”, such as vandalism or assault, the new system designates them as “red.” At this stage, police will be directly involved in the investigation. Additionally, the school will address the incident in a letter to the community.
The county defines hate-bias incidents as any disruptive behavior motivated by discriminatory intent. This includes targeting someone based off their race, religion, gender, sexuality or socioeconomic status. MCPS only has jurisdiction to investigate incidents that occur on school property or at school-sponsored events.
According to a county presentation, this tiered system of response aims to address incidents more efficiently and with better judgment.
Last year, Superintendent Monifa McKnight announced several new initiatives to combat the growing number of reported hate incidents. These included revamped training for teachers and staff, and revised curricula with more emphasis on social justice.
The county’s school system — Maryland’s largest —saw another increase in reported discriminatory behavior from 2022. The targets were mainly the Jewish, Black and LGBTQ+ communities. According to the county police department’s annual bias report, more than half of the 464 reported incidents last year were school-related.
