An alleged assault by one elementary schooler on another on the Twinbrook Elementary School playground has caught the attention of parents, community members and the school’s principal.
Earlier this week, in a post on the neighborhood engagement app NextDoor, a distressed mother posted a report about her daughter being assaulted on the playground during recess at Twinbrook Elementary School in Rockville.
On Wednesday, Matt Devan, principal of Twinbrook Elementary, sent a letter to the Twinbrook Community stating, “School administrators…are working with our school counselors, the MCPS Office of School Support and Wellness and Montgomery County Agencies to follow all the established protocols to ensure a thorough investigation and ensure student safety.”
Devan also refers to parent reactions on social media creating “a number of concerns.”
The community letter ends with the offer of two Parent Coffees on Friday, Nov. 17 and Monday, Nov. 20 at 9:30 – 10 a.m. in the school cafeteria “…to continue community engagement.”
According to the post, the mother and her daughter met with school administrators about the incident. The mother felt “the principal and the guidance counselor did not seem to be taking the situation seriously.” So she called the police. When the police arrived, she says “the principal and guidance counselor refused to speak with us and locked themselves in the office stating they had ‘meetings’ for the rest of the day.”
The police officer and a security guard took her daughter’s statement and began an open investigation of the alleged assault by the Special Victims Unit according to the post.
The mother’s NextDoor post ends with an appeal to other parents whose children might have also been victims to come forward and to let other parents know about this event on school grounds.
Upon inquiry, the letter was forwarded to MCM by MCPS who advised this is an ongoing investigation. MCM has reached out to MCPD for confirmation of the Special Victims investigation. As of this writing we have not received a response.
MCM was alerted to this incident by the Parents Coalition of Montgomery County.
