by Justine C. 

Since I wrote about this issue on March 1, 2017, there has been increased reporting in the local media on the problem. School board members Edward Burroughs (Distrct 8), David Murray (District 1), Raaheela Ahmed (District 5), and Juwan Blocker (Student Member) have created a petition in April to review and revamp the administrative leave policy. Their stated goals are to host listening sessions and create recommendations for improvements to the current policies and procedures.

In addition, this month, PGCPS’s Office of Monitoring, Accountability and Compliance will be providing any recommendations they have for changes to policies and procedures regarding student safety. (See minutes from March 7 Policy, Legal, and Legislative Committee Meeting.) The office was created on July 1, 2016, to oversee the development and implementation of procedures and protocols related to student safety.

In response to a Public Information Act request, PGCPS reports that as of May 2, 2017, there are 153 teachers — compared with 160 on January 31 — and 248 additional staff on administrative leave for a total of 401 personnel, indicating either a decline in the number of reports or faster investigations.

PGCPS also indicated in their response to my Public Information Act request that they implemented a tracking system in early April that includes the disposition of cases, referring to whether or not a staff person was reprimanded, terminated, or some other course of action was taken. However, they do not track the amount of time a case takes to investigate and how long teachers are out of the classroom on administrative leave.

Response to the Public Information Act request is embedded below.

Related News Stories:

Fox5:

April 12, 2017, “Hundreds of Prince George’s school staff members put on leave in misconduct cases this school year”

May 2, 2017, “EXCLUSIVE: Former police officer among hundreds investigated for abuse, then cleared at PGCPS”

May 11, 2017, “Reported child abuse, misconduct cases at Prince George’s County Schools increase”

May 12, 2017, “Prince George’s Co. Schools CEO responds to 788 abuse and misconduct cases in district”

May 12, 2017, “Prince George’s school board members working on plan to address spike in reported misconduct cases”

WUSA9:

April 12, 2017, “Hundreds of Prince George’s Co. staff suspended for misconduct cases”

April 14, 2017, “Teacher morale being crushed in Prince George’s County”

Washington Post:

May 7, 2017, “Abuse allegations lead to spike in teachers placed on leave in a Maryland suburb”