For Immediate Release: Sunday, April 11, 2021
The task force will address the issue of police presence in schools and will be comprised of students, teachers, principals, mental health professionals, parents, and advocates
ROCKVILLE, Md., April 11, 2021—Monday at 9 a.m., Councilmember Will Jawando and Councilmember Craig Rice will hold a press conference announcing a new task force aimed at helping students in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) by providing comprehensive social, emotional and mental health support, and built under the firm belief that police should not be a daily enforcement presence in schools. The press conference will be held virtually via Zoom.
In an effort to find a sustainable solution to both support students and ensure their safety, Councilmember Jawando and Councilmember Rice have come together to create this new task force in partnership with the Board of Education, to address how the County can focus its efforts to best help students.
The task force will be dedicated to growing the cohort of mental health professionals and other support services in schools. These services play an instrumental and transformative role in supporting students, thus helping to end the disparities in school discipline and arrests. The goal of this task force is to help inform the collective work of the Council to create an equitable and affirming County-wide model that uplifts students and families, especially those in our communities that have historically been targeted by unjust systems.
After hearing from hundreds of residents over the past year about the presence of school resource officers (SROs) in schools, Councilmember Jawando and Councilmember Rice decided that the task force must convene people from different sides that are all affected by this issue, including students, teachers, principals, mental health professionals, parents, and advocates.
The task force will be asked to provide recommendations by June 30, 2021, ahead of students returning to school in the fall.
Members of the media can pre-register here: https://zoom.us/j/94700301602?pwd=cWdOWU1kejNsNmRDaStOcTQ0U2ZlUT09
For more information contact:
Cecily Thorne, chief of staff for Councilmember Will Jawando, at Cecily.Thorne@montgomerycountymd.gov or 240- 777-7972.
Sharon Ledner, chief of staff for Councilmember Craig Rice, at Sharon.Ledner@montgomerycountymd.gov or 240- 777-7951.
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Release ID: 21-150