By Adam Pagnucco.
After I published an article about MCPS’s Safety and Security Assessment at John F. Kennedy HS, Ricky Ribeiro – the PTSA’s president – contacted me with his reaction to MCPS’s response. Following are components of MCPS’s response to me along with comments by Ribeiro.
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MCPS
To support safety and security at John F. Kennedy High School, we are implementing the following security enhancements:
52 new security cameras and 16 Automatic Card System (ACS) readers will be installed in March 2025.
Ribeiro
Based on what has been shared with me, it does appear that meaningful progress has been made toward completion of this task.
MCPS
Installation of vape sensors in all student restrooms began in February 2025 and is expected to be completed by April 2025.
Ribeiro
No visibility into this, other than Chief Jones saying it repeatedly in meetings. But we have asked multiple times what the operating procedure will look like once these are installed and have not gotten any response. The “pilot” MCPS did about a year ago and was discussed in a recent BOE meeting this school year showed mixed results with lots of false positives and no quantitatively substantiated proof that the sensors led to a reduction in student vaping. It is not clear who will respond when the sensors go off, how MCPS will hold students accountable for the vape sensor going off and how these systems will be repaired or maintained when students inevitably tamper with them to avoid detection.
MCPS
Supplemental temporary part-time security staff have been assigned and will remain in place until June 2025.
Ribeiro
To my knowledge, 3 of the 4 TPTs promised at Kennedy have been hired. We’re still missing one.
MCPS
The total investment for cameras, ACS readers and staffing is $400,000, excluding the vape sensor installation, which is funded separately.
Beyond these specific actions, we are actively addressing other areas of improvement highlighted in the report. This includes:
Reinforcing student identification protocols at school entrances.
Ribeiro
Students at our recent community meeting punched holes in this claim. See: https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/02/28/kennedy-high-community-mcps-school-safety/
MCPS
Refining security practices based on the review’s findings.
Ribeiro
Hard to say since I’m not close enough to know what the before/after looked like. There is more structure in place in the mornings for arrival, from what I can see. But I have no idea beyond that what best practices have been refined. Recent feedback from teachers suggest whatever refinements they’ve made don’t seem to be significant or lasting.
MCPS
Strengthening oversight of the Kennedy security team by the Department of Safety and Security and Emergency Management, with a focus on ongoing training and elevated performance standards.
Ribeiro
This was temporarily true for a few weeks after the Jan. 23 lockdown incident. By Feb. 17, oversight and management of the Kennedy security team reverted to school-based leadership. Supposedly, one of the assistant principals was deputized with this responsibility rather than the actual principal, who announced her “retirement” in early February shortly after the lockdown incident. This decision to revert to school-based oversight of school-based security staff was made despite recommendations internally and externally to maintain OSSEM’s [Office of Systemwide Safety & Emergency Management] oversight role of the security team. What I have found is that OSSI [Office of School Support and Improvement], which is basically the chain of commands for principals, wants to retain control over the security team, even though the existing admin team has proven to not be capable of managing the safety of the school environment, given its track record. I don’t understand why that is the case.
MCPS
Enhancing the Student Well-being team’s approach to supporting students involved with drugs, providing family resources, and fostering connections with the wellness center.
Ribeiro
While it’s true there are a wealth of services that in theory are available to students who use drugs, I have no clarity or confirmation on the efficacy or engagement of these wraparound services. I have asked repeatedly and no one seems to know or be willing to share. We have a Wellness Center, but it’s run by a separate entity, Identity. The level of cooperation and information sharing between Identity and MCPS is opaque to me. I have not been able to get information about the partnership, despite requests to both entities. I also have no idea about the myriad other services MCPS brings to bear for substance-using students via DHHS and other nonprofit partners, such as Tree of Hope. But more importantly, despite MULTIPLE requests, no one in MCPS has articulated their plan for detecting and disrupting DRUG DISTRIBUTION, which is a crime that they know is happening in their school building, on their watch, as the audit documents. MCPS has an MOU with MCPD so there should be no daylight between the two, and yet, no one is directly addressing how MCPS and MCPD are working together to detect and disrupt the drug supply chain that Kennedy has clearly become part of.
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I asked Ribeiro this question: “Do you believe MCPS’s response to the security issues at Kennedy HS has been timely and acceptable?”
This was his reply.
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No, I do not believe MCPS’s response to security issues at Kennedy has been timely or acceptable. Everything with regard to the safety responses at Kennedy has been a struggle for acknowledgement, follow-up and a meaningful sense of urgency. The audit you reported on was one of the promised outcomes after our April community town hall last school year, which was held when the school went into a lockdown after a non-Kennedy student entered the building to attack a Kennedy student.
MCPS leadership dragged their feet on the audit, and once I received it, I had to repeatedly follow up and ask what was being done in response to the audit throughout the summer. I enlisted the support of other parent and community advocates and volunteers to push MCPS on all levels on this, and while lots of conversations were had about safety at Kennedy, meaningful answers and action has been missing.
As your analysis rightly points out, the audit was completed in June of last year, and since then, a number of concerning safety incidents have happened at Kennedy despite MCPS having this audit in their hands. In fact ANOTHER audit, by Chief Jones and Damon Monteleone was done in Sept. 2024, which basically reinforced the findings in the original June audit. And now, Chief Jones recently said he’s bringing in a former SRO to do a third audit of the school. I asked Chief Jones why a THIRD audit of the school was necessary, given that at this point, the issues and vulnerabilities have been clearly documented and wasting time continuing to evaluate the situation versus responding to it puts students and staff in harm’s way. His response was that this additional third audit was going to give a level of detail that the other two didn’t. I remain skeptical, as every day where these issues are left to stagnate and fester means more risk for our students and staff.
The safety concerns have been escalated up the entire chain of command in OSSI and I have even had direct conversations with Dr. Taylor and several BOE members about the safety issues at Kennedy. As a parent volunteer and advocate, I don’t know what else I can say or do to get MCPS to make the kind of drastic changes we have been begging for. It has left many students, parents and staff feeling like MCPS does not care about Kennedy or the wellbeing of its students and staff.