Montgomery County Public Schools admitted mistakes were made following the shooting at Magruder High School that critically injured a student last year.
More than a year after the shooting of a 15-year-old student inside the school, MCPS released new details in a report outlining communication and coordination problems that led to confusion and parent frustration.
The main takeaway is the need for a unified command structure on an incident like a school shooting. The report says the lack of that structure “led to confusion relating to roles, responsibilities and decision-making, as well as delays in communication and parent-child reunification.”
The report also addressed parents’ concerns. Many felt they were left in the dark during the frightening incident.
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The shooting was reported at 12:53 p.m. MCPS sent out four messages to parents during the lockdown starting at 1:28 p.m. – 35 minutes after the shooting.
The process of unifying students and parents started at 4:24 p.m.
MCPS admitted communications were unclear and infrequent leading up to and during the release of students.
Schools will now use a system to call, text and email parents within 20 minutes of an incident and communicate frequently.
“I think it’s taken them over a year to admit things that I think were obvious to pretty much every parent on the day of – that there was extremely poor communication, there was miscommunication, the lockdown went far too long,” said Alexander Bush, who represents the family of the injured teen in a civil lawsuit filed against the school board.
The report says the system has reviewed lockdown procedures with staff and has conducted active assailant training to make sure everyone is aware of the procedures during a crisis.
The report also noted there was concern that Montgomery County police questioned students about the shooting out of the presence of administrators and without notifying their parents.
The student who fired the ghost gun – Steven Alston Jr. – was sentenced to 18 years in prison in December.
The victim returned to school after multiple surgeries, and his family is raising money to help cover his ongoing medical expenses.
