The 238 hate bias incidents reported across Montgomery County Public Schools over the 2022-23 school year represent a 400% spike compared with the average across the previous five years, according to officials. The data was shared this week during the second meeting of the County Council’s newly formed Anti-Hate Taskforce.
MCPS associate superintendent Damon Monteleone cited takeaways from the school district’s recent antiracist audit and said school administrators would undergo mandatory safety and well-being training this month to prepare for the impending school year.
“MCPS’ policies, structures and best practices—we need to modify some of these things. The implementation of the policies and the application of our best practices differ from school to school,” he said. “We are currently working to create that level of consistency so that all of our students have an optimal experience.
The taskforce consists of around 30 local members of the Black, Latino/Hispanic, Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI), LGBTQ+, Jewish and Muslim communities. The group gathered for its first meeting on July 11 at the Wheaton Library, where officials and community leaders expressed a desire to work together to combat rising racism and hate across the county.
In recent months, the county has experienced a variety of hate bias incidents targeting various underrepresented communities. In July, a construction sign board was hacked to display an anti-Black racist message in Brookeville, and the month prior vandals burned and defaced around 10 LGBTQ+ pride and Ukrainian flags in Silver Spring.
The school district averaged more than one hate incident a day last school year, according to MCPS data—with some weeks seeing as many as five reported antisemitic incidents alone.
On Tuesday, Monteleone acknowledged that hate bias incidents often go underreported “for a variety of reasons,” citing insufficient cultural proficiency and barriers to information access as two main potential causes. In February 2022, MCPS rolled out its first hate bias reporting form. Prior to that, such incidents were sometimes reported via the bullying form, but school officials have acknowledged that the lack of a specific form for hate bias reports led to some incidents falling through the cracks.
Tuesday’s taskforce meeting occurred via Zoom and was live streamed on the council’s YouTube channel, where it remains publicly accessible. During the meeting, Monteleone—who serves as the associate superintendent of well-being, learning and achievement for MCPS—highlighted findings from the school district’s recent Antiracist System Audit, based on input from over 130,000 MCPS students, family members and staff. He said MCPS will continue utilizing the report in its “enhanced plan” to address racism and hate bias systemwide.
While community stakeholders reported overall high rates of satisfaction with the school system, the audit found community members of color reported “consistently lower” satisfaction rates. The audit report also revealed that the implementation of MCPS policies and best practices “differs greatly from school to school, suggesting that the system is currently fragmented.” The report concluded that many of MCPS’ challenges “stem from the lack of a clear, system-wide comprehensive approach to antiracism.”
In May, MCPS published a 17-page action plan focused on addressing the audit’s findings. During Tuesday’s taskforce meeting, Monteleone acknowledged the “great variability” across MCPS schools when it comes to policy implementation and said the school district is “currently working to create that level of consistency.”
Monteleone was asked how many additional MCPS staff members would be ideal to fully staff the school district’s plan to address the antiracist audit. He responded that while he would “love to have” more staff, MCPS is focused on utilizing current staff to modify school structures and process. For example, he cited plans to update language on school websites and ensure school forms are available in all seven major MCPS languages.
“We are moving in a direction that is not necessarily predicated on the need to staff,” Monteleone said. “In other words, I don’t want to sit here and say we’re going to staff our way out of this. We are going to work to change our practices, to change the conditions in our schools to get our way out of this.”
As part of the school district’s enhanced plan to combat hate bias and racism, this year Monteleone said all school-based administrators would be required to attend two three-hour, in-person training sessions on student well-being, safety and security.
According to MCPS documents, the training sessions’ anticipated outcomes include:
- Addressing student misconduct in a positive, fair and unbiased manner
- Cultivating and reinforcing positive student conduct
- Developing professional skills and practice responding to crisis situations
- Helping school communities understand laws, rights, policies and regulations
- Administering systems for fair and equitable conflict management
The sessions will be held Aug. 16 and 18 and will then be further developed into quarterly learning opportunities available to staff across the school district.
The council’s taskforce is scheduled to meet six more times over the coming months, with the next meeting slated to take place virtually on Aug. 29.