Education Watch – MDBayNews
Investigative Report

Maryland law requires schools to follow strict safety protocols designed to protect students during emergencies, interviews, medical situations, and interactions with law enforcement. Yet investigations by the state’s own oversight agencies — along with district audits and public testimony — show that compliance is inconsistent across Maryland’s school systems.

This Education Watch investigation examines the gap between what Maryland mandates on paper and what actually happens inside schools.

---

What Maryland Law Requires

Maryland’s statutes and regulations leave little room for ambiguity.

Emergency Response Plans — Md. Code, Educ. § 7-306

Every school must maintain and annually review:

• emergency response plans
• lockdown and evacuation procedures
• training for administrators and staff

Student Distress & Parent Notification — Md. Code, Educ. § 7-421

Schools must notify parents “as soon as practicable” when:

• a child is removed from class for a safety reason
• law enforcement interacts with a child
• a mental or physical distress event occurs

Student Interviews — COMAR 13A.08.01.15

Maryland’s governing regulation requires:

• Parent notification “as soon as possible” when a student is interviewed by law enforcement
• A school administrator or designee must be present during interviews
• Interviews must consider student health, welfare, and emotional status
• No student may be interviewed alone unless legally required

Medical Responses — Md. Code, Educ. § 7-401 & § 7-411

Schools must:

• involve school health personnel
• document medical concerns
• call EMS when symptoms meet emergency thresholds

On paper, this framework is among the strongest in the country.

The weaknesses appear in the execution.

---

What District Policies Say — and Where They Break Down

Maryland’s major districts reinforce these legal requirements:

Montgomery County Public Schools

Regulation JGA-RA and Policy EBC mandate:

• Immediate parental notification
• Administrator presence during interviews
• Student wellness checks and documentation

Baltimore County Public Schools

Policy 6202 (Law Enforcement in Schools) requires:

• Staff presence for all interviews
• Notice to parents “immediately following any law-enforcement interaction”
• Documentation of all interactions

Anne Arundel County Public Schools

Policy JF mandates:

• Protection of the “health, welfare, and emotional stability” of students
• Administrative authorization for any non-school personnel interviews

Frederick County Public Schools

Policy 437 requires:

• Complete incident logs
• Clear chain-of-command with law enforcement
• Documented welfare assessments

Despite these requirements, Maryland’s oversight agencies have repeatedly found poor compliance.

---

What Maryland’s Own Inspector General Found

The strongest evidence comes from the Office of the Inspector General for Education (OIGE), which has issued multiple reports documenting widespread failures.

OIGE 2023 Report #23-004

Investigators found:

• Students were interviewed about school safety incidents without parents ever being notified
• Required staff were not present during interviews
• Incident logs were missing or incomplete
• Administrators showed inconsistent understanding of COMAR 13A.08.01.15

OIGE 2022 MCPS Investigation

The OIG discovered:

• Students questioned alone by outside investigators
• Confusion about whether investigators had jurisdiction
• Failure to notify parents in a timely manner
• Missing documentation about who spoke to which student

OIGE 2020–2021 Statewide Compliance Review

This review found:

• Gaps in training across districts
• Staff unfamiliar with parent-notification duties
• Lack of consistent standards for documenting interviews or distress events
• “Significant variance” in adherence to emergency protocols

Maryland’s oversight body concluded that policy compliance is neither uniform nor reliable.

---

Audit Findings & Public Records Failures

Audits from Maryland’s Joint Audit and Evaluation Committee (JAEC) and PIA/FOIA records across counties reveal:

✔ Missing safety logs

✔ Undocumented student interviews

✔ Late or absent parent notifications

✔ Contradictory staff statements

✔ Incidents involving distress where no nurse or EMS was called

✔ Investigators accessing students without proper administrative handling

These breakdowns are repeated across:

• Montgomery County
• Baltimore County
• Frederick County
• Anne Arundel
• Howard County

All documented through:

• OIGE reports
• Auditor findings
• Board testimony
• Public PIA responses
• Local media investigations

---

Publicly Reported Maryland Cases Demonstrate the Pattern

Montgomery County — 2023 OIGE findings

Multiple failures to document law enforcement interactions or notify parents.

Baltimore County — Post-2021 SRO controversies

Investigative pieces revealed inconsistencies in how students were questioned during disciplinary incidents.

Anne Arundel County — 2022 testimony

Parents publicly complained about being notified hours after on-campus law-enforcement interactions.

Frederick County — Audit reports

Findings revealed inconsistent staff understanding of emergency medical protocols and interview guidelines.

None of these examples reference minors by name — all were publicly documented.

---

Why These Failures Persist

1. Staff training varies dramatically between schools

OIGE reports repeatedly cite training gaps.

2. FERPA confusion leads to over-withholding

Schools often cite FERPA even when parent notification is legally permitted or required.

3. Unclear authority during multi-agency incidents

When outside investigators arrive, staff often don’t know who is in charge.

4. Maryland has no statewide enforcement mechanism

OIGE can issue findings — but cannot impose corrective action.

5. Parents usually learn after the fact

Often through:

• PIA requests
• board testimony
• incident summaries
• contradictory staff accounts

---

Why It Matters

When protocols are ignored:

• Children are placed at risk
• Parents lose trust in schools
• Students may be questioned improperly
• Medical issues may be mishandled
• Documentation gaps obscure truth
• Investigators may act outside legal authority
• Administrators cannot demonstrate compliance

Maryland’s system is policy-rich but enforcement-poor.