Worcester BOE raises stakes on school violence, disputing law enforcement numbers
In the next round of dueling press conferences over school safety on Friday, the Worcester County Board of Education questioned the accuracy of data and assertions by county officials.
Following a public rebuke by Worcester County Sheriff Matthew Crisafulli and the county state's attorney Kristin Heiser on Tuesday for a perceived lack of response to school safety concerns, board members took aim at the data used by the county, noting it was inflated and portrayed an unfairly negative picture of schools. They also characterized the strong position taken by county officials as questionable as the board claimed they were still working in collaboration when they drew the ire of the sheriff's office.
"We, too, want to see our partnership restored once again," said Louis H. Taylor, Superintendent of Schools. "However, we will not stand idly by as the reputation of our students, staff and our entire school system is smeared by blatant disregard for the truth. We don't know what motivated our law enforcement to publicly and aggressively defame our school system, but we can't stand for it. We are actively improving school safety (measures) daily."
Todd A. Ferrante, president of the board, also contended they were "surprised to learn of Tuesday's press conference" by county officials calling out the board and were only made aware of it through media inquiries coming to the Office of Public Relations to offer a response.
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'Minimizing' the amount of violence in schools
In a rebuttal, Crisafulli and Heiser released a joint statement doubling down on their claims that the board is merely paying school safety lip service.
"The BOE President and Superintendent’s attempt to defend their reputation and minimize the amount of violence in our schools does nothing to reassure the public that they are making safety a priority," the statement said. "Despite their best efforts to label the Sheriff and State’s Attorney as liars and data-manipulators, their press conference today confirmed the two main points that law enforcement has been making for months: (1) that crime in schools is rising at an unacceptable rate and (2) that none of law enforcement’s recommendations to improve school safety have been implemented by Worcester County Public Schools."
County officials also argued the board and superintendent have now publicly validated these two claims, making it more important than ever that stringent steps be taken for county students.
"We once again call on them to take immediate action on these recommendations to improve safety in our schools. State’s Attorney Heiser and Sheriff Crisafulli remain ready to support, advise and assist school leadership in this mission, and will continue to provide transparency for the public moving forward," the statement concluded.
Refuting the county data
According to the board, in January of 2023, Worcester County's Public Schools Chief Safety & Academic Officer began work to reexamine and strengthen memorandum of understanding with law enforcement partners. A new memorandum was adopted by the school board just eight months later.
In September of 2023, just 12 days into the school year, law enforcement officials sent a joint letter "expressing grave concern regarding school safety." From the following month to February of 2024, the board worked collaboratively with law enforcement officials through a School Safety Task Force. Then on Tuesday of this week, the joint press conference by county officials was held.
The board also clarified that a call for service is not always in response to crime, and data cited by the sheriff's office fails to make that distinction. Taylor also noted that schools do not keep crime statistics as the sheriff's office and state's attorney contended in their presentation. Rather they track referrals.
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"A student disciplinary referral is simply when a student is referred to school administration for violating school rules or policies. Referrals can result in disciplinary actions according to our Guidelines for Safe & Supportive Schools. A crime is a violation of the law, which can result in legal consequences," the board's report said.
The board further argued the call-out of increasing incidents is calculated using the 2019-2020 school year, during which schools were closed for four months during the pandemic.
"Using the same methodology as law enforcement officials, they calculated their data sets using the 2018-2019school year referral data as it was the last pre-pandemic full year of school. In doing so, there was:
only 20% increase in physical attacks on students, rather than 67% as noted by county officials,
only a 42% increase in fights in schools rather than a 171% increase cited on Tuesday,
only a 7% increase in verbal threats against students instead of 32%,
only a 73% increase in physical attacks on teachers and staff instead of 225% as noted by the sheriff's office,
and an 8% decrease in in verbal threats against teachers as opposed to 200% increase stated by county officials.
" I also want to point out the Maryland Association of Boards of Education recognized our schools for their successful implementation of a crisis intervention technique emphasizing non-physical strategies to managing challenging behaviors in our schools while prioritizing the wellbeing of students in distress," Taylor said.
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This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: School violence numbers questioned by Worcester BOE, escalating feud