Montgomery County Schools to reveal 'Community Engagement Officer' plan
Montgomery County Schools to reveal 'Community Engagement Officer' plan
School leaders in Montgomery County are ready to share a new plan to keep police and schools closely connected.
ROCKVILLE, Md. - School leaders in Montgomery County are ready to share a new plan to keep police and schools closely connected.
The plan follows a shooting that happened at Magruder High School in January.
Download the FOX 5 DC News App for Local Breaking News and Weather
FOX 5's Maureen Umeh says the new Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) outlines the new relationship between schools and police.
The big change from the former school resource officer program is that the Community Enforcement Officer, or CEOs as they will now be called, would not be stationed inside schools but would be responsible for providing coverage to school buildings.
According to council documents which includes a copy of the MOU, with the new 2.0 plan, CEOs are provided an office in the school building and given the authority to respond to school service calls.
But the officers will not patrol the hallways or get involved in student discipline, Umeh says.
SUBSCRIBE TO FOX 5 DC ON YOUTUBE
The MOU states that the CEOs will have a "private, designated office" near the main office of schools, but "will not be permanently stationed there."
An officer "may also be asked" to participate in school-based events including career days, assemblies and other staff and student events.
The new arrangement also allows CEOs to view available security videos related to "critical incidents" in schools such as cases involving death, rape, robbery, hate crimes, possession of a firearm and gang-related offenses.
The changes come in the wake of concern about rising violence in schools over the past year, including a shooting at Magruder High School involving two students and a ghost gun back in January.
That violence led to calls to have police return to school buildings after they were removed last year.
School and police officials will brief the Montgomery County Council on the new MOU during its session Tuesday afternoon.
Council members will have a chance to ask questions, but at this point cannot change the plans.