thursday,march 21, 2013 - County Times - Southern Maryland Online

Spotlight On
School
Security
Issues
Debated
By Guy Leonard
Staff Writer
The Board of Education and the Board
of County Commissioners hashed out details
of the schools system budget including what
kind of security personnel should be walking
the halls of middle schools and elementary
schools.
Commissioner Todd Morgan (R-Great
Mills) said deputies in high schools and middle
schools, school resource officers, made
sense but having security assistants in elementary
schools did not.
“I’m advocating two more SRO’s, that
makes one in each high school and one in
each middle school,” Morgan said. “I’m
not advocating anymore for the elementary
schools.”
The addition of security assistants,
specialists who monitor the schools but are
not sworn police officers, was too much to
consider, according to Morgan, especially in
light of the elementary schools implementing
best practices restricting volunteers from
giving children hugs and bringing homemade
food into the school for parties and
celebrations.
“I think we’re going too far,” Morgan
said of the national move to make elementary
schools more secure. “It really looks like
were trying to turn them into little gulags.”
Many have expressed worries that elementary
schools are vulnerable to attacks
like the one last December in Newtown, Connecticut
where a gunman killed 20 school
children at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Commissioner Daniel Morris (R-Mechanicsville)
is concerned whether or not
schools have enough money this year to address
the security issue.
The consensus on the BOCC seemed inclined
increasing the funding to the school
budge by 3 percent as opposed to a six percent
requested.
Morris supported the idea of school resource
officers in high schools and contract
security employees in elementary schools but
thought they had no place in middle schools.
Former police officers could provide security
and be armed at the discretion of the
school system, and they would be a less expensive
alternative than hiring deputies.
“You wouldn’t have to provide them a
vehicle and they wouldn’t have to recertified
by the police training commission,” Morris
said.
School Board member Salvatore Raspa
said “It’s just another set of eyes,” Raspa
said. “Parents are concerned about the safety
of schools and safety is one of the board’s top
priorities.”
guyleonard@countytimes.net
The County Times
Advertising Design:
GOLD : Rebecca Mace – North Point
SILVER : Nikolas Wood –
Forrest Center
BRONZE : Samantha Scott – Forrest
Center
Architectural Drafting:
GOLD : Katrina Quade –
Forrest Center
SILVER : Brandon Kurley –
Forrest Center
BRONZE : Jesse Marsh –
Forrest Center
Automotive Service Technology:
GOLD : Aaron Burke – Calvert CTA
SILVER : Ian Williamson –
Forrest Center
BRONZE : Brandon Adams –
Forrest Center
Aviation:
GOLD : Gabe Sarlo – Forrest Center
SILVER : Michael Toscano –
Forrest Center
BRONZE : John Byram –
Forrest Center
Carpentry:
GOLD : Zach Rister – Forrest Center
SILVER : Garrett Harim –
Forrest Center
BRONZE : Mike Moore –
Calvert CTA
Cosmetology:
GOLD : Emily Foreman – North Point
SILVER : Kyenna Robinson –
Calvert CTA
BRONZE : Payton James –
Calvert CTA
Crime Scene Investigation:
GOLD : Emily McKoy, Mark Rickson,
Briana Carter – Forrest Center
SILVER : Sabrina Scott, Megan Anderson,
Alexus Brandon –
Contests results are as follows:
Forrest Center
BRONZE : Emani Jackson, Brittany
Goode, Scott Watts – Forrest Center
Criminal Justice:
GOLD : Ashton Brown – North Point
SILVER : Tiffany Butler – North Point
BRONZE : Zach Forschen –
Calvert CTA
Culinary:
Gold: Ambrea Green – North Point
Silver: John Sulhoff– Calvert CTA
Bronze: Breana Hill– North Point
Digital Cinema Production:
GOLD : Sara Moore & Grant Kelly –
Forrest Center
SILVER :Joe Ambort & Tristan Sams –
Stethem EC
BRONZE : Michael Balazs & Kyle
Wilson – Forrest Center
Early Childhood Education:
GOLD: Kerry McLaughlin – North
Point
SILVER: Kimberly McClosky –
North Point
BRONZE: Jessica Cruz – North Point
Firefighting:
GOLD : Brad Darmstead – Calvert
CTA
SILVER : Matt Montgomery – Calvert
CTA
BRONZE : William Carter – Forrest
Center
First Aid/CPR:
GOLD : Amber Major – Forrest Center
SILVER : Haydee Ruiz – Forrest
Center
Thursday, March 21, 2013 12
SkillsUSA Southern
Regional Competition Results
The Maryland SkillsUSA Southern Regional Competition recently took place at the Dr. James A. Forrest Career and
Technology Center in Leonardtown, Md.
Students from the Forrest Center in St. Mary’s County, the Career and Technology Academy in Calvert County, as well
as North Point High School and the Robert D. Stethem Educational Center in Charles County participated in a wide variety of
skilled trades’ competitions. Students receiving 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in each contest advance to the state competition along
with students whose contests are state only competitions. The SkillsUSA Maryland state competition takes place April 19-20,
2013 in the greater Baltimore area.
BRONZE : Rachel Crouch – North
Point
Internetworking:
GOLD : Kevin Whitley – Forrest
Center
SILVER : Frederick Taylor – Forrest
Center
BRONZE : Austin Profitt – Forrest
Center
Nurse Assisting:
GOLD : Hannah Bolan – Forrest
Center
SILVER : Aspen Higgs – Calvert CTA
BRONZE : Lorraine Lagana – Forrest
Center
Plumbing:
GOLD : Brandon Walker – Calvert
CTA
SILVER : Tyler Fluhart – Forrest
Center
BRONZE : Glenn Roemer – Forrest
Center
Residential Wiring:
GOLD: Nick Wiegand – North Point
SILVER: Chris Lobas – Calvert CTA
BRONZE: Alex Gantt – Calvert CTA
Team Works:
GOLD: Paige Wood, Kelley Ingram,
Kelsey Bovard, Erica Canales – North
Point
SILVER: Austin Barnhart, Jacob Atkinson,
Jerry Delph, Andre Bagwell
– North Point
BRONZE: Erick Goshen, James
Adams, Jacob Franciso, Ryan White –
Calvert CTA
Technical Drafting:
GOLD : Alex Morris – Forrest Center
SILVER : Matt Bauman – Forrest
Center
BRONZE : Adam Tschupp – Calvert
CTA
Welding:
GOLD : James Brady – Forrest Center
SILVER : Levi Filler – Forrest Center
BRONZE : Jason Guy – Forrest Center
For more information, contact Bonnie Skinner or Eric Millham at 301-475-0242 or bjskinner@smcps.org or epmillham@smcps.org.