Police arrested a senior male March 30 for drawing graffiti and bringing a weapon onto school property, according to an April 5 crime update from the Bethesda police station.
Graffiti was in several locations, mostly bathrooms, principal Alan Goodwin said. Security staff used surveillance cameras to confirm that the student was in an area where graffiti was found. A search of the student’s backpack revealed graffiti markers, postal stickers, as well as a knife.
Goodwin administered the harshest punishment a principal can give to the student, he said.
The maximum punishment that administrators can give is a ten day suspension and a recommendation for expulsion, according to MCPS policy.
Administrators didn’t notify students or parents about the arrest as they have done earlier this year, when students brought a taser and pellet gun to school.
“We rarely write letters to the community when we have a suspension,” Goodwin said. “Sometimes it’s done if there’s a thought that somebody might be in danger. The knife was almost incidental compared to the vandalism in this case.”
Despite the several students arrested this year for various offenses, Goodwin remains confident about Whitman’s image.
“Nobody’s expressed concerns to me,” he said. “Our reputation is still intact.”
A. Person • May 17, 2011 at 10:55 am
Dear Mr. A Geek,
Please don’t be so pretentious and quick to generalize all the arrests that occur in the school at any given year. Your moral agenda obviously precedes your pre-frontal sense of justice and alludes to your lack of development in these areas clearly indicated by your post. The knife in this case was highly incidental, not reflecting any need to defend oneself or hurt others, but simply a camping tool left over in a bag. Your inability to discriminate between sever and mild cases makes it clear how much of an insensitive and obstinate adult you must be. People like you might believe your smart or just in your actions, but in reality, you only make the problem worse with your detrimental way of thinking. Is it easier for you to lump all the offenders in one category? Or are you just filling some childish need of justice that you are clearly not fit to reason with? Anyways, no matter what the case, you must learn to deal with such cases with individual care. That is why we have court rooms in this country, it is a simple American ideal called right to trial, where one can describe the situation from his/her perspective, offer his/her reasoning, and allow the issue to be deliberated upon – a concept you are clearly unfamiliar with.
A. Geek • May 4, 2011 at 7:56 pm
Thanks for the link – very informative. 35 suspensions last year? Wow. (Suspensions are serious. How many did the Black & White cover?)
Hope we can see stats from the current school year soon.
I use google • May 1, 2011 at 8:09 pm
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/Safetyglance/currentyear/schools/04427.pdf
A. Geek • May 1, 2011 at 12:35 pm
Did the reporter really ask about image? Or did Goodwin just volunteer this on his own? Isn’t safety the overriding issue? Can’t believe Goodwin was so dismissive – “knife was almost incidental…” How many students are bringing knives or other weapons to school that we don’t even know about. (The only reason we found out about this one is because the backpack was searched for a different reason.) If no one has expressed concerns to Goodwin but enough people are bringing weapons (either for fear, stupidity, machismo, etc.) this could be a cycle that feeds on itself bringing about more stress and weaponry. Goodwin’s comments are akin to whistling in the dark.
PS: Since Goodwin admits that he doesn’t publicize all suspensions, can we get the figures? How many suspensions have there been this year and how does that compare to previous years? Please provide a breakdown by type, i.e., safety-related, property destruction, etc.