There are problems with the working relationship between the Baltimore County Public Schools and the police department, according to an audit conducted by the county schools’ office of internal audit.
It comes as there are ongoing concerns about whether county schools are safe for both students and staff.
The report was presented Tuesday afternoon to the audit committee of the Baltimore County School Board.
“Our audit rating for this audit is ‘needs improvement,’” Audit Manager Dwayne Edwards told the committee.
The report spells out seven problems and the corrective actions that need to be taken.
The most serious issue, according to the audit, is that the police department is not quickly reporting to the school system when it has charged a student with a reportable offense.
Edwards told the committee that reportable offenses are student arrests made “not on school grounds or at school-sponsored events.”
According to a memorandum of understanding between the school district and the police department, school leaders should be told within 24 hours of a charge.
Edwards said the school system got a sample of 25 reportable offenses from the police department and found that “21 of these offenses were reported to BCPS between 2 to 240 days after the day of the charge.”
The audit reports that not getting the arrest information quickly means “school administrators cannot take appropriate action, if needed.”
In the report, the police department indicated it has had employee shortages and changes in record management.
The MOU also calls for routine meetings between the police and school officials, including the police chief, the school superintendent, and the chief of school climate and safety.
The audit found those regular meetings are not happening, stating they are needed “to assess the effectiveness of the partnership and identify areas of needs and concerns.”
April Lewis, the executive director of the department of school safety for the school district, told the committee that the language in the MOU will be changed from “regular” to “quarterly” meetings.
“Those quarterly meetings actually began with a third quarter meeting that was held on Feb. 28,” Lewis said.
Another problem, according to the report, is that the police are not telling the school system about students witnessing traumatic events.
That means, according to the audit, that professionals in the schools who can help the students deal with trauma don’t know about it.
In its response, the police department indicated it’s not always a priority “when an officer is responding to a situation involving a student that witnessed a traumatic event.”
“The Baltimore County Police Department is currently working with (the) Baltimore County Public Schools System to ensure the results of the audit are rectified,” wrote Trae Corbin, a police spokesperson, in a statement to WYPR.
School safety in the county continues to be a concern.
Videos of school fights have ricocheted around social media. Parents and teachers have testified before the school board and told the news media about people getting hurt in unsafe schools while those responsible go unpunished.
School officials have pushed back on that narrative.
In an interview last May with WYPR, School Superintendent Darryl Williams acknowledged that there had been an uptick in fighting but added those responsible are being punished.
“We follow our code of conduct,” Williams said. “Students will be suspended or receive some consequence based on an infraction.”
The audit is also critical of parts of the School Resource Officer program, which is run by the county police department.
At the beginning of the school year, there were 83 officers assigned to the county’s middle and high schools, according to school spokesperson Charles Herndon. There were also 10 resource officers rotating through the elementary schools.
The audit found that the officers are not consistently teaching the required Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program in middle schools. The audit also discovered that former officers have continued to have access to BCPS technology and that school officials have not been evaluating the performance of the officer program, which the police department needs to in turn do its own review.
Erica Palmisano, press secretary for County Executive Johnny Olszewski said in a statement that the administration looks forward to working with the school system and the police department “to strengthen collaboration, enhance performance, and continue doing all we can to keep our kids and school staff safe.”
Editor's Note: Read the full report below
