Parents press FCPS on Oakdale Middle staffing, background checks and communication after personnel removal

Parents and community members told the Frederick County Public Schools policy committee they are dissatisfied with the amount and clarity of district communications after a special-education assistant was removed from Oakdale Middle School.

Several speakers at the meeting said they still did not understand who knew what and when, and they asked for clearer public information about investigatory steps and the supports available for students. "We're trying to...split us through like, we don't need, like, the salacious details, but just to say, hey, we're ongoing and doing this," one parent said, asking for a community bulletin and links to district policies explaining the investigation process.

District staff said criminal and personnel investigations limit what officials can say publicly while inquiries are active, but officials agreed to publish clearer descriptions of the district's standard investigative steps and of the supports available to students and families. A district official said the district had rechecked employment verifications and background checks "and there were no flags." The official also pointed parents to a staff section on the FCPS website under "labor relations" that describes the employee-investigation process.

Parents and board members asked for additional measures on prevention and accountability. Suggestions included more consistent re-screening, continuous-evaluation tools rather than periodic one-off checks, broader training on de-escalation and more staff in specialized programs. Several speakers noted that some roles (for example, special-education instructional assistants) can be filled without a college degree and that hiring pressures make it difficult to be selective when positions are hard to fill.

District staff outlined ongoing steps and earlier programs: they described renewed checks of verifications, additional staff training programs for employees who work with students with disabilities and pilots that extend some positions to 11 months to allow more training days. Officials also acknowledged limits on the amount of detail they can release while investigations proceed but said they would aim to produce a public summary of investigative steps and available supports.

What parents asked the district to do: provide a plain-language explanation of investigative process and timelines, identify what supports (for example, crisis counselors) are available to students, and clarify whether and how frequently background checks, fingerprinting and re-verification occur for substitutes and aides. District officials said they would publish a clearer community bulletin and direct parents to student-services staff available for follow-up.