Resident urges Board to pursue law-enforcement help for children 'going missing' from schools, says state hides K-6 withdrawal data

At the start of public comment on Nov. 18, resident Caitlin Snodgrass told the Washington County Board of Education that thousands of children have been withdrawn from Maryland public schools and that the Maryland State Department of Education is withholding code-50 withdrawal data for younger children.

Snodgrass said the state reported about 11,000 missing students in grades 7'12 last year and that 215 of those were from Washington County; she said she requested code-50 data for kindergarten through sixth grade from seven districts and described the responses as incomplete. Snodgrass urged the board to add legislation to its 2026 legislative agenda that would facilitate law-enforcement assistance to locate withdrawn students, arguing that schools have limited investigatory capacity and that law enforcement could help when students cross state lines.

She recounted a personal example of a 7-year-old boy who became a code-50 student twice and was re-enrolled only after she intervened. Snodgrass said that younger children may be at greater risk of maltreatment and that she is asking for systemic help rather than case-by-case intervention.

Board members did not take formal action on her request during the meeting. Staff and board members did not present new district data on code-50 withdrawals for K'6 during the session; Snodgrass said she had documentation for older grades and was waiting on additional responses for younger grades.

The district did provide channels for follow-up (an administrative email and legislative nominations later in the meeting), and Snodgrass said she submitted a request to include the issue on the board's legislative agenda.

Her public comment raised the issue as a potential legislative priority for the district, though no board motion or direction to staff was recorded on the topic at the Nov. 18 meeting.