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MCPS says anti‑hate training and cyber‑safety pilot show early gains; cell‑phone ‘away all day’ tested in 11 schools
Summary
Montgomery County Public Schools told the county Education & Culture Committee that Stronger Connections grant activities — anti‑hate bias training, student dialogue modules and cyber‑safety work including an 11‑school cell‑phone pilot — have produced early results, including a reported 37% year‑to‑date drop in reported hate‑bias incidents and ongoing program evaluation of the cell‑phone regulation pilot.
Montgomery County Public Schools officials briefed the Montgomery County Council’s Education & Culture Committee on work funded by a Stronger Connections grant, reporting early progress on anti‑hate bias training, cyber‑safety efforts and a pilot that limits student phone use throughout the school day.
MCPS said the Stronger Connections award totals about $3,000,000, of which roughly $870,000 was allocated to anti‑hate work. “Since we have received that grant…we did hire a coordinator of hate anti‑hate bias,” Stephanie Sharon, chief of strategic initiatives, told the committee. Sharon said MCPS trained 725 school administrators over the summer and launched five professional‑learning modules for staff, plus a student cultural‑respect module and student dialogue programming with 261 participants so far.
Sharon reported a year‑to‑date data point the district described as “hot off the press”: a 37% decrease in reported hate‑bias incidents since last September. “So we’re moving in the right direction,” she said, while acknowledging underreporting is a longstanding concern; MCPS said it is working to create conditions that encourage reporting and to solicit community feedback through sessions planned for November.
The grant’s cyber‑safety activities include staff awareness training, an incident‑response plan and curriculum work for students on privacy and online safety. Sharon said MCPS realigned hiring plans to staff the effort (a supervisor and two technology specialists) and is developing a district cyber incident response plan and updated acceptable‑use guidance.
MCPS also described an “away all day” pilot to limit in‑class phone use at 11 schools. The pilot is school‑by‑school and flexible; Rockville High School, which participated early, kept phones on students’ persons but used pocket pouches with chargers and a tiered support model for students who need additional scaffolding. “They incentivize it with chargers so the students would be charging at the time,” MCPS said. The district will evaluate the pilot through shared accountability and return with data ahead of a spring review of the regulation.
Why it matters: committee members called the work timely given concerns about student mental health and the influence of social media. The community sessions are intended to increase transparency and allow parents and school staff to observe and comment on the trainings. The district said it will use evaluation data and stakeholder feedback to decide whether to revise the regulation.
What’s next: MCPS said community demonstration sessions are planned in November; the district will collect evaluation data on the cell‑phone pilot through the winter and discuss potential regulatory changes in the spring.
