The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education (DME) is kicking off a school safety task force, The meetings are public. You can register to view the meeting here, and you can sign up for future meetings and biweekly office hours (Tuesdays, 10-11am) here: https://dme.dc.gov/schoolsafetycmte.  Please see below for more information about the task force.  The power point from the first meeting held on Tuesday, Nov. 7th.  is below. 

Task force meeting dates:

• Tuesday, November 7th

• Tuesday, November 28th

• Tuesday, December 19th

• Tuesday, January 9th

See the powerpoints for the first two meetings below.  

Task force membership:

This committee is comprised of ten representatives from various District agencies and stakeholder groups as follows:

1.             Nicole McDermont, Senior Policy Advisor , appointed by the Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice's Office​

2.             Dan Davis, Student Advocate, Office of the Student Advocate, appointed by the State Board of Education ​

3.             Ricky Brown, Executive Director of School Safety and Security, appointed by District of Columbia Public Schools​

4.             John Carlos Green, Community Engagement Manager, appointed by the Public Charter School Board​

5.             Andre Wright, Assistant Chief, School Safety Division, appointed by the Metropolitan Police Department​

6.             Mische' Walden, School Counselor at Johnson MS, appointed by the Chairman of the DC Council ​

7.             Simaya Hammon, Student at Banneker HS, appointed by the Chairman of the DC Council 

8.             Deitrich E. Williams, Ward 7 DCPS Parent, appointed by the Chairman of the DC Council

9.             Dontrell Smith, District resident and DCPS parent, appointed by Deputy Mayor for Educations' Office​

10. Tatianna Portillo, student representative

Task force charge: 

The Committee will consider the conditions necessary for a safe school (What constitutes a steady state safe school? What resources and systems are needed as a baseline?); effective prevention (what is needed to proactively identify and redirect students who may be at risk for engaging in unsafe activities, including acts of violence?); and effective intervention (What is needed to address safety incidents that occur in and near schools?)

Per the Budget Support Act, the Committee will specifically provide:

1. 1. Recommended staffing configurations of a school safety team

   2. Methods of prevention and intervention that can be used to minimize and respond to school safety incidents

   3. Procedures for enhancing campus security without compromising the privacy of students, including appropriate uses of security cameras 

   4. Practices for engaging students and parents in each school community about safety needs and appropriate school response

   5. Protocols for coordination between school-based employees, the Safe Passage, Safe Blocks program, and Safe Routes to School program 

   6. Recommended guidelines for the Metropolitan Police Department, Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, the Office of Unified Communications, and the Fire and Emergency Medical Service Department to share timely and reliable information about ongoing emergencies with a principal of a District of Columbia Public School, public charter school, or private educational facility; and; a child development center program director or in home care owner or operator.

This is the website for the Council Commission on Policing https://dcpolicereform.com/

This is the facebook page https://www.facebook.com/DCPoliceReformCommission

DCPS has issued an RFP for a security contract, first companies will have to qualify to submit.  Here is the RFP

This is the current security contract that is up for renewal to begin on July 7th, 2020 to be in effect til July 2021. The Council currently has a resolution to disapprove this contact. This enable it not to be automatically approved.  

This is the letter of legal sufficiency that was issued in March on the proposed policy.  There may have been changes prior to the approval of the final bill. 

This is the Comprehensive Plan to Implement the School Safety Act of 2004. It was a 6 month project that involved many stakeholders including SHAPPE.  Any transfer or change to security would need to address the issues in this document.  

If you have any trouble viewing this document try this link https://docs.google.com/document/d/13qoogpfvZtC_cgj8MFZ3YQ1N-9r_zi2G_WyDkML6JCU/edit?usp=sharing  This is the MOU that was agreed to in 2005. One immediate change if this document is still in force is to remove the requirement that MPD enforce the disciplinary code as it applies to school safety. This is open to broad interpretation.  

In 2005-2005 the poor condition of the DCPS buildings including dozens of doors contributed to the challenges in providing security.  

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1i1FlnGwJE5IyJnqDD8lkMeLNILEOmtM3BwCl904ZJog/edit?usp=sharing  for use if the file will not open..

This is the incident report for August; it might provide a baseline of comparison to the incidents that safety and security will need to have preventive measures as well as protective to respond to in 2020.  We do not have a recent incident report yet for the months prior to the COVID-19 closure.