The opinions, viewpoints, and beliefs expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the opinions, viewpoints, or beliefs of the Titan Times newspaper, Tuscarora High School or Frederick County Public Schools.

Recent headlines concerning many different aspects of Frederick County Public Schools create the impression that this is a system in crisis. There have been daily cancellations of bus routes leaving parents and students scrambling to find a way to or from school. Staffing shortages have been reported across the county, from cafeteria workers, to Instructional Support staff to classroom teachers, the number of positions not filled is huge and seems to be growing as the year progresses. Covid regulations have been random and all over the place, for example, the day after the schedule was released concerning testing for winter sports athletes here at THS, the BOE announced that testing was not necessary. Finally we recently found out that FCPS is at the center of a Department of Justice investigation into violations of federal regulations covering student restraints and student isolation. The result of these investigations are that Dr. Theresa Alban has been placed on administrative leave and State Senator Michael Hough is calling for more investigations at the state level to piggyback on the DOJ investigation.

All of this leads to the impression for students, parents, and teachers that Frederick County Schools are in a state of crisis. How did we get here? That depends on who you ask, a hundred people would probably give a hundred different answers. But one thing is for sure, FCPS is struggling right now we can only hope that the people in charge are working hard to figure out how to fix everything that’s broken.

Sources:

https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/education/alban-on-administrative-leave-following-doj-investigation-into-fcps/article_51995b74-7e8e-515b-907a-b08b68490d23.html

https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/continuing_coverage/seclusion_and_restraint_in_fcps/sen-hough-calls-for-state-investigation-into-fcps/article_61731c6b-6ee8-5ca4-857d-1ec0e4c1f800.html