BOWIE, Md. 鈥� Plagued by student abuse and student sex abuse scandals, Prince George鈥檚 County public schools held a community summit Saturday to address safety and accountability.
鈥淚t is critical we discuss the issues openly and honestly,鈥� said Kevin Maxwell, CEO of Prince George鈥檚 County Public Schools system.
The summit was held at Ernest Everett Just Middle School in Bowie. Maxwell said the purpose of the summit is to hear from parents, staff and community members and together come up with solutions. He said school leaders were not shrinking away from tackling the problems but were working with parents and the community to fix the problems.
鈥淭hese last several months have been very challenging and very sobering as our safety lapses have been identified,鈥� he said.
Maxwell said the school system wants to keep students safe while providing them with a great education. He said not just school staff but everyone 鈥� parents, neighbors, church leaders and others 鈥� needs to know the warning signs and speak up about possible abuse.
Maxwell said once the school system is on the other side of these scandals and another school district finds itself dealing with the same problems, they would 鈥渓ook at Prince George鈥檚 County public schools and say, 鈥楬ere鈥檚 a model of how you handle this kind of crisis.鈥欌��
Berniece Reese, president of the Prince George鈥檚 County PTA Council, said parents were angry with the school system, but she said progress is being made.
鈥淚t鈥檚 changed from finger-pointing to what are the next steps, what鈥檚 the plan,鈥� she聽said.
She said parents鈥� voices are being heard聽and parents have a seat at the table. But progress did not mean school leaders have found all the answers 鈥� it just shows that they are all moving together to get there, she said.
鈥淲e see what we鈥檙e dealing with,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e ready to tackle it because we want our children to be safe.鈥�
