ACP sets April 13 virtual forum on school safety, decides format and invitees

The Advisory Commission on Policing on March 9 set a virtual public forum for April 13 to collect community perspectives on school safety and the role of police in schools.

Commission members agreed to allot roughly 30 minutes for ACP subcommittee presentations (data and school subcommittees) and reserve the remainder of the meeting for a listening session where members of the public can comment. The commission chose a flexible format that will allow invited representatives—PTA leaders, principals' associations, NAACP chapters and other community groups—to give brief timed remarks (two to three minutes) while reserving most time for members of the public to sign up and speak.

Sheree (speaker 9) recommended framing the forum around a short set of guiding questions (for example: how do residents define school safety; what is the role of MCPD/community-engagement officers in schools; how have disciplinary trends affected perceptions of safety?). Christie (speaker 3), who identified herself as a cluster coordinator for a high-school PTA cluster, volunteered to help collect PTA contacts and suggested using the Montgomery County Council of PTAs distribution to circulate invites.

Logistics: Susan and Logan (staff, speaker 6 and speaker 13) will moderate. The commission agreed to ask for short written testimony (one page) in advance and to permit people to register in advance to speak; the ACP will post the guiding questions publicly and work to ensure timely guardrails (time limits) for invited speakers.

The chair said the commission will publicize the forum widely and encouraged members to share the announcement with their networks. The forum will be virtual; final time allotments, sign-up procedures and the invitation list will be circulated in advance.