By Mila Johns
Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School held a Community Meeting on the evening of Monday January 30, 2023 to address the medical emergency incident that occurred at the school last week and the ensuing criticism of its handling of the situation by both parents and students.
Initial Incident and Response
On January 23, 2023, at approximately 8am, the administration was alerted by students that two female students had been found unconscious in one of the school’s bathroom stalls. An announcement was made that the bells signaling the changing of classes would be held, though no reason for the decision was immediately provided to either teachers or students; this prompted immediately speculation and panic amongst many students, many of whom erroneously believed that the school had entered into a lockdown or shelter-in-place event, that there was an active shooter in the building or that a student had overdosed on fentanyl.
While teachers were soon notified via staff email that the situation was in fact a medical emergency, students were not informed until sometime later and a number of them reached out to parents via text message, providing the first information on the incident to parents.
It wasn’t until 12:34pm that parents were officially notified as to the event by B-CC PTSA President Lyric Winik who provided a link to coverage provided by the student newspaper The Tattler in the following email:
Principal Shelton Mooney sent a formal notification from the B-CC administration to parents at 3:32pm, more than 7 hours after the event had occurred.
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In the Media
Following this incident and the delay in communication, several news articles were written about it. Bethesda Beat wrote about the silence after incident being criticized. WTOP wrote about the call for a B-CC community meeting. Fox5DC wrote about concerns and frustrations regarding bathroom safety.
Community Meeting
Monday evening’s Community Meeting was held in the B-CC auditorium at 7pm and streamed on the school’s Admin Team YouTube account for those unable to attend in person. After initial technical difficulties, the presentation started off with an overview of the current safety procedures for MCPS and laying out the six types of Emergency Preparedness drills required under state law before focusing on the medical emergency that occurred on January 23rd.
Dr. Mooney and other staff members stressed that the privacy of the two girls who were intoxicated was their paramount concern during and immediately after the incident and defended the decision to hold the bells while these students were transported by EMS from the bathroom in which they were found to the ambulance waiting outside, stating that “the real goal in doing that was to preserve the dignity of those two young ladies.”
The conversation then veered into a protracted digression focusing on the school’s challenges with bathroom surveillance and the usage therein of illicit substances, particularly cigarettes, drugs, and vape pens.
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Tensions Flare
This abrupt departure from the stated topic drew the ire of parents in the audience, with several people challenging Principal Mooney on the lack of “dialogue” that the meeting had promised. When questioned as to the possibility of creating a specific announcement for medical emergencies, Principal Mooney responded “Absolutely…very honestly I thought that that was communicated,” going on to explain that there is now a prepared response for such events. He further elaborated that there have been approximately four previous occasions this school year where the bells have been held for medical emergencies necessitating ambulances that parents have not been notified about and would not commit to notifying about future incidents.
“it feels like [our main question is] not being answered. Everyone understands the privacy of students…no one is asking for their privacy to be revealed, we just felt like there was an information vacuum.” The woman continued, “It feels like you don’t want the open mic because you’re afraid to hear from us.”
Excerpt from B-CC Community Meeting video
A heated dispute then broke out between several parents and Principal Mooney off-camera from the livestream, which, upon his return to the podium he termed a “side conversation…about what students knew, what staff knew, and when they knew it.” One woman expressed her frustration with the format of questions being submitted and then selectively read out by Dr. Mooney, asserting that “it feels like [our main question is] not being answered. Everyone understands the privacy of students…no one is asking for their privacy to be revealed, we just felt like there was an information vacuum.” The woman continued, “It feels like you don’t want the open mic because you’re afraid to hear from us.”
A second parent joined in, contending that “[her] kids didn’t know that it was a medical lockdown, they were texting me they were scared it was a shooter again! No one wanted to know what was wrong with these girls, we just wanted to know that our kids were safe in class.”
Excerpt from B-CC Community Meeting video
A second parent joined in, contending that “[her] kids didn’t know that it was a medical lockdown, they were texting me they were scared it was a shooter again! No one wanted to know what was wrong with these girls, we just wanted to know that our kids were safe in class.” A third parent stated that her child had heard that the situation was a medical emergency, though she did not say how her child acquired this information.
Principal Mooney insisted that the announcement holding students in their first period classes was clear that it was not a lockdown, which several parents hotly refuted, sending the principal on the defensive, reiterating again that “[an] announcement of a lockdown was never made. The announcement was made that the bells were being held for a medical emergency,” before seemingly attempting to conclude the meeting by reassuring the audience that the questions submitted would be collected and that B-CC would be “sending out answers,” without offering further specifics of what that meant.
The Bethesda-Chevy Chase Community Meeting can be viewed in its entirety here:
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