volume 52, Issue 6 February 26, 2014
Walt whitman High school
7100 whittier boulevard
Bethesda, maryland 20817
theblackandwhite.net
Leaving the classroom for Everest and the Outback
photo by NICK ANDERSON
Former social studies teacher and wife halfway through ten-month trip around the world Students danced from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. at the third annual bRAVE dance marathon for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The dance raised over $27,000, making it the biggest fundraising event of LLS month. See more on LLS month, pages 8-9.
New vistor ID system, additional cameras tighten security ID system aims to keep sex offenders off school property By Tyler Jacobson Improving school security is an ever-shifting jigsaw puzzle, with school officials constantly trying to fit in new policies to reach the overall goal of bettering student safety. This year, a computerized visitor check-in is the newest piece. Now, visitors entering the building during the school day must have their photo identification scanned by a staff member or parent volunteer in the main office. The “Visitor Management Service,” a computer program, then accesses a database from the Maryland sex offender registry to see if the visitor is a registered sex offender, said Doug Steel, the supervisor of MCPS Department of School Safety and Security. The department is concluding a six-year long process, costing approximately $500,000, to outfit all 202 MCPS schools with the Visitor Management Service. Begun in early January at Whitman, the identification scan’s function is to keep any sex offenders—who aren’t legally allowed on school grounds— from entering school property. Additionally, security will now have a digital record of all visitors to the building. “It’s definitely an effective tool when it comes to information pertaining to visitors,” said security team leader Cherisse Milliner, who is still waiting
to be trained on the system. This system is a step down from what the elementary and middle schools currently have, where the front door is locked at all times and visitors have to contact the main office via intercom before being buzzed in. The county is putting that intercom system into high schools this summer, but because of the large number of people entering and exiting high schools, administrators will have the option to use the intercom however they want, Steel said. Though the ID program has only been in use for a couple of weeks, county officials have yet to train Whitman administrators on exactly what to do if a sex offender shows up, security assistant Paul Marshall said. Steel explained the protocol in a phone interview last week. If the Visitor Management System identifies a visitor as a sex offender, the person checking the visitor in must then confirm this identification through the Maryland Sex Registry website. Then an administrator moves the visitor into a private room, before security escorts him or her off the premises. If the offender is being confrontational at any time, the school could contact the police. In the six years since the program started, MCPS has encountered only six to 12 sex offenders, Steel said. Though there haven’t been
Inside Look
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any notable problems at Whitman so far, there have been a few false alarms, secretary Jennifer Hoppel said. One visitor had the same name as someone who set off a red flag in the sex offender registry. “Dr. Goodwin had to call the head of county security,” Hoppel said. “It turned out all okay though.” Scanning visitor’s IDs won’t stop someone from walking into the building and bypassing the main office, Steel said, adding, “That becomes security’s responsibility.” MCPS won’t use the Visitor Management Service to check for a person’s criminal record because it’s wrong to ban someone from going on school grounds for something they did years ago, Steel said. “There’s a privacy issue there.” Last year, MCPS replaced security cameras in the building with 76 higher quality ones. In the spring, the school will add more cameras outside, administrators said. “We have a much better camera system,” Goodwin said. “Now it’s much easier to identify the faces in the video feed.” Still, Goodwin feels like there are still some minor changes that could be made. “Some doors need to close more properly,” Goodwin said. “But like always, the best security is vigilance by our teachers and students.”
Progress update: Whitman Compliments should inspire face-toConstruction in downtown B-Town face interaction Page 5 Page 3
By Casey Noenickx After spending the first year of their marriage commuting between New York and D.C., former social studies teacher Michael Curran and his wife Sarah Curran have finally made up for lost time, living together around the clock and around the globe. The couple began their ten-month journey in September and has already conquered six countries, across four continents, with six more to go. The two plan to return to Maryland after their trip—Sarah will be working for the Maryland Court of Appeals and Michael will be returning to a teaching position in the county. “The timing for the trip just worked out perfectly, so that’s why we figured ‘Why not?’” Sarah said. “It had been hard living apart, and since both of us had jobs to come back to, no impounding leases, no kids, this was the best time for us to travel.” The Currans started with a U.S. road trip from D.C. to Dallas, flew out of Dallas to Fiji, and toured Australia, New Zealand, India and Nepal. They are currently finishing off the longest leg of their trip, six weeks in Nepal, and they’ll next hit Turkey, South Africa, Zambia, Tanzania, and finally Argentina and Brazil for the World Cup this summer. “The countries are hard to compare; they’ve all just been very different experiences so far,” Michael said. “Australia was very luxurious in comparison to Fiji, but both places were so beautiful and all the people were just as friendly.” Between touring and volunteering, highlights of the trip so far have included teaching in Nepal as well as hiking to the Everest base camp. For Michael, he is especially looking forward to being in Brazil for the World Cup this summer. Both packed just two pairs of pants and a couple t-shirts. In addition to clothes, they only brought necessities like pots, pans and a tent, and have been buying anything else that they may need as they go. After their U.S. leg, the Currans started in Fiji, staying on Galoa Island for just over a week, living in traditional grass huts on the beach. “It felt like we were living in a jungle, it was pretty hilarious,” Michael said. “The weather was beautiful spring weather, and all of the locals were beyond welcoming. I felt pretty big though, because everyone was pretty small.” After Fiji, the Currans flew directly into Sydney, Australia. Stepping off the plane into 112-degree weather, the couple greeted the big city and its touristcentral expenses. The Currans participated in typical tourist activities, visiting the Harbor Bridge, the Circular Quay, and the Sydney Opera House, which was beautifully lit up at night, Sarah said. After four days in Sydney the two then headed into the Great Outback.
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