Are PG County Schools Safe? (Olney, Hyattsville: crimes, transfer, school district)

[NTWQ2007]

I am considering a teaching job in PG County for next fall and I have heard mixed reviews on PG County and how safe the schools are. I am not from Maryland, I am originally from Bucks County, PA but married someone from Maryland so have relocated.

I would be working in a high school, I don't know which one yet, and I am looking for some honest, up-to-date, opinions from people who have gone to school here, live here, work in the schools, or have children in the schools.

I would really like to take the job but am honestly frightened about my safety. I have spoken, in person, to some people who used to work for the school district and they have not had positive things to say, but I am hopeful from what I've been reading that perhaps things are changing. I am not afraid of a challenge, but I don't want to work in an unsafe environment.

I would really appreciate any honest opinions out there!

[RoadTripGurl]

The only thing I can tell you is good luck. I think these times you have to fear for your safety regardless of where you are teaching, this generation of kids is a little "off the hook". I went to school in Suitland and it wasn;t as bad as other high schools. I can honestly say things are changing but not fast enough. I don't think it's that bad where you have to be fearing for your safety or my neices and nephews wouldn't still be going to school there.

[lscalder]

Teachers should worry about their safety no matter where they teach. Crimes as far as shootings in schools are happening in the suburban areas as far as what have been reporting on the news. My neice attend Mattaponi Elementary school in Upper marlboro maryland and it is very safe and very good. I have never heard on the news where a student shoot up the school or physically hurt a teacher. You will be fine.

[ebo202]

I went to school in PG county.

It's not bad as in, "Lean On Me" or "Dangerous Minds" bad, just filled with academically poor and disinterested students. Teachers pass you just to get you out of their hair. No you will not get shot nor beat up or anything like that, but you will have a lot of disrespectful kids whose parents will defend their kids' bad actions to the last.

Give it a shot and if you like it, great! If you don't, transfer into the private schools. Just remember, no matter what city you live in, the REALLY bad kids just drop out or don't come to school at all!

[Carrot2000]

I have a friend who taught in PG County high schools--she's now a guidance counselor in the PG school system--and she never had a problem with the students. The parents, on the other hand, were a different story. They weren't violent or anything, but tended to be uninvolved until their kids were on the brink of academic failure. Overall, I don't think you're walking into a war zone.

[Mom21]

PG schools suck! But I don't think you will need a bullet-proof jacket or anything like that.

[jessy0780]

My best friend teaches at the same PG County hs that we attended 10 years ago. She has been threatened by students, but has not been hurt physically. One student even went so far as to threaten her unborn child. She has seen teachers involved in physical alterations with students, when teachers are forced to defend themselves. Whether you can deal with it depends on your personality. If you are quiet and softspoken and don't like confrontation, then I would look in another county. Definitely thoroughly investigate ANY school before you take a position, no matter what county. Walk the halls between classes to see what kid behavior is like, and sit in on classes and lunchtime.

[lscalder]

Children and violence are happening all over the country. In Pg county its amjority blacks. Black children donot have time to build bombs or can hide a gun in their room. If you are worried about your school gettign bomb or a school shootings that might happen in other counties in maryland but not PG county.

When I was in High school back in 2002. I went to James Hubert Blacke high school in Loney and I was scared to death at that school. I remember everyonther month the bomb squad was at the school due to a threat or someone set the school on fire or they found a weapon in school. I remeber when every morning we had to walk through a metal detector. The same things happen at Montgoery Blair high school. I remember back in 2000 we had a bomb threat. I was the first and only bomb threat btu Blake high school we use to have them it seems everyday and that school is majority white. Black students might talk and pretend they are bad just to see if they can walk all over you but a white student will shoot you. Not to be rascist but thats all I see on the news.

[ebo202]

Ok, let's see.... You saw some white kids on the news shooting up a school. Now you fear white kids because they spend their time building bombs and carrying guns. How is that not racist?

Sorry Lscalder but that is just a "beyond ignorant" statement. That's the exact same mess you were complaining about in another post about you don't like being generalized as a black person. Guess what? I sometimes see a black person on the news selling crack. Following your logic, I should assume you sell crack too. Is that true of all black people? OF COURSE NOT!

I am REALLY curious... How the heck can you talk about PG county when you went to Blake? It's in OLNEY for pete's sake?! Olney is listed at #17 in Money Magazine's "Best Places to Live 2007." If you were terrified at Olney, then... then... geez i can't even pretend a reason why you would be! I went to a private High School in Hyattsville, Prince George's County. Every day I'd see the kids from Northwestern HS acting like jackases and getting into bloody fights. A lot of times, the other kids just cackled like hyenas talking trash while some poor kids searches the pavement for a tooth. A couple friends of mine even got robbed at gunpoint on the Metro from PG plaza by some 15 year old kid who was so high he couldn't aim straight. THAT is PG. Olney? Gimme a break!

The kids (white, black, asian, whatever) at Blake and Blair call in bomb threats because they know they can get out of school early that way. Stupid? Yes, but that's why they are kids. PG students have a different method of getting out of class... They just don't go.

[jessy0780]

I agree with ebo.
And, I don't think she's asking about the likelihood of a school bombing or shooting. I think it's the more common things that people don't read about in the papers. Car thefts, petty thefts, students who feel that they have the right to threaten teachers, and parents who don't care, not to mention administration that has lousy punishments at best. A 2 day in school suspension is not going to deter a kid from anything. Like it or not, this activity does go on in PG County high schools, and of course it happens in other schools too, but it's more prevalent in PG County. Part of that is that some students come in from DC. I did go to a PG County hs- and graduated 10 years ago, my senior year, about 8 cars were stolen from the parking lot. My brother graduated about 2 year ago from the same school and things are worse there now.
The sad thing is, if parents and administration don't face the situation and stop the denial, it'll never get better. Everyone wants to say, oh this school is worse, and this happened in this other county, but a county's school system should be praised for it's own merits- not compared to anything else.
One more thing- the race of students shouldn't even be considered. It's ignorant to judge schools based on the color of the students skin. Judge them on academic merits, any criminal incidents, teaching skills and what classes and programs are offered, and overall safety of the school. If the school has to have metal detectors, and weekly locker searches and has security guards patrolling the hallways, than obviously there's something wrong.