Worcester County Board of Ed. responds to law enforcement’s concerns over school safety

WORCESTER COUNTY, Md. – The Worcester County Board of Education (WCBOE) is responding after local law enforcement held a public address over continued school safety concerns.

Worcester County Sheriff Matt Crisafulli and State’s Attorney Kris Heiser joined forces Thursday night to address the public, posting a video on the Sheriff’s Office’s Facebook page responding to school officials push back.

Together, they collectively called on school leaders to do more to address the incidents of violence, including reporting those incidents to law enforcement which Sheriff Crisafulli stressed they have not been doing in certain circumstances.

WCBOE responded Friday afternoon to their concerns, issuing a statement where they said they remain committed to the safety and security of their students and staff.

“While we have already publicly addressed the recommendations and presentations by our law enforcement officials, we recognize that this continued public debate on school safety is not conducive to restoring the partnership between our entities, and it stands to further incite fear in our students,” WCBOE said in their statement.

Education officials then went on to extend an open invitation to the Sheriff Crisafulli to meet with school leaders to discuss how best to move forward.

“To that end, the Board and Superintendent of Schools has extended an open invitation to the Worcester County Sheriff and Chief Deputy to meet with the Superintendent and Chief Safety and Academic Officer,” the statement read. “To discuss the execution of our Memorandum of Understanding and how we can best move forward for the betterment of our schools.”

Along with their remarks during the public address Thursday evening, Sheriff Crisafulli and State’s Attorney Heiser released a sheet, titled “School Safety Alert”, that highlighted several recent incidents of violence within Worcester County Public Schools.

In the school safety alert sheet the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office specified that the latest assault, which occurred on Wednesday, March 6th, was never reported to law enforcement as required by law.

47 ABC News continues to follow this story very closely and will provide additional details on the issue as more information is released.