County, School Officials Hope to Streamline Communication of Emergencies

County Council members this week questioned Howard County Board of Education members about recent incidents that may have put children on school buses in danger and the ways those incidents were reported to parents.

Council members Calvin Ball and Jen Terrasa Tuesday raised concerns about a group of young men who  with elementary school students onboard, an incident in which people threw rocks at a school bus, as well as  in Elkridge and Ellicott City.

Laurel Woods administrators sent students home with a note about the "gang-like" activity, but Terrasa said she didn't find out about the incidents until a week after they occurred.

On Jan. 13, people threw rocks at a bus carrying River Hill High School basketball players while leaving a Friday night basketball game at Oakland Mills High School in Columbia, according to school board member Brian Meshkin.

Kevin Burnett, security coordinator for Howard County schools, said he didn't know about that incident until two days later.

Meshkin said in an interview Wednesday he was concerned about the reports of suspicious activity near children in Elkridge and Ellicott City, and didn't know why notification wasn't made countywide. Meshkin, who lives in Fulton, first heard the news 

"Having three little kids who ride the school bus every day to elementary school, my wife and I personally have been more vigilant after seeing that story," Meshkin told Patch.

"There's got to be a better way to communicate," Councilman Calvin Ball told the board.

At least one Howard County transportation official acknowledged the problem with incidents involving students on buses, and agreed that more should be done in the future to ensure parents and staff are directly and expediently.

Meshkin said he hopes members of the school staff will come back with recommendations on how to manage emergencies in the future, and expects the board to continue discussing proper protocol for the future.

"Having a bus attacked by older students, chances are that's not going to happen too frequently, but it only takes once for something bad to happen," Meshkin said.

"Fortunately, nothing really bad happened, but that was a warning sign–that was the yellow light. So, we need to take the opportunity to fix whatever needs to be fixed.