With more than 200 schools and facilities, 138,000 students, and over 21,000 employees, security is a critically important undertaking for the Montgomery Country (MD) Public School system, the 17th largest in the US. MCPS maintains its own central alarm control centre-monitoring perimeters, boilers, water flow, refrigeration, breakage of windows, and more-that receives over 36,000 separate alarms throughout the year.
The MCPS Department of School Safety and Security oversees 200 plus security staff deployed in its schools and after-hours security program. The MCPS comprehensive security program includes emergency/crisis plans in place for each school and facility. MCPS also has partnered with the Montgomery County Department of Police to assign uniformed officers to each high school and some of the middle schools with a future plan to expand the program to the remaining MCPS secondary schools.
