Montgomery Community Media

Joe Doody, the athletic director at Damascus High School, was placed on administrative leave on Tuesday. In an email to Damascus coaches, the systemwide athletics director at Montgomery County Public Schools, Jeff Sullivan confirmed that the leave is due to the ongoing investigation into the supervision of the boys’ locker room on the afternoon of […]

Montgomery County Public Schools published a letter that Superintendent Jack Smith emailed to the Damascus high school community on Sunday. The letter is about how MCPS is cooperating with law enforcement’s investigation into alleged rapes and violent assaults at Damascus, and they’ve also hired an external firm to internally investigate the school and football team […]

Maniya Jules, an assistant principal at Damascus High School, has been put on “extended personal leave” effective April 1, according to a letter emailed home from Principal Casey Crouse. “We are in the process of identifying a qualified professional to act in her role while she is on leave. I will send a follow-up communication […]

Maryland’s Department of Education unveiled its new “accountability system” earlier this week: Maryland School Report Cards. Although Maryland schools have received “report cards” for the past two decades, Maryland Superintendent of Schools Karen Salmon believes the new system is more comprehensive. Schools receive three scores: Star Rating (based on point percentage). Percentile Rank (school’s performance […]

The four 15-year-olds who face rape charges for an incident at Damascus High School have been indicted by a Montgomery County grand jury, a spokesman for State’s Attorney John McCarthy said Friday. The four — Jean Claude Abedi and Will Smith, both of Clarksburg, Caleb Thorpe of Gaithersburg and Kristian Jamal Lee of Germantown — […]

For a holiday week, Montgomery County had a busy seven days, especially on the public safety front. Three major trials, two fires and a crime summary with a focus on county schools dominate the week’s list of stories (by the way, you’re getting 11 stories in your Top 10; both the preview of Catherine Hoggle’s […]

Students at Damascus High School engaged with more than 40 experts to discuss and learn about important life topics. The Youth Summit featured sessions on mental health, drug abuse, self-defense, eating disorders, healthy relationships and the new Samaritan Law. MCPS-TV has the details. Visit our PEG partner MCPS-TV to view more of its local programming.

A veteran social studies teacher from Damascus High School has been named the 2015-2016 Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Teacher of the Year. Joseph Gannon, Jr., who has worked for MCPS for 27 years, will now compete for Maryland Teacher of the Year. Gannon was named Teacher of the Year on Tuesday night during the […]