Parents Fear For Son's Safety At Mount Hebron High School

ELLICOTT CITY, MD — When Robert and Anna Wagoner's 15-year-old son started school at Mount Hebron High School last fall, he had no idea that his safety would be compromised. As students returned to school Jan. 2, their son was beyond worried, frightened about running the risk of seeing the student who reportedly threatened his life.

The Wagoners decided to keep their son home from school instead, and want Howard County Public Schools officials to transfer the 14-year-old who attacked their son to another school. Max's mom, Anna Wagoner, told Patch that a student with a history of bullying classmates, approached their son Oct. 10 while he was sitting in front of a computer in class. The classmate choked their son from behind, causing him to nearly black out, his mom said.

But the classmate wasn't done yet. Wagoner told Patch that the classmate put her son in a headlock and placed the blade of an X-Acto knife against his neck, moving it back and forth and said, "Do you want to die (racial epithet)?"

"This vicious attack happened in a classroom with a teacher present. There were two student witnesses to the attack; the teacher did not see anything. The victim had been bullied repeatedly by this same student the year before in Patapsco Middle School and yet the students were placed in two classes together at Mt. Hebron this year," Wagoner told Patch.

Wagoner said the assailant was charged with felony assault and first-degree assault, then was suspended for 45 days from the Howard County Public School System. Robert and Anna Wagoner filed and were awarded a peace order against the student, which according to court documents prohibits the assailant from engaging in"contact, attempt to contact (in person, by telephone, in writing, by email or by any other means) or harass said victim," and cannot "go to or enter the residence of the victim."

"I am outraged that my son, who has a peace order against his attacker, is expected to go to school again with this vicious bully whose attacks against my son have escalated. This bully is not going to stop. The school has taken the assailant out of our son’s classes and said that 'additional adult support will be given' and 'the SRO will be available as needed.' This is outrageous," Wagoner said.

She believes that school officials are not doing enough to protect her son and instead are "placing my son in grave danger, not to mention every other student and staff member at MHHS by allowing this violent, troubled teen back to the scene of the crime."

Wagoner shared with Patch the plan Mount Hebron school officials outlined to help keep her son safe, in addition to having access to the school resource officer if needed. Students are able to report to their first period class when the outside doors open at 7 a.m. and staff are present at that time. The students will not be placed in classes together and lunchtime will be supervised by adults. Alternative locations for lunch have been identified, school officials informed Wagoner, and "students do not have to eat in the cafeteria." School rules state that students must be supervised by staff members after school, but staff contracts end the day at 2:40 p.m.

Brian Bassett, senior communication strategist with HCPSS, told Patch in an emailed statement that the school and the district central office is "aware of the circumstances and follow all board policies when responding to any incident involving students. To protect the privacy of our students we do not share any actions that school administrators may or may not take when responding to incidents."

Sherry Llewellyn with the Howard County Police Department confirmed to Patch that Mount Hebron High School's school resource officer responded to the report of an assault Oct. 10 between two boys that involved an X-ACTO knife.

"The student was arrested and charged as a juvenile," Llewellyn confirmed.

Because the suspect is a 14-year-old minor, no additional information could be released by the county police department.