Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) recorded 600 hate-bias incidents during the 2025-2026 school year, more than double the 253 reported the year before.

The 137% jump was presented at a Friday, Sept. 11, school board meeting where officials discussed updates to the district's strategic plan. The districtwide figures do not break out Bethesda-area schools, but the spike follows reports of antisemitism at Walt Whitman High School and comes as families across the Bethesda-Chevy Chase cluster watch how the district responds.

The surge far exceeded the district's stated goal of 230 or fewer incidents.

Superintendent Thomas Taylor told the board that expanded staff training may explain the increase. All MCPS staff completed hate-bias prevention training during the 2025-2026 school year. "An uptick in hate bias reporting may be an outcome of additional people being trained," Taylor said.

Several board members questioned that framing. Board member Karla Silvestre said the district needs better ways to measure whether training is reducing bias, not just generating more reports. "We need a new metric that tells us more than just more people are filling out the form," Silvestre said.

Chief of Schools Peter Moran said the district increased consequences for hate-bias incidents and added restorative justice practices for lesser offenses. He cited a kindergartener repeating a word they don't understand as a case where suspension would not fit.

Moran suggested tracking suspensions for hate-bias incidents would be a more meaningful indicator than raw report counts.

The question of whether rising numbers reflect worsening behavior or better reporting is not new. A March 2024 board memorandum from then-Interim Superintendent Monique T. Felder noted 337 incidents reported that school year as of March 6, 2024. The district was receiving nearly three reports per day, compared to one every three days the prior year. That memo acknowledged bias incidents were likely underreported "due to fear or lack of clarity about the process."

MCPS introduced a three-tier response system in September 2024. Yellow incidents are hurtful but not motivated by hate or bias. Orange incidents are bias-motivated but not criminal, and police are notified. Red incidents are bias-motivated, potentially criminal and large in scope; police are notified and a community letter is sent.

Only Orange and Red incidents are recorded as serious incidents in the district's tracking system, according to revised procedures from July 2025.

The data do not break down the 600 incidents by tier, by category or by individual school. MCPS operates 211 schools serving about 156,050 students as of September 2025.

The climate around hate and bias at Bethesda-area schools has drawn attention from families. In a July 30 Washington Jewish Week report, Whitman parent Stacey Rosenberg said she had helped her daughter transfer schools twice due to antisemitism from peers. "It seems to me there's a lot going on in MCPS in terms of antisemitic harassment, and that can take a toll psychologically on students," Rosenberg said at the time.

Bullying reports also rose slightly, from 1,017 in 2024-2025 to 1,052 in 2025-2026. MCPS spokesperson Chris Cram had not responded to Bethesda Magazine's request for suspension data as of Sept. 14.