What to Know
- PGPCS CEO Dr. Kevin Maxwell commissioned task force after arrest of former school aide Deonte Carraway on child porn and abuse allegations.
- Task force did not explore Carraway's case.
- School district did not hand over copies of any background checks on Carraway or performance reviews for the principal due to criminal case.
A task force created by the Prince George's County Public Schools board recommended new reporting requirements and curriculum changes after a former school aide and volunteer was arrested and accused of victimizing 19 elementary school students.
The Student Safety Task Force report made five major recommendations for immediate consideration, 61 specific considerations and 28 suggestions how administrative procedures can be updated, clarified or enhanced.
“As I read the report, it’s not that people didn’t know what they were doing,” PGPCS CEO Dr. Kevin Maxwell said. “It’s a way to improve.”
Maxwell commissioned the task force following the arrest of Deonte Carraway in February. He’s facing federal charges of sexually assaulting and videotaping students on and off school property.
Recommendations range from a new curriculum teaching all students sexual abuse prevention to training for everyone who has contact with students, but there was no exploration into the case that spawned the creation of the task force.
“We were not asked to investigate the Carraway case and we did not,” said Prince George’s Community College President Charlene Dukes, who chaired the task force. “That was not our goal.”
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According to charging documents, Carraway formed a club that allowed him access to victims during and after school hours. Despite documented complaints from students about Carraway, it took a relative of one of the victims going to police before Carraway was arrested.
During a press conference Tuesday announcing what the task force found, Dukes said there were no interviews conducted with anyone connected to the Carraway case.
School district records obtained by the News4 I-Team show a top order of business for the task force was to shield its deliberations from the public.
A meeting agenda obtained under the Maryland Public Information Act shows the task force began its March 3 session by discussing why the group was not required to release notes from its meetings.
The school district also decided it would not hand over copies of any background checks performed on Carraway or release performance reviews of the principal of the elementary school. The schools said all of those records relate to the ongoing criminal case against Carraway.
Carraway made videos of children having sex with him and each other at the Glenarden school, at a church and at other locations in Maryland, according to the criminal indictment.
Carraway pleaded not guilty to numerous counts of sexually exploiting children.
