New Principal Thomas Saunders hopes The Wilde Lake Way will set the pace for positive change at Wilde Lake Middle School, which was the site of a sexual assault allegation last spring.
Saunders' campaign requires staff at the Columbia school to model good behavior and explain expectations to students. In addition, he has made sure that rules and other guidelines are posted throughout the school as constant reminders for the students.
"The only thing I can do is to create an environment collaboratively with parents, students and staff," Saunders said. "When kids are given boundaries and expectations, they will follow."
Guidance counselor Albert Merrills, who has been at the school more than 20 years, believes the school under Saunders' leadership will return to the great reputation it had in the past.
"We've all bought into it," Merrills said, referring to Saunders' vision. "We're going back to excellence."
Wilde Lake Middle was placed in the public eye May 20, after police received a report that a female student had been sexually assaulted in a boys restroom by a 13-year-old and a 14-year-old. The girl was hospitalized for observation. The three students were supposed to be in gym class when the incident took place, police said, but went to get a drink of water.
Parents were outraged. The school system organized a community meeting at the school in the weeks that followed the allegations. Several hundred parents attended and got the opportunity to address then-Principal Scott Conroy, Superintendent Sydney L. Cousin and members of the Howard County Police Department. A number of them said the reported assault was just the tip of the iceberg and called the school "dangerous" and "out of control."
Since then, Conroy and his staff answered the dozens of questions parents submitted during the community meeting on the school's Web site and the county state's attorney's office decided not to pursue charges against the two boys because of a lack of evidence. All the students involved have returned to the school. Conroy was assigned to another school, a move planned beforehand.
"It could have happened anywhere," Saunders, previously an administrator at Elkridge Landing Middle, said of the alleged assault. "Wilde Lake Middle School is a great school. It is safe. Parents need to come in and feel safe. It is important that they feel safe."
