Maryland
Brutal school assault caught on video: Parents demand justice for Maryland teen
Teen attacked at Maryland school, parents demand arrests
A Prince George’s County public high school student is attacked in Oxon Hill, with some of the brutality captured on cell phone video. The girl’s parents are demanding that police arrest the teenage suspects. FOX 5’s Shomari Stone has the story.
OXON HILL, Md. – A 14-year-old student at Potomac High School in Oxon Hill, Maryland, was brutally attacked last Thursday, and some of the assault was captured on cell phone video.
The girl’s parents are demanding justice, and are now calling on police to arrest the teenage suspects involved in the attack.
The incident took place in a utility room on school property, where the girl was ambushed by seven other students. The cell phone footage shows the victim screaming in pain as the attackers repeatedly punch her in the head and face, ultimately breaking her nose as she crouches on the ground.
After the assault, the girl was found in the utility closet, seriously injured and unresponsive in her own blood. Her parents say it took about 30 minutes for school officials to locate her.
Emergency medics later transported her to a hospital for treatment.
The girl’s father, speaking exclusively to FOX 5’s Shomari Stone, expressed his concerns about his daughter’s safety, saying, “I don’t feel safe sending my daughter back to any PG County school to be honest with you, because if this happened at this school, I’m pretty sure that there are rules and regulations in their training programs, it’s all the same.”
A spokesperson for Prince George’s County Public Schools issued a statement, saying, “The safety of students is our top priority. On December 5, an incident at Potomac High School resulted in injuries to a student. Our safety and security personnel immediately responded to address the situation. School district administrators are in contact with the student’s family, and we are working to provide any necessary mental health support to the victim. The incident is under active investigation. Due to FERPA privacy laws, we are unable to provide additional information.”
Prince George’s County police have instructed the girl’s family to contact the Department of Juvenile Services regarding potential criminal charges. The family is now awaiting an update on the investigation.
Maryland schools made nation-leading strides in their recovery from students’ learning loss in the pandemic, data show.
Maryland schools made nation-leading strides in their recovery from students’ learning loss in the pandemic, according to new data.
They ranked third in the nation in their students’ reading recovery rates, and were fifth in math recovery, according to the 2025 Education Scorecard from Harvard and Stanford Universities and Dartmouth College.
D.C. led the U.S. in math and reading recovery.
The data was presented at the Maryland State Board of Education meeting Thursday.
Trish Brennan-Gac, executive director of literacy nonprofit Maryland READS, said the state board is correct to celebrate gains in reading, but proficiency is “nowhere near where we need to be.”
“It is not that we are No. 3-ranked in reading proficiency,” she told WTOP. “It’s a rate of change, and we are making a faster rate of change,” than most school districts nationally.
Brennan-Gac was at the meeting to ask that the state board consider ways to reduce the use of technology in classroom instruction and support a return to print and textbooks in schools.
“This is no longer a fringe concern. It is a growing movement, and it’s not about social media and phones,” she told the board.
Brennan-Gac said the board and Maryland schools superintendent Carey Wright can take a “visible meaningful leadership role.”
“You can develop transition guidance and funding pathways for districts that are ready to move now, and send a clear signal to the field that Maryland prioritizes developmentally appropriate instruction aligned to brain research that shows how books, not tech-based platforms, are effective in wiring kids’ brains for reading,” she said.
The Maryland State Department of Education has issued guidance to school districts on the use of cellphones in schools, and this year issued guidance on the use of artificial intelligence. In both instances, the state has made clear that it leaves implementation of policies to individual school districts.
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