MCPS leaders stay silent on high school principal's suspension

The mystery continues tonight at Northwest High School. Montgomery County leaders now refusing to answer questions about the sudden suspension of the principal. Scott Smith is out. For now, Fox host Bob Barnard is in Germantown with the latest. We still don't know why the Northwest High School principal has been suspended or why MCPS officials aren't explaining what's going on, why the lack of transparency with the school community here beyond telling us that this is a personnel matter. All we know officially is that Mr. Scott Smith is on administrative leave. He's been the principal at Northwest High School since 2021. Our camera was there Wednesday as boxes were removed from the school amid what we're told is an internal investigation of some kind. At this morning's Montgomery County School Board meeting, neither Grace Rivera-Oven, whose district includes Northwest High, or Superintendent Dr. Thomas Taylor would speak to us. We were told they were not available to answer our questions about the situation or the lack of transparency surrounding this matter. We stopped by Principal Smith's home in Frederick County this afternoon, hoping to speak with him directly, but nobody answered the door. We left a business card hoping he might call. We've spoken to some Northwest parents this afternoon. It's a little concerning. Verbiage didn't really say much in the community letter they sent out. But from what I understand, according to my child, some of the students are a little concerned and wondering what's going on. It's got them a little frazzled, I guess. Are you concerned of not knowing? I'm kind of a, I'll wait to see what happens or what they put out. The letter did say they will provide more information later. Then I guess I'll make a decision if I should be concerned or not at that time. We send her here, she's here for most of the day. So we got to know that there's a safe environment. If there's something going on, we need to know about it as parents, you know. So we're more concerned about her than, you know, in the safety of the other students. And we just want to know what's going on and get some information from the county or from the school about what's happening. Northwest High School was in the news just last month for a gun reported inside the school. It took nearly 24 hours to communicate to parents it was part of an armed robbery inside a boy's bathroom. Not sure whether Principal Smith's removal has anything to do with that. The only thing MCPS officials are saying about this is in a letter sent to the Northwest High School community yesterday. An administrator writing, Mr. Scott Smith is currently on leave. We are committed to sharing more information regarding the length of Mr. Smith's absence when available. We'll keep pressing for answers, and when we get them, we'll pass them on to you.