It’s going to cost Montgomery County schools about $400,000 to comply with a new Maryland law requiring high schools to have defibrillators at all school-sponsored sporting events.
During Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting, members voted — reluctantly in some cases — to take that money from capital funds to buy the medical devices and accompanying equipment training.
Defibrillators deliver electrical shocks to revive someone whose heart has stopped and are increasingly being used outside of hospitals.
The legislation, which went into effect July 1, makes it mandatory to have automated external defibrillators at every high school facility and a person who knows how to use the defibrillator on hand during athletic contests.
Board member Stephen Abrams said he agrees with the mandate’s safety focus but that he’s upset the bill did not provide any funding help for schools to implement it.
Nor did legislators seek any input from those in the education field to see if the major change was feasible, he said.
“I don’t see why they don’tput the defibrillators in emergency vehicles rather than require them at every high school — more than likely the emergency workers would know how to use them already,” he said after Thursday’s meeting. “I don’t know if that would work, but that’s what I would have suggested if I was asked.”
Board members said that the law left school districts scrambling.
Montgomery County’s plan for compliance is to train all high school coaches in operating the defibrillators so as to ensure that a trained person is present at every sporting event.
The county’s athletic department is now developing a schedule for this training. According to a memorandum to staff, the coaches will learn to use the medical device in the coming school year before their respective sports seasons begin.
