![Junior Grant Levins sprints down the track. "I'm here to try out because I love the sport of track and field and I'm working on my 800 [meter] time. Just trying to get better," Levins said.](https://www.wjpitch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/g82ehdhTRiNswrE8gfn0tL9VRz7fuAnaiIKPCaOI-1200x900.jpg)
Peter Wright Priest Mason, a paraeducator at Magruder High School, has been charged with sexually abusing a female student, sexual intercourse with a minor and fourth degree sex offense after he had an innapropriate relationship with a student on Nov. 20.
On the last day of the 2018-2019 school year, Mason and the victim exchanged Snapchats and over the course of the summer Mason and the student communicated via Snapchat and FaceTime. When the 2019-2020 school year came along, Mason and the victim continued to have communication and met in the woods near the school at least four times where Mason performed sexual acts on the victim. On Oct. 14, Mason and the victim had sexual intercourse in his locked classroom before school and before any other staff members or students had arrived.
Authorities started investigating Mason on Nov. 2 after he confessed to a family member that he was having sexual interactions with a student.
“This kinda stuff disgusts me and breaks my heart because parents put a lot of trust into the schools to keep their kids safe,” counselor Dennis Reynolds said.
WJ students believe MCPS should do a better job of checking teachers before they hire them.
“MCPS should complete a more thorough background check of teachers to prevent incidents like this from happening. It will probably take longer for teachers to get hired but it assure the county that the students are safe,” sophomore Sammy Polott said.
WJ teachers are also scared by the proximity of these events happening at WJ.
“I hate to imagine something like that happening here, but if it happened at Magruder it can happen at WJ,” social studies teacher David Uhler said.
Mason is being held without bail and is facing up to 25 years in prison for his actions.
![Social studies teacher Timothy Rodman holds a production factory simulation in his AP Microeconomics class. "Students remember running for class president or the mock congress or the production factory much more so than learning topics like circular flow," Rodman said. "[The simulations make learning] very tangible and real and then students down the road are able to use it."](https://www.wjpitch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/IMG_4420-1200x675.jpg)
M • Apr 9, 2020 at 4:52 pm
This article is misleading and largely irrelevant.
1. The title of this article says Mason was convicted but in fact, the article merely restates the charges and does not discuss the details of any conviction. It remains unclear whether he was convicted or on what counts.
2. The opinion of the WJ staff has nothing to do with the Macgruder situation. While more thorough background checks have made hiring teachers almost impossible to do in a timely fashion, they would have done nothing to prevent this situation. Why? Because Mason is not a serial offender. This was his first foray into criminal activity and will most likely also be his last.