Montgomery County Council members are calling on the county鈥檚 schools superintendent and Board of Education president to release more information on how allegations of misconduct are handled.
Specifically, the council members said they want a report on allegations of bullying and sexual harassment by a school principal to be released to the public.
In an unusual session, all 11 members of the county’s council turned out for the Education and Culture Committee meeting on Thursday with Superintendent Monifa McKnight and president Karla Silvestre.
New investigation
The meeting came as the county鈥檚 Inspector General, Megan Limarzi, launched twin investigations into the recent handling of allegations of sexual harassment and bullying by Joel Beidleman.
Beidleman was promoted to principal of Paint Branch High School in June, despite being the target of 18 complaints over a period of seven years.
Limarzi made it clear she could not comment on her investigation, noting that, typically, her office doesn鈥檛 announce that an investigation is being done until it鈥檚 completed.
鈥淭his is a very unique situation,鈥� she said, noting that her investigation follows the one carried out by a law firm hired by MCPS to investigate the circumstances surrounding Beidleman鈥檚 promotion in June and his subsequent placement on administrative leave when the allegations were made public.
Calls for accountability and transparency
At Thursday鈥檚 hearing, Council President Evan Glass asked the school officials, 鈥淗ow many people have to come forward and say 鈥榤e too鈥� until something is done?鈥�
Council member Gabe Albornoz called the allegations 鈥渁wful鈥� and said 鈥渢rust has really been eroded on many different levels.鈥�
McKnight and Silvestre both pledged to work on regaining trust in the community.
鈥淥ur students and staff deserve to learn and work in an environment free of harassment and intimidation. We鈥檝e got to make this right,鈥� Silvestre said.
McKnight told the council members that she “was not aware that there was an internal investigation against Dr. Joel Beidleman at the time of his promotion.鈥� She said the school system would work toward improved screening.
Council member Will Jawando said 鈥渙bviously there鈥檚 a huge failure here鈥� and called on school officials to release the report by Jackson Lewis, the law firm retained by the school system to look into the allegations surrounding Beidleman.
Council member Marilyn Balcombe also urged for the release of the report and expressed frustration.
鈥淲e have no details about this incident, and we鈥檙e not privy to the facts, yet we鈥檙e called upon to blindly fund budget requests year after year without transparency,” she said.
Referring to the need for more information, Balcombe said, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 assume that this is the only incident, I hope that it is, but we really need to know if this is just one or two incidences or the tip of the iceberg.鈥�
Council member Dawn Luedtke told McKnight and Silvestre that Balcombe鈥檚 line of questioning, including those on accountability 鈥渞eally resonates with me 鈥� three of my children went to school at Fahrquar under this principal,鈥� she said referring to Beidleman.
A number of the council members repeated the call for the release of the full report by Jackson Lewis. Council member Kristin Mink said even if the report was released in a heavily redacted format, 鈥淚 still think that something is better than nothing.鈥�
Vanishing emails
Glass quoted from emails detailing allegations of harassment by Beidleman, and said in the Jackson Lewis report, 鈥淚t states that after searching MCPS鈥� email servers, it did not find these emails I referenced.鈥�
The council members were told that emails are automatically deleted after one year. That alarmed Mink who said, 鈥淚鈥檇 like to just request that that be stopped immediately.鈥�
McKnight said, 鈥淲e will absolutely be in conversation about that.鈥�
Silvestre said, 鈥淵es, we can consider it.” She added, that the emails are archived, but 鈥渨hat I鈥檓 not prepared to tell you today is how that system works.鈥�
McKnight also said she was not aware of what happens to the deleted and archived emails.
Glass responded, 鈥淭hank you for that additional information, but according to the independent report, those emails weren鈥檛 found, so there鈥檚 work to be done for sure.鈥�
Community response
Janis Sartucci, with the Parents Coalition of Montgomery County, said she has concerns about how the school board retained Jackson Lewis.
During Thursday鈥檚 meeting, Silvestre was asked if the school board had formally hired Jackson Lewis to do an investigation 鈥� or if the firm had been hired to prepare a defense connected to the allegations and the school system鈥檚 handling of those complaints.
“Officers met with Dr. McKnight and the interest of the time was to move quickly because we wanted to get ahead of this as soon as possible,” Silvestre said.
Sartucci told 草莓传媒 that unless the entire school board moved to hire Jackson Lewis, that鈥檚 a problem.
鈥淢aryland law is clear: that individual board members cannot act on behalf of the board of education,” she said. “That鈥檚 a violation of state law.鈥�
草莓传媒 reached out to the school system for comment.
Sartucci also expressed concern about the deletion of MCPS emails and the fact that McKnight and Silvestre couldn鈥檛 say what happens to them once they are deleted or transferred to electronic archives.
“Nobody seems to know which end is up and what is going on.鈥�
Office of the Inspector General
During Thursday鈥檚 meeting, several council members expressed confidence in the Inspector General鈥檚 Office and Limarzi鈥檚 professionalism.
Sartucci echoed that sentiment, calling Limarzi “kick*ss.鈥�
鈥淪he鈥檚 extremely professional,” Sartucci said. “She does her homework, she stays within the parameters of her job, she does what she鈥檚 supposed to do and she produces results.鈥�
School officials say they鈥檝e
Limarzi said members of the public
