Although the Montgomery County Board of Education (BOE) decides how the school district operates, two county council committees are holding a joint hearing Feb. 8 to ensure that the community and the council is kept abreast.
The county Office of Inspector General Jan. 24 released its second report on how Montgomery County Public Schools handle personnel complaints and promotions. The reports followed a Washington Post investigation on the promotion of former Principal Joel Beidleman, who had numerous bullying, harassment and sexual harassment complaints filed against him.
Beidleman was scheduled for promotion but was put on leave after the Post revealed the complaints filed against him. Just this week, MCPS announced that he is no longer an MCPS employee and being paid based on his nearly $200,000 dollar a year salary.
Council Vice President Kate Stewart is particularly disturbed by comments in the OIG report that problems have been pointed out by other entities for several years but only now are being addressed.
While Stewart wants MCPS to be more transparent, she said she understands that unlike council members, BOE members don’t have individual staff and are only parttime employees.
Councilmember Will Jawando, who chairs the Education and Culture Committee, also is looking forward to an open conversation during the committee hearing.
Speaking on WAMU radio show The Politics Hour Friday afternoon and referring to MCPS news, Jawando declared, “It has been a week.”
The OIG report as well as a report by the law firm hired by the BOE to review the matter, all showed, “There were clearly massive mistakes. There is a lot of blame to go around.”
There have been more than 25 misconduct complaints filed against Beidleman since 2016 so the problems existed before McKnight became superintendent, he pointed out.
McKnight “has said multiple times on the record” that she was not aware of the complaints against Beidleman prior to his promotion from principal at Farquar Middle School to Paint Branch High School, according to Jawando.
After reading the report, Jawando said, “I think a lot of people’s jobs are in jeopardy. I think there is a lot of blame to go around here.”
If the BOE does fire McKnight, it “needs to tell the public why,” Jawando said. “If the school board wants to make a change, they should articulate that and do it.”
On @politicshour right now — are you tuned in? Listen here: https://t.co/ohXrfVAU7M pic.twitter.com/3WgQWh534D
— Councilmember Will Jawando (@CMJawando) January 26, 2024
