This story, originally published at 11:08 a.m. on Jan. 24, 2024, was updated multiple times.
The release Wednesday of a report by Montgomery County’s inspector general did not answer many outstanding questions about how Montgomery County Public Schools handled misconduct allegations against a principal. The school board, which is attempting to oust Superintendent Monifa McKnight, would not say whom it holds responsible for systemic failures outlined in the report, while county leaders are expressing frustration and promising a hearing to further explore the matter.
The report faulted many aspects of MCPS’ investigative processes and its failures to address problems that had been flagged four times in recent years. Yet Inspector General Megan Davey Limarzi’s report did not state specifics of the district’s handling of sexual harassment allegations against former Principal Joel Beidleman, whom a previous IG report had found had engaged in sexual misconduct and bullying.
Superintendent Monifa McKnight said she accepted the findings and recommendations of what she termed “long standing problems.” Limarzi’s report also warned: “We will … engage with MCPS until they satisfactorily implement actions to remediate the challenges documented in this report.”
In the face of the damning report, Montgomery County Board of Education President Karla Silvestre said the board was investing in more oversight resources, but she did not say whom the board held responsible for the repeated failures.
County government leaders expressed dissatisfaction with many unanswered questions about how the district retained and promoted Beidleman despite the volume of complaints, and they pointed to an upcoming committee hearing that would explore the issue.
The highly anticipated report comes amid a dispute between MCPS Superintendent Monifa McKnight and the Board of Education regarding an apparent request for her to resign.
The school system disclosed Wednesday afternoon that Beidleman was no longer employed with the district, as of Wednesday.
Wednesday’s report sums up five areas of concern with how the district handles complaints:
- The district does not have a comprehensive protocol to address the receipt, evaluation, tracking and disposition of complaints.
- MCPS Department of Compliance and Investigations (DCI) does not follow defined criteria for determining what actions to take with complaints.
- DCI does not have comprehensive policies for conducting and documenting investigations.
- Lack of evidence in electronic case files that DCI “consistently followed sound investigative practices.”
- Deficiencies in the district’s handling of complaints, that were previously identified, have not been addressed.
A letter from the superintendent, included in the report, stated that she “accept each of the five findings and the associated recommendations … that will be used to eradicate long standing practices and procedures.”
“MCPS will collaborate with the Board of Education to make the necessary systemic changes to policies, regulations, procedures, organizational structure, leadership and staff credentials and training, and oversight of employee complaints and investigations,” McKnight wrote.
In addition, McKnight noted that since the release of the initial investigation into the allegations against Beidleman, the district has approved a revision to its email retention policy (from one to three years) beginning on Feb. 12, and has purchased Go Guardian—a complaint tracking and processing application – which will be implemented at the end of the month.
However, Go Guardian is a system for tracking activity on student computers. McKnight appeared to be referring to different software.
“I am fully in alignment with the OIG’s recommendations, many of which I have already been working with my team to address by implementing dozens of corrective actions over the last several months – and I appreciate the OIG for acknowledging that progress in today’s report,” McKnight said in a statement to the school community Wednesday.
McKnight added that this week she shared updates to the district’s corrective action plan and acknowledged that there is still work to be done ahead. Actions and policy changes would be done in collaboration with the school board, County Council and the OIG.
“Part of overhauling MCPS is cultivating an environment and policies that facilitate greater collaboration and coordination, ensuring that important information is shared with appropriate leaders who are empowered to take action when we recognize rot in the system,” McKnight stated. “As I’ve said from day one, these issues may not have started on my watch, but as superintendent, they will end on my watch. …
“I am honored to continue serving this community, and to drive the reforms that will usher in a new era for MCPS.”
School board response
Silvestre on Wednesday evening said she and other board members received access to the OIG’s report only about 24 hours before its public release. She acknowledged that the board still had more work to do toward accountability for the Beidleman debacle and needed to take steps to rebuild trust with the community.
“We’re still committed to finding out the root cause of what caused all this and then holding folks responsible for actions that caused this,” she said. “Trust is regained by our actions. Right? And so we are committed to regaining and healing our community because our children and our families deserve the best school system.”
When asked who the board held responsible for the failures, she said, “The county IG report is very telling. It has great information for us to act on, both on … the responsibility to correct action, as well as the policy development. The corrective action is the role of the administration and the policy development is the role of the school board.”
She said the board would bring in external HR experts to help implement recommendations and exert more oversight over implementation.
“We are also going to do a comprehensive review of our HR policies – that was pointed out in the report,” she said. “We’re going to look at all of our HR policies and make sure that they’re up to date.”
Silvestre noted that a priority for the board is strengthening its oversight capability through bringing on more staff — which until recently had seven direct staff members. The board has hired a senior analyst, Channen Paddyfote, and is bringing on a new communications director.
“We’re building our own capacity to be able to effectively carry on our oversight responsibilities,” she said.
Silvestre expressed appreciation to Limarzi, particularly for the commitment to keep working with the school system and the board to ensure the recommendations would be implemented.
The Board of Education also released a statement Wednesday evening that reiterated many of Silvestre’s points but also committed to providing regular updates to the MCPS community as the board begins implementing recommendations and making policy changes.
County leaders underwhelmed
A joint oversight committee meeting on the OIG’s findings—which will be open for the public—has been scheduled for 3 p.m. Feb. 8 at the council building, according to a statement from Council President Andrew Friedson (D-Dist. 1), Council Vice President and Audit Committee Chair Kate Stewart (D-Dist. 6) and Education and Culture Committee Chair Will Jawando (D-At-large) Wednesday.
“The Council will continue to push for the increased accountability and transparency from MCPS that our educators and families deserve,” councilmembers stated. “Additionally, we will work with the Board of Education and MCPS leadership to ensure that identified deficiencies are addressed in a timely and comprehensive manner.”
Councilmembers Evan Glass (D-At-large) and Dawn Luedtke (D-Dist. 7) also released a more muscular statement, urging the school board to “take decisive action.”
“The report found four instances since 2019 in which the school system was notified of deficiencies in these processes, received recommendations for improvement and failed to take corrective action,” Glass and Luedtke stated. “This culture of non-compliance is unacceptable and deprives students, educators and staff of the safe learning and working environment they deserve.”
Their statement also emphasized that members of the council and the public have unanswered questions about Beidleman’s promotion. “The public’s trust has been eroded and the school board must commit itself to leading with transparency and accountability.”
County Executive Marc Elrich commented on the news of the OIG’s report and McKnight fighting her ouster during a press briefing on Wednesday afternoon saying, “I’m not very happy with the way this thing is being handled.”
He called the report “distressing” and said that he still has a lot of unanswered questions.
In addition, he hoped that the report would provide more clarity on the situation with Khalid Walker, an employee, who alleged to MoCo360 and the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights that he was ordered to change the findings of an internal investigation of allegations against Beidleman—and then was retaliated against.
“Did the IG see that? If the IG didn’t see that, then who is investigating it? Somebody clearly needs to,” Elrich said. “And how high did it go? Was it one supervisor who told them to change the report? Did that supervisor change it based on the recommendations of other supervisors? Is there any email trail in any of this? The IG’s report doesn’t answer that.”
The teacher’s union, Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA) shared a similar sentiment. In a press release, the union said that they are “disheartened and disgusted by the continuing revelations of corruption, malfeasance and unsafe working conditions in MCPS.”
“Every day that the current controversy continues, the system is failing to support the 14,000 educators who strive to give our students the excellent learning opportunities they need and deserve,” MCEA President Jennifer Martin stated. “MCEA calls on the board to choose leaders who can restore trust in the system and who will support the critical work we do with students each day.”
In the release, the union stated that the school system’s failures “indicates a callous disregard for the safety and wellbeing of staff and further erode our confidence in senior leaders entrusted with oversight of this work” and showed that changes in top leadership are needed to restore trust in the system.
“The Board must put a swift end to the chaos. They should appoint leaders who will work to address the challenges we face in our work each day, such as staffing shortages in special education and other crucial areas, unfilled substitute teaching positions and related unpaid class coverage, and concerns over a lack of COVID leave,” MCEA stated.
The Montgomery County Council of Parent-Teacher Associations (MCCPTA) also released a statement Wednesday night stating that the organization’s executive committee was concerned about ongoing issues with the school system and the school board.
MCCPTA urged system-wide accountability, transparency and “prompt disclosure and resolution of these issues so that everyone can focus their attention on ensuring a safe working environment for teachers and staff and the best possible learning environment for students.”