Post-meeting update
Council President Friedson grilled officials on the “forthrightness” of their responses
During two key moments of questioning MCPS officials needed to correct the record and make clarifications to prior statements.
In discussions of how MCPS handled the five employees who were identified in reports as having violated MCPS policy, Council Vice President Kate Stewart (D-Dist. 4) asked officials how the employees were held accountable. Initially, Silvestre struggled to tell Stewart how many people named in the report were still employed by MCPS, under investigation or terminated. She was also unsure of the timeline in which investigations would be completed.
Hull later corrected the record to say that of the five employees, two are no longer employed by MCPS, two are “in process” and one was disciplined and returned to work. He did not share the names of the employees and investigative reports have redacted the names and titles of individuals.
The second point in which officials corrected and clarified was in discussions about MCPS’ practice of placing employees on administrative leave within the Office of Human Resources and Development (OHRD) – a position that Beidleman was placed into.
Councilmember Dawn Luedtke (D-Dist. 7) questioned school officials on the “common” and “ongoing” practice and Hull said that the practice was not unique to MCPS or the three school systems he worked in previously. But the practice would be changing, he said. Key then told councilmembers that Beidleman had “never” been assigned to the OHRD.
The matter was later brought up by Council President Andrew Friedson (D-Dist. 1) who said that he had received messages with screenshots of Beidleman’s name on the Office of Human Resources website. He provided officials a chance to correct the record, to which Key responded, “The record is correct.”
“He was never in OHRD. He never served any time in our office,” she said. “… HR is a place where we go to put people unassigned. So, his name appears there but he was assigned to administrative leave at his house.”
Friedson shot back and said that Key’s response begged the questions of “whether of not there is a forthrightness that is occurring” and demonstrated to him accountability concerns and that the system needs “cultural changes.”
Hull apologized if officials misunderstood the councilmembers’ questions and explained that often employees are assigned to OHRD on special assignment and do work for the office. Those placed on administrative leave are also placed within the system as under the HR department, but are not doing work affiliated with the office, according to Hull.
“It’s just, in our system, that’s kind of where they’re put,” Hull said.
At the end of the meeting, Stewart said that she and other council members still had unanswered questions and would send those to MCPS officials to return with written responses. In addition, she summarized the next steps that would be taken by school and county officials:
- County Inspector General Megan Davey Limarzi will soon meet with MCPS and the school board
- The board will receive an update on April 23
- Soon after, the council will hold another joint Audit and EC session. A date has not been determined
- The EC committee will routinely follow up the board and MCPS on policy and substantive issues
–Elia Griffin
5:12 p.m. update
MCPS leaders describe how they’re making changes
“Bottom line and rest assured, we will implement all of the recommendations of the inspector general,” MCPS’ newest leader, Felder, said.
She added that she was “looking forward to leading the work to put MCPS on a new and different footing in the coming months,” and told councilmembers that she would be connecting with staff regularly to review their work and ensure “that this never happens again.”
“Indeed, we have much to do,” Felder added “… My goal is to ensure we are able to work together to move past these obstacles and work together to reset our focus on what it needs to focus on and that is teaching and learning for 160,000 children who are counting on us every day.”
Silvestre, again, apologized for the pain that the scandal and findings of the investigations caused to MCPS employees, and the harm done to the school district.
“It’s time for the school system to heal and to return its focus to delivering quality education to all of our students,” she said.
She told council members that action from the school system would take time and said that she and other board members have heard the public and council members’ requests for better understanding of the situation. She also noted that the board had on Thursday released a less-redacted version of the report from Jackson Lewis
“This is now on the Board of Education. These were systemic failings,” Silvestre said.
She added that the board would act on the recommendations from the OIG’s third report; enact “strong and comprehensive policies” to guide the system moving forward; and increase capacity for oversight in MCPS.
Hull told councilmembers that the school system has already implemented “stop-gap” measures and are working to complete the recommendation in full and within the timeline set by the inspector general.
Key briefed councilmembers on recommendations that MCPS has taken to date regarding recommendations from the OIG’s most recent report:
Recommendation one: In mid-October 2023 MCPS hired an acting director (Stacey Ormsby) with extensive legal investigative experience at DCI.
“Within the first 30 days of assignment, the acting director implemented procedures for receiving and acknowledging receipt of complaints, developed a protocol for processing anonymous complaints and develop the process to ensure anonymous complaints are not missed,” Key said.
Recommendation two: MCPS has established a process for “analyzing and appropriately assigning investigations, providing guidance to district leadership regarding the implementation of progressive discipline policy, as outlined in the employee code of conduct; developed a matrix to use when analyzing the impact of misconduct to ensure fair and equitable treatment.”
Recommendation three: Implemented a standardized triage process.
The process would “ensure complaints are documented, develop electronic intake forms to ensure electronic documentation, develop a triple layer of documentation to avoid errors, and create a standardized communication to acknowledge receipt of a complex.”
Recommendation four: “Establish regular weekly DCI departmental review of assigned investigations and progress monitoring. Establish proactive communication processes between the [Hull, Key and Ormsby] to discuss investigations and disposition. Establish weekly updates to the cabinet and leadership team. Establish regular resource updates and guidance on navigating the complaint process provided for the OSSWB (Office of School Support and Well-Being) leadership team … today.”
Recommendation five: Evaluated previous findings related to DCI and established interim stopgap measures in accordance with known best practices and general investigative strategy.
Key shared that the Department of Human Resources and Development’s next steps are to work with an external HR firm to seek “technical guidance” and advise on policies, regulations, procedures and protocols for the department. A request for proposal (RFP) is still in progress, according to key. The firm will help the department with restructuring of the department.
-Elia Griffin and Ginny Bixby
4 p.m. update
Inspector general received 92 MCPS-related complaints since July 2023
All 11 members of the County Council attended Thursday’s hearing as well as all members of the Board of Education, new Interim Superintendent Monique Felder, MCPS Chief Operating Officer Brian Hull, Chief of Human Resources and Development April Key and acting Director of the Department of Compliance of Investigation Stacey Ormsby.
County Inspector General Megan Davey Limarzi briefed councilmembers on the results of her office’s work as far back as September. “It has been an undertaking that we have taken very seriously, and I have been committed the entire time to making sure that our staff was laser focused on providing answers in a responsible and reasonable amount of time,” Limarzi said.
She shared that her office received 92 complaints about MCPS since July 2023. She said those complaints made up over 40% of all complaints the office received via their hotline.
“We worked stridently to deliver to this community independent, unbiased analysis of course,” she said, “that is based on facts without agenda and [is] something that you and the board and MCPS and community can rely on to make changes that are going to take effect and improve the situation since July of 2023.”
Audit Committee chair Kate Stewart (D-Dist. 4) noted the council increased resources for the inspector general’s office specifically to increase capacity to review and audit the processes at MCPS.
“Our goal is to ensure transparency and accountability to make sure that changes will take place,” Stewart said. “In addition, by having the inspector general report and [having] her office involved, we have a mechanism independent of MCPS and the board to check on the progress of the changes that need to be made.”
“I also want to say that while there may be disagreements today as we move forward, I know that each of us wants to ensure that we are centering the needs of our children and those who work for our schools because when the systems and processes fail, they are the ones most harm,” Stewart said.
Limarzi said MCPS does not have a centralized or searchable database of complaints with details of actions taken, which made it difficult for the OIG to conduct its investigation. She also said it was not always clear what criteria were needed in MCPS’ current processes to take corrective action.
“Without criteria to determine what action should be expected, you’re less likely to see documentation and files … you may miss important steps of a process like reaching out to the Title IX coordinator,” Limarzi said.
Limarzi said that 27% of complaint files lacked basic expected documentation – including the resolution of the complaint. She said the entire system needs to be reevaluated.
“Buying software and hiring facilitators and having focus groups and bringing in experts are all a start … but it really is going to take a rebuilding of this process,” Limarzi said.
-Ginny Bixby and Elia Griffin
3:43 p.m.
Four months after members of the Montgomery County Council grilled school officials on the findings of an investigation into the promotion of former Montgomery County Public Schools principal Joel Beidleman, district officials returned to the council chamber Thursday afternoon to discuss the scandal.
In January, Inspector General Megan Davey Limarzi released the final report of her investigation into the school system’s investigative processes. The report found disarray that had been flagged four times since 2019, though no sustained effort had been mounted to address the issues. The report summed up five key concerns with the district’s handling of 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.
At Thursday’s hearing, which is a joint session with the Education and Culture and Audit Committees, council members are expected to focus of the third and most recent inspector general report.
The hearing comes almost six months after an explosive report from the Washington Post revealed Beidleman’s rise despite at least 18 sexual harassment allegations made against him. While under investigation by MCPS Department of Compliance and Investigations, Beidleman was promoted to be principal of Paint Branch High School in Silver Spring.
Following the Post’s report, the district hired Baltimore-based law firm Jackson Lewis to investigate. Jackson Lewis found “significant and troubling failures” by senior central office staff. Afterward, the county’s Office of the Inspector General initiated multiple investigations stemming from the allegations against Beidleman.
The first report found that Beidleman engaged in misconduct and bullying.
Another investigation commenced in December. The inspector General released a report summary on Jan. 10 following a written complaint that alleged misconduct by senior MCPS officials. The report found that the allegations were unsubstantiated but an administrator “provided evasive answers” to investigators’ questions. A MoCo360 investigation last month revealed that Beidleman authored the complaint.
Committee meeting are televised live on County Cable Montgomery or streamed lived on the council website and YouTube page.
This story will be updated.
-Elia Griffin