The Maryland State Board of Education said Montgomery County Public Schools’ electric bus contract was “tainted” by an employee later convicted of fraud.

A school district’s deal to shift to electric buses hits another bump

...The state board said it reviewed the external report conducted on behalf of the Montgomery school district that detailed how the electric-bus contract was awarded. The four-person committee was tasked with scoring the potential vendors.

The state board said that if the scores of Ewald and Watkins were excluded, Highland Electric Fleets would not have won the Montgomery contract. It alleges their involvement “at a minimum … created an appearance of impropriety.”

Ewald’s scores were not included in the report, and López referred questions about the omission to the investigator. Andrew Nussbaum, a Howard County-based attorney, did not immediately answer questions about his report...

 https://wapo.st/3JJn7yR