WPost: Board Told to Open Up About Closed Sessions

As first reported here, the Montgomery County Board of Education has been found to be in violation of the Maryland Open Meetings Act. At the time of the violation the President of the MCPS Board of Education was Nancy Navarro. No elected Board of Education members are quoted in the February 19th Washington Post article on this violation.

At the meeting that was the subject of the Complaint, the Board of Education went behind closed doors, without proper disclosure of the topic, to discuss the illegal curricular fees that are being charged MCPS students. The topic of that meeting was disclosed after the fact by President Navarro in a prepared statement later that day.

Note that to date, the Board of Education has not put the issue of illegal Curricular Fees as an agenda item at an Open Meeting. Yet, the Superintendent has gone forward with "new" curricular fee rules to be implemented for the 2009-10 school year, without any public discussion by the elected Board of Education.

What was the Board discussing at the September 9th meeting? When did the Board decide to remain silent on this issue of major importance to public school families? When did the Board delegate this issue to the Superintendent?

The Board's silence on the issue of Curricular Fees means that MCPS parents will continue to be charged to attend public school classes in MCPS for years to come. The Maryland State Constitution, the opinion of the Maryland Attorney General and the opinion of the Maryland State Board of Education are to be ignored in Montgomery County.

Our elected Board of Education will not stand up for a child's right to a free public education in Maryland and they will not take up this issue in public.