Elvis and the MCPS Ombudsman have left the building

"Elvis has left the building!" was a phrase used to disperse crowds who lingered after an Elvis concert in the hopes of seeing him one more time.  Parents seeking an independent, impartial, confidential ombudsman to handle school related issues can also cease their search. Elvis is gone and so is the MCPS Ombudsman. 


In a previous post we reported on exactly when the MCPS Ombudsman disappeared.


As Montgomery County looks for a new Superintendent, parents may want to lobby for a Superintendent that will bring back the independent, impartial, confidential ombudsman. 
We know the current Board of Education members aren't interested in an Ombudsman, but maybe a new Superintendent will restore the position.


Here are the standards set by the American Bar Association for the establishment of an Ombudsman's office. Nothing like this in MCPS now, but a thought for the future. 


From the American Bar Association Standards for the Establishment and Operation of Ombuds* Offices

"As a result of the various types of offices and the proliferation of different processes by which the offices operate, individuals who come to the ombuds office for assistance may not know what to expect, and the offices may be established in ways that compromise their effectiveness.

An ombuds should be a person of recognized knowledge, judgment, objectivity, and integrity. The establishing entity should provide the ombuds with relevant education and the periodic updating of the ombuds’s qualifications.

"To ensure the effective operation of an ombuds, an entity should authorize the ombuds to operate consistently with the following essential characteristics. Entities that have established ombuds offices that lack appropriate safeguards to maintain these characteristics should take prompt steps to remedy any such deficiency.

(1) Independence. The ombuds is and appears to be free from interference in the legitimate performance of duties and independent from control, limitation, or a penalty imposed for retaliatory purposes by an official of the appointing entity or by a person who may be the subject of a complaint or inquiry.

In assessing whether an ombuds is independent in structure, function, and appearance, the following factors are important: whether anyone subject to the ombuds’s jurisdiction or anyone directly responsible for a person under the ombuds’s jurisdiction (a) can control or limit the ombuds’s performance of assigned duties or (b) can, for retaliatory purposes, (1) eliminate the office, (2) remove the ombuds, or (3) reduce the budget or resources of the office.

(2) Impartiality in Conducting Inquiries and Investigations. The ombuds conducts inquiries and investigations in an impartial manner, free from initial bias and conflicts of interest. Impartiality does not preclude the ombuds from developing an interest in securing changes that are deemed necessary as a result of the process, nor from otherwise being an advocate on behalf of a designated constituency. The ombuds may become an advocate within the entity for change where the process demonstrates a need for it.

(3) Confidentiality. An ombuds does not disclose and is not required to disclose any information provided in confidence, except to address an imminent risk of serious harm. Records pertaining to a complaint, inquiry, or investigation are confidential and not subject to disclosure outside the ombuds’s office. An ombuds does not reveal the identity of a complainant without that person’s express consent. An ombuds may, however, at the ombuds’s discretion disclose non-confidential information and may disclose confidential information so long as doing so does not reveal its source. An ombuds should discuss any exceptions to the ombuds’s maintaining confidentiality with the source of the information.3

*The term ombuds in this report is intended to encompass all other forms of the word, such as ombudsperson, ombuds officer, and ombudsman, a Swedish word meaning agent or representative. The use of ombuds here is not intended to discourage others from using other terms.