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Thursday, November 17, 2011

MCPS hiding public information, again?

Once again a citizen is having trouble getting PUBLIC information from the Montgomery County PUBLIC School system. 


From a PATCH article:
...Morris Panner, a parent of students at Somerset Elementary School, has requested permission to appear before the Ethics Panel to speak in support of reinstating the program, but “the MCPS will not tell me who is on the panel … since it relates to a personnel matter [i.e., whether the physical education teacher is allowed to offer the program to his own students] and we are not supposed to contact them directly,” Panner said....


The Board of Education's Ethics Panel is a PUBLIC committee.  Here's the web page that discusses their duties (unknown what was left off after the last "and").


Here's the Board of Education Ethics Policy.


Here's who is on the Ethics Panel now.  These committee members are appointed by the Board of Education at public Board meetings.  It's public information!


Peter F. Rose                   July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2014

Holli Beckerman Jaffe    July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2012
Arleas Upton Kea           July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2012
Donald G. Zauderer        July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2012
Arielle Grill                       July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2013


Having trouble finding out when a PUBLIC committee meets? Let the Maryland Open Meetings Compliance Board know and they will make sure the Board of Education understands the law.


Having trouble getting PUBLIC information from our PUBLIC school system? 
Let the boss know:  Joshua_Starr  @  mcpsmd.org 
at

4 comments:

  1. Morris PannerNovember 17, 2011 at 12:16 PM

    Thank you for posting this. I was unable to find the members posted on the Internet. I gather you were only able to find them by searching the minutes of the Board of Education meetings. It may be public information and I am happy to have it, but it doesn't sound like it was easy to find. Thanks, Morris Panner

    ReplyDelete
  2. Paula BienenfeldNovember 17, 2011 at 4:06 PM

    Mr. Panner,when you say, "the MCPS will not tell me," Who exactly was it at MCPS who won't tell you?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Morris PannerNovember 17, 2011 at 11:23 PM

    Hi Paula,

    Suzann King in the BOE Office told me the membership was not public and that I should not contact the members directly due to the fact that this was a personnel matter. She said that the parents could submit letters to the panel, which we did via the BOE staff.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Paula BienenfeldNovember 18, 2011 at 5:34 PM

    Hi Morris,
    Thanks for the additional information.

    ReplyDelete

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