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Tuesday, September 18, 2012

MCPS Exec. Director Adds Outside Law Firm to List of Firms Handling Special Education Litigation

On August 23, 2012, MCPS staff came to the Board of Education table in response to questions about the new contracts for outside legal services to fight parents and guardians of children seeking special education services.  
Yet, MCPS staff were unable to answer specific questions.  MCPS staff did not appear to have brought the actual contracts to the BOE table for discussion, thus making the discussion of these contracts unproductive.  
However, in their ramblings, MCPS staff did reveal some disturbing information about how the Board of Education handles litigation in special education cases. 

Video of the August 23, 2012, Board of Education discussion of this Agenda is at the bottom of this blog posting.  
Eye-opening statements from the video with minute marker and name of speaker:

Barbara Regalia, MCPS Senior Buyer, Division of Procurement
1:00 "...vendors that we were going to submit the RFP to..."
2:20 "...I also sent it to the 3 incumbent vendors and then a new law firm that Lori-Christina [Webb] had given me..."

Lori-Christina Webb, Executive Director, Office of Deputy Superintendent
4:40 ...None of them were disqualified based on the criteria...

Chrisandra Richardson, Associate Superintendent, Office of Special Education
5:10 ...we have very few cases...last year...only 5...

Phil Kauffman, Board of Education member
10:00  ...$6,000 a single incidence of showing up at a hearing...if there are cases that didn't end up going to hearing, how does that attorney get reimbursed?

Chrisandra Richardson, Associate Superintendent, Office of Special Education
"...if we resolve...I don't believe there is a fee paid to them..."
12:00 "...we have a group called the Dispute Resolution Committee..."

Mike Durso, Board of Education member
12:00 "...Who are members of Dispute Resolution Committee?"

Laura Berthiaume, Board of Education member
17:00 "...Why are we bidding this out rather than hiring in house?
Ms. Berthiaume's question is not answered, instead she is cut off by Board of Education President Shirley Brandman.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for posting this revealing exchange. Readers should note that while this discussion took place at the Board of Education, it is ultimately the (elected) County Council that has fiduciary responsibility in all fiscal matters. That includes how the Board of Education spends our money. Where is the Council? Why aren't they speaking out? I haven't heard a word, not one word, on this issue from Council president Berliner, members of the Ed Comm, or anyone else on the council. So far the council has told us they aren't responsible for: 1. $2.1B spent by the BOE; WSSC life-threatening failures; PEPCO life-threatening failures; pretty much anything that matters. They do seem to take their responsibilities to show up at parades pretty seriously, though.

    ReplyDelete
  2. How do you show up for a meeting and not have all the information regarding how money is being spent and how much is being spent in each situation readily available? Phil Kaufman asks very specific questions - how is it the Purchasing Agent does not know the answers to these questions? My husband is VP of Purchasing for a HUGE company and would NEVER be so ill prepared to answer the specific questions being asked! If you create an RFP you know what is being paid because you know what you wrote! this is ridiuclous.
    Also - the dispute resolution committee meets weekly!? why is it necessary to meet weekly and what is it costing vs providing resources ?
    Lastly they approve this even though they can't justify where or why this much money is being spent!

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