County Council Ratifies Illegal Contract Action by Board of Education, Will Take NO ACTION on Inspector General's Report

On Monday, November 18, 2019, the Montgomery County Council will hold a hearing to discuss the contract that the Board of Education entered into to place cameras on the outside of school buses.

The County Council will take no action with regard to this contract even though this action by the Board of Education was not authorized by the Maryland legislature.

Maryland law is clear. LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES are authorized by the legislature to place cameras on the outside of school buses.  

http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2019/08/mcps-bus-camera-program-does-not-comply.html

Yet, in Montgomery County, Maryland where laws are apparently optional, the police department did not enter into a contract to place cameras on the outside of school buses.  Instead the Board of Education entered into a contract with a company that has long since been shut down after the FBI began arresting, convicting and sending those involved with that scheme to prison.  The company reformed with a new name, but with most of the same officers and the Board of Education kept sending them money with out a discussion of the original, now void contract.  

The Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, MD made the Board of Education contract available to the public in September of 2019, three years after it had been signed by Interim Superintendent Larry Bowers on his last day in office as a MCPS employee.

The contract shows that the Board of Education President Mike Durso never signed the contract.  

The Maryland legislature did not authorize Maryland Boards of Education to enter into exterior bus camera schemes, nor did they authorize a Superintendent to enter into a bus camera scheme.  

In July of 2019, the Montgomery County Inspector General issues a report with regard to the Montgomery County Police Department's involvement with the bus camera scheme, but did not evaluate the role of the Board of Education.  The IG's report did not mention that the Board of Education's contract with a bus camera company was not authorized under Maryland law.

The Montgomery County Council will discuss the IG's report but will ignore Maryland law and will take no action with regard to the fact that a private company is sending out citations to County citizens for a bus camera scheme that was not authorized by the Maryland legislature.