Update: MCPS released the list shortly after the Parents' Coalition formally requested it.
Bethesda Beat is reporting that MCPS is refusing to release the names of BOE applicants for the vacant board position.
Montgomery County Public Schools received 18 applications for a school board seat that has been vacant since Pat O’Neill died in September, according to a district spokesman.
The application deadline was at 5 p.m. on Friday.
The school system did not release the names of the applicants on Friday when Bethesda Beat asked for them.
In response to Bethesda Beat’s question about the number of applicants and who they are, MCPS spokesman Chris Cram wrote in a text message that the board “will review the applicants and bring forward the finalists that will be interviewed publicly. The list is not otherwise public.”
Cram later added in another text message that the board staff will “have an answer on Monday as to whether they will publish the list of all applicants.”
State law requires that the list of names be made available "on request." It's not clear how Communications Director Chris Cram determined that he and MCPS are above the law. It's also not clear why Bethesda Beat did not mention that the law requires release of the names.
The Parents' Coalition has sent a formal request to MCPS seeking the list of names but has not yet received a response. We have, however, received written acknowledgement that Board Chief of Staff Lori-Christa Webb, a Harvard-trained lawyer, received our request.
Do residents, including parents, really want a BOE member appointed who is too scared to let the public know they applied for the seat? Awwkard.
ReplyDelete