Montgomery school leaders defend contract given to board member’s spouse

Montgomery County’s schools superintendent defended the system’s decision to award a STEM learning contract to a company owned by a school board member’s spouse and blamed concerns over the award process on an inaccurate document on the board’s website.

During a school system update to the county council Monday, Superintendent Monifa McKnight said the $2.37 million contract for KID Museum has worked for students and the school system wants to keep it.

“We’ve had so much disruption in so many different ways,” McKnight said. “We want to be able to continue services with our students that we found to be successful, and the KID Museum is one.”

The Parents’ Coalition of Montgomery County, an advocacy group, raised concerns before a school board vote last week that the contract for MoCo KidsCo Inc. — the corporation behind the KID Museum based in Bethesda, Md. — was being awarded as a no-bid contract, with no discussion by the school board, a lack of competition and a conflict of interest...

Montgomery parents group concerned about awarding of no-bid STEM contract - The Washington Post