Maryland School Board delays vote on offering embattled State Superintendent new contract [Choudhoury absent from meeting, on vacation]

Baltimore (WBFF) — The Maryland State Board of Education has decided to delay a decision on whether to offer the State Superintendent of Schools another contract. The school board could have voted Tuesday evening to offer Superintendent Mohammed Choudhury a four-year contract but chose to continue deliberating.

The Maryland State Department of Education has come under fire recently. In the last year, there have been reports of a toxic work culture, transparency questions related to the department changing how test scores are reported to the public and concerns over how tax dollars are spent.

Choudhury was absent from Tuesday’s State Board of Education meeting.

“He’s on vacation,” Board President Clarence Crawford told Project Baltimore.

Even though, on that day, the board was scheduled to vote on renewing Choudhury’s contract. That is largely why former Maryland State Department of Education employee Robert Eccles was at the meeting. Because he had a lot to say about MSDE’s leadership under Choudhury.

“Who's taking responsibility for all these glaring leadership failings, and I respectfully ask the board to rethink its working definition of brilliant and transformational leadership,” said Eccles while speaking during public comment. “Transformational leaders actually lead people and don't disparage them. They invite feedback and can take criticism without retaliation. Brilliant leaders prioritize delivering on time. They care more about collaboration than control, and they don't repeatedly trash partners in private and sabotage their access to valuable federal or state resources because of personal grudges.”..

...Project Baltimore, in April, broke the news that the Maryland State Department of Education, without informing the public, changed how it reports test scores. As a result, MSDE hid much of the data behind asterisks. Parents and taxpayers can no longer see how many schools are performing on state tests. When Project Baltimore first tried to speak with Choudhury about it, he locked himself behind a door...

Maryland School Board delays vote on offering embattled State Superintendent new contract | WBFF (foxbaltimore.com)