Questions raised about MCPS' payments to law firm investigating misconduct complaints against principal

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (7News) — Days after the Montgomery County Office of the Inspector General announced it would investigate the school system’s handling of misconduct complaints against Principal Joel Beidleman, new details are emerging about the law firm also investigating the case.

Janis Sartucci with the Montgomery County Parents’ Coalition is raising questions about why the Jackson Lewis law firm was not included in a recent Legal Fees Report.

The document is shared monthly with the Board of Education, Sartucci said. The most recent is dated September 7 and was sent by Superintendent Dr. Monifa McKnight.

“We see them on what’s known as Attachment B as receiving money in May 2023, but we don’t have any idea where they were being hired during the rest of FY23 to represent MCPS or the Board of Education,” said Sartucci. “We don’t know what they were hired to do and what matters they were working on.”..

Questions raised about MCPS' payments to law firm investigating misconduct complaints against principal | WJLA