Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland: 7News takes a closer look at rising legal fees paid by Montgomery County Public Schools

Tuesday, April 23, 2024

7News takes a closer look at rising legal fees paid by Montgomery County Public Schools

Parents demanded the right to shield their children from books that went against their religious beliefs. The firm Wilmer Hale represented MCPS in a lawsuit about the issue and has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal payments from the school system.

"They're already significantly over budget and that is not the best use of taxpayer funds," said Esther Wells, President of Montgomery County Taxpayers League.

The MCPS Board of Education recently reviewed legal fees paid between July and December.

7News analyzed the numbers and found in Fiscal Year 2023 MCPS paid more than $462,000 in legal fees.

In FY24 that number skyrocketed to more than $1.3 million...

https://wjla.com/news/local/mcps-legal-fees-montgomery-county-public-schools-2023-lawsuit-law-firm-payments-taxpayer-funds-transparency-former-principal-joel-beidleman-parents-community#

3 comments:

AnonymousApril 23, 2024 at 10:16 PM
I wonder what does the Education & Culture (EC) Committee have to say about this almost 200% increase in legal fees.
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AnonymousMay 10, 2024 at 7:54 AM
Meanwhile, our peripatetic perennial prosecutor moonlights as a second chance master of ceremonies:
https://twitter.com/MCSAONEWS/status/1788594464442778101

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Principles

Formed in 2002, the Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland seeks to achieve the goals of coherent, content-rich curriculum standards; high expectations combined with timely remediation and acceleration; a wider range of educational options for parents and children; greater transparency and accountability; and meaningful community input.

E-mail: parentscoalitionmc AT outlook.com

What The Washington Post said about the Parents' Coalition

The coalition might be the best-known parent advocacy group in the region. Its members represent several constituencies, including parents of special education and gifted education students and fiscal watchdogs. The group's defining victory came this school year when the school system scaled back the fees charged to families for course materials.

Coalition leaders have drawn attention to the misuse of funds collected from students for activities, the broadcast of a commercial radio service on school buses and, with their "Weast Watch" blog, the travel habits of Weast and his lieutenants.

The Washington Post, June 4, 2009

Jerry Weast on the Parents' Coalition

"Along the way, you’ve had a challenging relationship with the Parents’ Coalition, the network of citizen activists who use the political process and other means to hold MCPS accountable.

The thing people accuse me of is listening, but not hearing. I hear, but I do not always agree. I am sorry that the world is faster than it was 10 years ago. I did not do that. [But] if we do not keep up, then our kids will be behind. We have to stop whining and get real."

Bethesda Magazine, March-April 2011