Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland: Misconduct case against former Montgomery Co. principal is costing taxpayers $2.3 Million

Thursday, August 1, 2024

Misconduct case against former Montgomery Co. principal is costing taxpayers $2.3 Million

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (7News) — There was hearty applause at a school board meeting in June of last year, as the Montgomery County Board of Education voted to appoint Dr. Joel Beidleman as principal of Paint Branch High School.

By August of that same year, a newspaper reported the promotion happened amid numerous sexual harassment and bullying complaints against Beidleman

Those developments and the fallout have cost Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) millions.

“It's very alarming,” said Esther Wells of the Montgomery County Taxpayers League, who is also an MCPS parent. “We know there are unmet needs in our school system directly linked to our children and our funds need to go there,” she said...

...MCPS also provided documents that show legal fees and court costs in the Beidleman case that amount to more than $148,000. In total, all of these items add up to more than 2.3 million dollars...

Misconduct case against former Montgomery Co. principal is costing taxpayers millions (wjla.com)

1 comment:

AnonymousAugust 2, 2024 at 7:45 AM
On the bright side, they ensure that the legal professionals of the county are gainfully employed.
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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