Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland: @mcps Chief of Staff Essie McGuire Approved a Woodward HS Contract using Non-Prevailing Wages in 2021

Friday, October 25, 2024

@mcps Chief of Staff Essie McGuire Approved a Woodward HS Contract using Non-Prevailing Wages in 2021

In 2021, Essie McGuire was the MCPS Associate Superintendent of Operations. In that capacity she reviewed the Award of Contract for the Project Site Work at the Woodward High School site.

The Resolution submitted to the Montgomery County Board of Education was brief, but clearly stated that the "project was bid to include both prevailing and non-prevailing wages."

Using non-prevailing wages means the contracts would not be complying with Maryland procurement law.

Woodward High School's project was attempting to use Maryland's Built to Learn (BTL) funding. The BTL funding information sheet makes clear that complying with Maryland's prevailing wage law is required.

EM approved this Resolution for presentation to the Board of Education. In 2021, EM was Essie McGuire, MCPS Associate Superintendent for Operations.

Today, Essie McGuire has been hired back by Superintendent Thomas Taylor to work as MCPS' current Chief of Staff.

2 comments:

AnonymousOctober 27, 2024 at 6:02 AM
Those pesky rules! How poor is the oversight in MCPS that this keeps happening! And, maybe if your history is financial fraud, maybe you should not be rehired in a more responsible position.
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AnonymousOctober 27, 2024 at 5:34 PM
It will be interesting to see what Taylor does on this.
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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