Superintendent Taylor Keeps Finding More Cash. How is Taylor Spending without BOE Approval?

 

Law firm to investigate potential ‘personnel wrongdoing’ in MCPS background check backlog

Cost of investigation to add to $1M the district is spending to resolve problem

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) has hired the global law firm Morgan, Lewis and Bockius to conduct an investigation into potential “personnel wrongdoing” by district staff related to a backlog of nearly 13,000 outdated employee background checks, MCPS officials told Bethesda Today on Wednesday.  

The officials said the cost of the investigation would not be known until it is completed. The district is already spending more than $1 million to resolve the issue revealed by a scathing August report by the Montgomery County inspector general’s office. 

The Aug. 4 report released by the county inspector general’s office found that nearly 13,000 MCPS employees had outdated criminal history checks, and almost 5,000 individuals who may have unsupervised access to students hadn’t undergone a Child Protective Services (CPS) check. Also, some contractors and volunteers with unsupervised access to students had begun work prior to the completion of criminal history checks, according to the report.     

In mid-August, the school board approved an $800,000 contract with All American Protective Services, a fingerprinting service with locations in Rockville, Germantown, Bethesda and Silver Spring, to fingerprint its employees...

...MCPS Superintendent Thomas Taylor told the County Council audit committee during a meeting on Friday about the background check challenges that MCPS had hired a third party to conduct an investigation that was expected to be completed this fall. Taylor didn’t share the name of the third party or the potential cost of the investigation, but MCPS spokesperson Liliana López told Bethesda Today via email Wednesday that the firm was Morgan, Lewis and Bockius, which has offices in Washington, D.C.

López also said the MCPS “will know the cost once the investigation is completed.”..

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/10/02/potential-personnel-wrongdoing-mcps-investigation/

 

‘I’m praying they don’t come back’: ICE sighting panics Silver Spring elementary school community

After U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were spotted next to New Hampshire Estates Elementary School, panic spread.

It was close to drop-off time Monday morning, and word got around the school — which is 71% Hispanic — that undocumented parents should steer clear until ICE officers left. Montgomery County Police confirmed ICE’s presence at the school to The Banner. So did several parents and Montgomery County Council member Kristin Mink.

And Principal Bob Geiger Monday sent a letter to the school community about “unidentified law enforcement vehicles, possibly federal immigration enforcement officers” showing up to the school...

https://www.thebanner.com/community/local-news/ice-silver-spring-school-latino-FRDLGT2SXFBIDIGQG3JSJOXJGA/

“Respectfully, it looks really elitist to have the Board of Ed move out, to have all of a lot of the leaders … of MCPS, move out of Carver and to leave everyone else there knowing that that building is unhealthy,” Morrison said.

...Many schools have also faced concerns about building conditions, including A. Mario Loiederman Middle in Silver Spring, which advocated for a new HVAC system in May. At the time, staff said the school dealt with inside temperatures reaching as low as 40 degrees and as high as 90 degrees, odd smells, mold throughout the building and moisture collecting on floors and desks...

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/09/12/mcps-deep-clean-of-carver-education-center-to-start-monday-after-complaints/

Maryland taxpayers paid $219 million in 2024 to educate students who could not be found

Baltimore (WBFF) — A Project Baltimore investigation has uncovered that Maryland taxpayers, in 2024, gave public schools hundreds of millions of dollars to educate students whose whereabouts were unknown.

It’s late September. And Maryland public schools are busy – not just educating students but counting them.

In Maryland, most of a school’s funding is based on the number of students enrolled on one day, September 30th. The students counted on that day largely determine a school’s funding the following year.

But a Project Baltimore investigation is raising serious questions about that process. We’ve learned, in 2024, taxpayers gave hundreds of millions of dollars to schools to educate students who could not be found...

https://foxbaltimore.com/news/project-baltimore/taxpayers-students-whereabouts-unknown-maryland-education

MSDE: Summary of Attendance by County - MCPS Number of Students "Whereabouts Unknown" = 1,888

See page 13 of this Maryland State Department of Education Report for the 2023-2024 school year. 

https://marylandpublicschools.org/about/Documents/DCAA/SSP/20232024Student/2024-Attendance-Summary-Student-Publication-A.pdf