MCPS needs more than a month to produce unredacted version of correspondence with Jackson Lewis than they provided just weeks prior

The Parents' Coalition requested a copy of the Jackson Lewis contract.  Instead, we received the letter below which refers to the contract but does not include the contract.  The billing rates were also redacted on the basis that they are "trade secrets," a ridiculous assertion by Public Information Director Chris Cram.

So we asked for same letter without the redactions.  Chris Cram says that he needs more than 30 days to provide an unredacted version of the letter than he provided just weeks prior.

(Click on images to enlarge)

WJLA ABC 7 News: Parents' group requests copy of contract between MCPS, law firm conducting sexual harassment investigation

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (7News) — The Parents’ Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland has requested a look at the contract between the Montgomery County Board of Education, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) and the Jackson Lewis law firm that’s handling the investigation into sexual harassment allegations against former Farquhar Middle School Principal Dr. Joel Beidelman.

The coalition submitted the Maryland Public Information Act request on August 14, and they are still waiting for the document.

7News spoke with a representative of the group who calls the request “standard and straightforward.” 

Full story at:

https://wjla.com/news/local/montgomery-county-public-schools-maryland-principal-sexual-harassment-investigation-joel-beidelman-jackson-lewis-law-firm-contract-board-of-education#

More schools expected to move to virtual learning in Montgomery County

School system leaders in Montgomery County are planning to move more schools with high coronavirus infection rates into virtual learning in coming days, as the number of students and staff testing positive climbs amid the surge of the omicron variant.

The update late Friday afternoon came as another difficult week ended in Maryland’s largest school system, which faced mounting pressure to its rethink plans for full-scale in-person education...

...School officials said next steps will be announced during the week of Jan. 18, when they expect to place some schools into virtual learning for 10 calendar days. Parents were asked to report results of at-home rapid tests for their children by Friday...

...Now the school system has stopped posting percentages of student and staff positivity altogether, instead giving daily case counts. But parents and educators, worried about the state of omicron infection in their schools, started doing calculations of their own...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/01/15/montgomery-county-schools-covid-virtual/

An Open Letter to Dr. Starr on Public Information in Maryland

Dear Dr. Starr:

Welcome to Maryland.  It's been a little over two weeks since you have taken over the helm at Montgomery County Public Schools,  and I hope you are adjusting well to the Washington heat and humidity.   The good folks at Carver are probably showing you around town, and with that really super transition team, you should be up to speed in no time.

I don't know how things worked in Connecticut, or other places where you've been, but I have a feeling that you just may need some better advice on what the taxpayers expect.  Given that your staff and legal counsel have given advice on the Open Meetings Law that is just plain wrong, as evidenced by two separate opinions from the Open Meetings Compliance Board, I would hate for you to find yourself in similar difficulties with other Maryland law.  So, here is my introduction to the Maryland Public Information Act.

As you know, information in the files of the government belongs to the citizens.  This is basic, and goes back to the common law.  In Maryland, we have codifed this rule into a statute called the "Maryland Public Information Act."   You can find this law at Title 10, Subtitle 6, Part III of the State Government Article (“SG”);  our friendly attorney general, Mr. Gansler, has issued a manual with everything you need to know.

In Maryland, we have a right to access government records without unnecessary cost or delay.  You have the lucky honor as the custodian of the records to provide access to the records unless the records are within one of the exemptions listed in the statute.  Things like personnel records, student records,  and certain other records that the state has determined should not be released.  However, the presumption is on disclosure, and you need to be careful when you withhold records that the records really are exempt.  Also - if some parts of a record or document can be withheld from release, that doesn't give you permission to withhold the entire document.  You are required to release the portion of the document that is disclosable, and limit the amount of material withheld from public view.  Take a look at Mr. Gansler's manual for a much more detailed description of what should and should not be disclosed. And then there is the matter of time.  The MPIA requires that records responsive to requests should be produced immediately after receipt of a written request.  See SG §10-614(b)(2).  Yes, the manual does acknowledge that you can have a period not to exceed 30 days, but only if you need that time to locate the documents.  The Manual states:

A custodian should not wait the full 30 days to allow or deny access to a record if that amount of time is not needed to respond. If access is to be granted, the record should be produced for inspection and copying promptly after the written request is evaluated.

See the Manual, at page 53.  Recall, our prior Superintendent was given an award for being "Tech Savy" and spent a lot of money on technology, so our school system does have the ability to retrieve loads of information very quickly, contrary to what your public information office may tell you.

You can charge certain fees for copying and locating the documents, but again, the Manual cautions that these fees should not be charged to deter the public from requesting documents or copies.  And, folks are entitled to request a waiver of the fees.  You are encouraged to grant the waiver, if the waiver is in the public interest.  According to the Manual:

To determine whether a waiver is in the public interest, the official custodian must consider not only the ability of the applicant to pay, but also other relevant factors. A waiver may be appropriate, for example, when a requester seeks information for a public purpose rather than a narrow personal or commercial interest.

See page 13.

I look forward to working with you during your stay in Maryland.  And remember, we've got a lot of information available at no cost on our state website, so if you do a little bit of reading on your own, you can probably reduce the cost of those high priced legal services that our Board of Education seems to enjoy.