County Council Staffer Essie McGuire Approved Electric School Bus Scheme for @mcps When She was @mcps Associate Superintendent in 2021

Here is the link to the February 2021, Montgomery County Board of Education Contract Approval for the HET MCPS, LLC. electric school bus scheme.  

HET MCPS, LLC. was not awarded the contract through the RFP process, a company called Highland Electric Transportation was awarded the contract.  Somehow MCPS switched companies, and the Board of Education approved a contract with a company that had not participated in the bidding process.  

At the bottom of the 3rd page of the Contract Approval are the initials of the MCPS administrators who approved the Resolution submitted to the Board of Education. 

Jack R. Smith, Superintendent

Monifa B. McKnight, Deputy/Acting Superintendent

Derek G. Turner, Chief

Essie McGuire, Associate Superintendent of Operations

Eugenia S. Dawson. Director

Todd M. Watkins, Director Department of Transporation 

Monifa McKnight and Essie McGuire presented the Resolution to the Board of Education on February 21, 2021. 

Watch the video below.  Listen to Ms. McGuire sell the electric bus scheme to the Board of Education.  

Ms. McGuire, "very excited to bring this forward today..."

"...ongoing effort with legal department, budget office, transportation office..."

https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/BYJNVV6118CC/$file/ADOPTED Cont Apprv RFP 9462.1 Electrification Sch Buses.pdf

Exclusive: Interim Super. McKnight Secretly Hires Back Former Weast Dir. of Communications at $130 an hour [$270K a year +/-]

The Parents' Coalition has discovered that Interim Superintendent Monifa McKnight has at least one more secret hire.  McKnight has brought back former Superintendent Jerry Weast's Director of Communications, Aggie Alvez.  

Like the hiring of Eric Guerci, Alvez also does not appear in the MCPS online Staff Directory.  

Alvez's position has also not been approved by the Board of Education. There is no mention of Alvez's recent rehiring in any recent Board of Education minutes.

The Parents' Coalition has learned that Alvez has been hired at an hourly rate of $130.

Alvez began working in August of 2021 and will work at least through June of 2022. She will be using Derek Turner's former office in the MCPS Communications department and will be doing an audit of communications and reviewing a process map. 

Alvez's position is that of Special Assistant to the Superintendent  (click on images to enlarge)

 or Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff for the Superintendent

and/or as a Public Information Officer

Interim Superintendent McKnight Removes Superintendent Jack Smith's "Vision for the Future" Administrators. Where are they now?

Remember Superintendent Jack Smith's reorganization of MCPS in February of 2020?  

Today, Superintendent Jack Smith sent this message to staff about new administrative appointments and his vision for the future of MCPS. Congratulations to Dr. Janet Wilson, Essie McGuire and Derek Turner on their new roles! https://t.co/FPa7Y5Dodu @mocoboe pic.twitter.com/cKLcLY6dOa

— MCPS (@MCPS) February 10, 2020

As of July 1, 2021, Interim Superintendent Monifa McKnight has reorganized MCPS once again and all three of Jack Smith's "Vision of the Future" appointments are no longer in their positions.  Two are gone from MCPS and one has been moved to an undefined position within MCPS. 

• Janet Wilson was Jack Smith's Chief of Teaching, Learning and Engagement making $216,500. As of July 1, 2021, Ms. Wilson is now Senior Vice-President for Littera Solutions in Brooklyn, NY.

• Derek Turner was Jack Smith's Chief of Communications, Engagement and Innovation making $206,500. As of today, Mr. Turner is still a MCPS employee but on "special assignment" working under the Chief of Human Resources and Development.

• Essie McGuire was Jack Smith's Associate Superintendent of Operations making $186,500. Ms McGuire has returned to work for her previous employer, the Montgomery County Council as a Senior Legislative Analyst working on Education issues, including the Council's oversight of Montgomery County Public Schools.

Bravo to this former MCPS Student for Speaking Up! Another arrest of a MCPS teacher for a sex offense. Board of Education Continues Their Silence on These Arrests and Convictions. No Support for the Victims from Board of Education.

Please note that this announcement to the public was written by Derek G. Turner, the former public information officer for MCPS, Mr. Turner is now one of 3 administrators running MCPS.  Superintendent Jack R. Smith promoted Mr. Turner from the position of public information officer to administrator in charge of 1/3 of MCPS.  

~~~~~

Dear Parents and Guardians:

I am writing to inform you about the arrest of Mr. Maxwell Bero, a Watkins Mill High School teacher, head boys’ varsity lacrosse coach and assistant varsity football coach, on charges of sex abuse of a minor and multiple counts of third-degree sex offense. The charges stem from alleged inappropriate sexual contact between Mr. Bero and a former Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) student while Mr. Bero was employed at Col. E. Brooke Lee Middle School during the 2014-2015 school year.

MCPS is fully cooperating with law enforcement on this matter. Mr. Bero has been placed on administrative leave.

Mr. Bero has been employed with MCPS since 2009. He worked as a substitute teacher at various MCPS schools from 2009 to 2013. In 2013, he worked as a long-term substitute at Wheaton High School and also served as head boys’ varsity lacrosse coach and assistant varsity football coach. He worked at Lee Middle School from 2013 to 2016, and has worked as a social studies teacher at Watkins Mill High School since 2016.

These charges are deeply concerning and unacceptable and represent a complete breach of trust, responsibility, integrity and the law. We hold our employees to a high standard of character and these allegations violate that. Please know that the safety of our students is our top priority and we are committed to ensuring we maintain a safe learning environment for all.

Counseling staff will be available to connect with students virtually and provide any needed counseling or support this week. Students who may need to speak with someone can reach out to their school’s counseling office for support. 

If you or your child has any information that may be helpful to the investigation, please call the Special Victims Investigations Division of the Montgomery County Police Department at 240-773-5400.

Derek G. Turner
Chief of Engagement, Innovation, and Operations
Montgomery County Public Schools

---

Estimados padres, guardianes, miembros del personal y estudiantes,

Les escribo para informarles sobre el arresto del Sr. Maxwell Bero, maestro de Watkins Mill High School, entrenador de lacrosse y asistente del entrenador de fútbol americano, acusado de abuso sexual de un menor y múltiples cargos de delitos sexuales en tercer grado. Los cargos radican en un presunto contacto sexual inapropiado entre el Sr. Bero y un ex alumno de Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) mientras el Sr. Bero trabajaba en Col. E. Brooke Lee Middle School durante el ciclo escolar 2014‒2015.

MCPS está cooperando plenamente con las autoridades de seguridad en este caso. El Sr. Bero ha sido puesto en licencia administrativa.

El Sr. Bero trabaja en MCPS desde el 2009. Trabajó como maestro suplente en varias escuelas de MCPS del 2009 al 2013. En el 2013, trabajó como suplente a largo plazo en Wheaton High School y también se desempeñó como entrenador titular de lacrosse masculino y como asistente del entrenador de fútbol americano. Él trabajó en Lee Middle School del 2013 al 2016, y ha trabajado como maestro de estudios sociales en Watkins Mill High School desde 2016.

Estos cargos son profundamente alarmantes e inaceptables y representan una total violación de la confianza, la responsabilidad, la integridad y la ley. Nosotros exigimos de nuestros empleados un alto nivel de conducta y estas acusaciones son una violación de eso. Por favor sepan que la seguridad de nuestros estudiantes es nuestra mayor prioridad y estamos comprometidos a asegurarnos de mantener un entorno de aprendizaje seguro para todos.

Los consejeros escolares estarán disponibles para conectarse con los estudiantes virtualmente y proporcionarles cualquier asesoramiento o apoyo que necesiten esta semana. Los estudiantes que necesiten hablar con alguien pueden acudir a la oficina de los consejeros escolares de su escuela para recibir apoyo.

Si usted o su hijo tienen alguna información que pueda ser útil a la investigación, por favor llame a la División de Investigaciones de Víctimas Especiales del Departamento de Policía del Condado de Montgomery, teléfono 240-773-5400.

MCPS Requests Removal of Comments from Parents' Coalition Blog

Here is the original post:

https://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2017/11/mcps-remove-student-names-from-data.html


The Montgomery County Board of Education is a member of MABE, the Maryland Association of Boards of Education. Each year our Board of Education members attend the annual MABE convention in Ocean City, Maryland.  MABE and the convention are sponsored in part by vendors who then have exclusive access to our Board of Education members during the convention.  For example, one vendor is BoardDocs.  BoardDocs is now the vendor that is used to put up our local Board of Education's meeting minutes.  Were other vendors considered?

More on MABE:

http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2015/09/today-public-school-education-being.html

Remember when it was discovered that a MCPS staff member went to London on a trip through Promethean, another no bid vendor who had begun to supply MCPS will thousands of Promethean Boards?

http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2012/11/fact-check-london-trip-to-promethean.html

And there was this cocktail party with outside council:

http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2012/12/boe-parties-with-outside-attorneys.html

Our request for expense reports:

http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2016/11/hey-big-spender-smondrowski-kauffman.html


Ironic that the Board of Education members want THEIR names removed from our blog on a post where students are requesting that their personal information be removed from MCPS data!

BOE Hires Former Garrett Co. Superintendent, Won't Let Her Talk to Media. MCPS PR "Sad"

The Board of Education hired former Garrett County Superintendent Janet Wilson as an associate superintendent in MCPS.  The Sentinel tried to interview Ms. Wilson and another new associate superintendent, Jonathon Brice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Montgomery County Public Schools spokesperson Derek Turner said Monday The Sentinel could not photograph or interview the two new associate superintendents because he didn’t want them interacting with media within their first days in office.

"We're trying to avoid schedules with media requests (for now)," said Turner. "We really want to let them fully settle into their jobs."

One of his assistants sent photographs of each person.

Turner later said, “We’re not trying to block the Sentinel or anyone in particular but with any new jobs, we let staff settle into a new position.”

Turner proposed a reporter write two questions for each person so he would send the questions to the two new staffers, and try to have the questions answered before deadline or by the following morning. Turner said he limited the reporter to two questions per person because that number would be “easy to answer” in a limited amount of time.

By Tuesday morning, Turner said in an email he had not received responses from the associate superintendents to questions the reporter sent him.

An assistant to Turner sent a response from Dr. Janet Wilson, one of the two new associate superintendents, Wednesday morning but questions though Jonathan Brice, the other new superintendent, did not respond.

Turner said Board of Education President Mike Durso told him the reporter asked two people the same question to see if they had the same story. Turner said the reporter doing this “saddened” him and told her she could only communicate with him through email and that he would arrange a phone call if she asked something he determined could be answered on the phone...

http://www.thesentinel.com/mont/newsx/local/item/3810-transparency-watch-a-look-at-transparency-in-local-government

MCPS has to "lift their work" #achievementgap #wow

During a board of education meeting on Monday evening, the new Montgomery County Public School Superintendent, Jack Smith laid out his goals for the 2016 - 2017 school year; and one of the new strategies will include addressing a slight opportunity gap.
"There's an opportunity gap across the nation and even in MCPS where certain student groups like African American, Latino students, and students from lower economic classes aren't performing as well in schools, and what we have to do is lift our work to ensure that they can have the opportunity and resources to achieve and that they have the high levels of student learning that we should expect from them,” said Turner.


http://www.your4state.com/news/i-270/montgomery-county-public-schools-superintendent-lays-out-goals-for-new-school-year