MCPS History: The curious case of John Q. Porter [Carey Wright took John Q. Porter to Mississippi when she became State Superintendent] @MdPublicSchools

"Federation Corner" column 

The Montgomery Sentinel - January 17, 2008 

The curious case of John Q. Porter 

by Wayne Goldstein

To many in this county, the name John Q. Porter may be no more recognizable to them than John Q. Public, although Mr. Porter has had and continues to have an extremely interesting life compared to Mr. Public. 2000 was a big year for Mr. Porter. In August 2000, 400 guests watched as he was chosen for a second term as chairman of the Chamber Workforce Corporation's (CWC), a merger of the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce and the county Workforce Development Corp., a job training agency. Problems in the Chamber organization before the merger had become more serious after the merger took place in June 1999, a few months before Mr. Porter first took the helm of CWC. These problems then became so severe that the county government stepped in and broke up the merger in October 2001, taking charge of the job training agency itself, shortly after Mr. Porter completed his second term.

In March 2000, Mr. Porter was hired by Superintendent Weast as interim head of the schools' Office of Global Access Technology (OGAT) after his predecessor was fired because a $4 million computerized student information system did not work properly. Weast was so pleased with Mr. Porter's performance that he soon made him the permanent chief information officer of OGAT. In July 2004, Weast also made him the new deputy superintendent for strategic technologies and accountability

Events continued to go very well for Mr. Porter, such that on April 26, 2007, it was announced: "The Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS) has successfully concluded its national search for a new superintendent with the selection today of John Q. Porter, an accomplished national leader recognized for his breakthrough initiatives in the use of technology to transform student learning, improve academic performance and increase accountability." Cliff Hudson, Chairman of the OKCPS Board of Education, stated: "John is the right person at the right time and his broad experience in law, business and education will be of great value in his new position with our district."

Mr. Porter started his new job on July 2, 2007. Barely six months later, on January 7, 2008: "After a two-hour executive session, the Oklahoma City school board voted to suspend its superintendent immediately with pay pending an investigation into accusations against him. The board voted to appoint [an] acting superintendent until an open hearing is held on Feb. 6. ...The allegations include that Dr. John Q. Porter improperly agreed to a $365,000 contract for the school district without getting bids. [He] also took about $2,400 from the school district's activity fund for personal expenses and was reimbursed about $5,000 for personal air travel."..

fedcorner20080117.pdf (montgomerycivic.org)

2016 History: Mississippi Gets @MCPS Brand Administrators: Carey Wright, John Q. Porter and Elton Stokes @MdPublicSchools

Mississippi Gets MCPS Brand Administrators: Carey Wright, John Q. Porter and Elton Stokes

Mississippi State Board of Education votes to allow hybrid scheduling due to COVID-19

JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – On Thursday, the Mississippi State Board of Education (SBE) voted to allow school districts to use hybrid scheduling if needed to minimize the current spread of COVID-19. According to officials, the hybrid scheduling option is available immediately and will extend through March 11, 2022. They said hybrid scheduling enables districts to reduce the number of students in schools each day by scheduling a portion of students to learn online.

The SBE based its decision on COVID-19 infection data from the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH). The SBE may consider extending the option beyond March 11.

“The Mississippi Department of Education asked the State Board to temporarily allow hybrid scheduling to give school districts that needed it an additional strategy to help educate students safely,” said Dr. Carey Wright [former MCPS Assoc. Superintendent], state superintendent of education...

https://www.wjtv.com/health/coronavirus/mississippi-state-board-of-education-votes-to-allow-hybrid-scheduling-due-to-covid-19/

Former MCPS administrator to Miss. taxpayers: I’m going to Disney World, and you’re paying for it

Mississippi taxpayers paid more than $3,200 for a deputy superintendent in the Department of Education to attend a convention last fall at Florida’s Walt Disney World, according to records obtained by Mississippi Watchdog.

John Q. Porter, the interim chief information officer for MDE, went to the Gartner Symposium IT Expo held at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa in October and billed taxpayers for more than $1,890 in lodging at the five-star hotel. His airfare cost $984.20 and his meals added another $336. 

All told, Porter has racked up more than $10,260 in travel expenses this fiscal year, which ends July 1.

In the third quarter alone, taxpayers paid more than $8,000 for Porter to attend conferences in Arizona, Florida, Wisconsin, Washington, D.C., Colorado, Texas and Illinois. The department as a whole has spent more than $1.8 million on travel in fiscal 2016.

Porter charged taxpayers more than $2,700 for a February trip to Phoenix for the National Association of School Superintendents’ annual education conference.

http://watchdog.org/268707/disney-world-2/

Mississippi Gets MCPS Brand Administrators: Carey Wright, John Q. Porter and Elton Stokes

State Board of Education trims salary of double-dipping CIO

Ten years ago, John Q. Porter told District Administration, a publication aimed at school district administrators, that he liked fine things, expensive clothes, expensive cars and that he collected Rolex watches.
Thanks to a salary ($195,000 per year) as interim chief information officer for the Mississippi Department of Education that is higher than Gov. Phil Bryant’s ($122,160 per year), and several lucrative, single-source contracts totaling more than $293,000 before he was hired by the state, Porter can afford to indulge his hobbies on the taxpayers’ tab.

The Mississippi education administrator’s salary was reduced Tuesday by the state Board of Education meeting in executive session...

http://watchdog.org/266149/mississippi-education-administrator/

Starr's Hire is a Broad Academy Graduate

The Montgomery County Board of Education Appointed Dr. Kimberly Statham as Deputy Superintendent on Superintendent Joshua Starr's recommendation.  Ms. Statham is a graduate of the Broad Superintendent's Academy.  MCPS has sent a number of administrators to the Broad Superintendent's Academy over the last few years.  

Maryland's new State Superintendent is also a Broad Academy graduate. 

Here's a guide for parents to acquaint them with the academy.

A Parent Guide to the Broad Foundation’s training programs and education policies

The question I ask is why should Eli Broad and Bill Gates have more of a say as to what goes on in my child’s classroom than I do? ...

In Classroom of Future, Stagnant Scores

The MoCo BOE and the County Council have spent tens of millions of dollars on tech gadgets for the classroom. Do these tech gadgets really help our children? Mr. Barclay, where are the metrics? Read the article by Matt Richtel from today's New York Times, excerpts below. For the entire article go here.

By MATT RICHTEL
Published: September 3, 2011

CHANDLER, Ariz. — Amy Furman, a seventh-grade English teacher here, roams among 31 students sitting at their desks or in clumps on the floor. They’re studying Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” — but not in any traditional way.

In this technology-centric classroom, students are bent over laptops, some blogging or building Facebook pages from the perspective of Shakespeare’s characters. One student compiles a song list from the Internet, picking a tune by the rapper Kanye West to express the emotions of Shakespeare’s lovelorn Silvius.

The class, and the Kyrene School District as a whole, offer what some see as a utopian vision of education’s future. Classrooms are decked out with laptops, big interactive screens and software that drills students on every basic subject. Under a ballot initiative approved in 2005, the district has invested roughly $33 million in such technologies.

And:

Hope and enthusiasm are soaring here. But not test scores.

Since 2005, scores in reading and math have stagnated in Kyrene, even as statewide scores have risen.

To be sure, test scores can go up or down for many reasons. But to many education experts, something is not adding up — here and across the country. In a nutshell: schools are spending billions on technology, even as they cut budgets and lay off teachers, with little proof that this approach is improving basic learning.

Wireless Generation refresher

This blog discussed purchase of Wireless Generation (WiGen) products some time ago but the breaking news that New York state has cancelled its contract with WiGen reminds me that we in Montgomery County, who paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to WiGen, with unaccounted-for results, if any, could use a refresher, so here goes.

From Dumbo NYC, November 24th, 2010 here,

"Dumbo's Wireless Generation Acquired by News Corp for $360M"

"News Corporation yesterday announced an agreement to acquire 90% of Wireless Generation, a privately-held Dumbo-based education technology company for approximately $360 million in cash. News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch said in a statement that Wireless Generation is at the forefront of individualized, technology-based learning. As such, it is poised to revolutionize public education for a whole new generation of students. Founders of Wireless Generation, Greg Gunn and Larry Berger established the business in 2000 and has 400 employees (one of Dumbo’s largest employer) and delivers mobile and Web software, data systems and professional services designed to empower teachers."

and from the New York Daily News, here:

Rupert Murdoch given $27M no-bid contract from state Department of Education

BY RACHEL MONAHAN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Sunday, July 31, 2011

"More than a dozen private firms wanted to work on a project like the one the state Education Department is set to award to a Rupert Murdoch-owned company in a $27 million no-bid contract.

Agency officials have cited "an extremely challenging time line" in their decision to partner with News Corp. subsidiary Wireless Generation to build a data system of student test scores and other information.

The Daily News has learned that the agency has explored the project for at least two years - proof, critics say, state officials had ample time to competitively bid out the contract and still meet a fall 2012 deadline for a federal Race to the Top grant."

and:

"The News has also learned that Wireless Generation paid as much as $5,000 a month to lobbying firms to advocate for the contract and Race to the Top funds with state officials."

and:

"•In August 2010, the state was named a winner in Race to the Top, netting nearly $700 million.
•Starting in September 2010, Wireless Generation paid as much as $5,000 a month to lobbying firm Public Strategies to gain "agency support" for a no-bid contract, records show."

Video: How the Education Game Works

Another Wireless Generation No-Bid Education Deal
NY State Education Department intends to award no-bid deal to MCPS "partner"


Montgomery County Public Schools also has a no-bid "deal" with Wireless Generation. Want the details? They are only available here on the Parents' Coalition blog because we have filed Public Information Act requests for documents. We didn't get everything, but we got enough to show that the "investment" that Superintendent Jerry Weast made in this company didn't yield a profit for taxpayers. Not only did taxpayers not know their hard earned dollars were being invested in this company, they didn't know that MCPS had entered into a long term deal with this company that has amounted to payments of millions and millions of dollars. 


Here's a little video about Wireless Generation and the NY State Education Department...

NYC's former Chancellor, Joel Klein, now works for Murdoch, and has been put in charge of his "internal investigation" of this scandal. At the same time questions have been raised surrounding several no-bid contracts that the NY State Education Department and the NYC Department of Education intend to award Wireless Generation, the company that Murdoch bought immediately after Klein announced he would run Murdoch's new online learning division. --continue reading athttp://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2011/07/widening-murdoch-scandal-and-wireless.html

How many PhDs’ children go to your urban public schools?

The Educated Reporter

By  Linda Perstein

When finalists were announced for the 2010 Broad Prize for Urban Education, I did not give much thought to the inclusion of Montgomery County, Md. I did not give much thought to any of the finalists, really. But today I saw the video on the Montgomery County Public Schools website—I covered MCPS for the Post years ago and check in there from time to time—that highlighted the Broad visit and couldn’t help but laugh when I saw the officials at Julius West Middle School. Julius West is a couple of miles from one of the most affluent communities on earth. Heard of Potomac? Not what I would call “urban.”... 

article continues  here 

Comment on article:

You're right. Our urban district hired a superintendent who graduated from the Broad School. He acknowledged that his former district, Montgomery County, had per student expenditures of nearly 21/2 time our district. But he kept saying that Montgomery County had more poor students than our entire district. He never realized that the situation is different when more than 90% of students are poor, and the district has been poor for generations. Montgomery County, and other places, have an educational culture that may have taken more than a century to create. Our state has more than a century of anti-intellectualism, generational poverty, and oppression...

...By the way, that superintendent had the talent to have been truely great, but he ignored warnings that he wasn't in Montgomery County anymore, continued to spend in the ways he'd been accustomed, and was gone in six months, but leaving discord that still paralyzes much of our deliberations.

ENCORE Follies

DCPS scraps special-ed database after spending millions on system | Washington Examiner

According to the Washington Examiner, the District of Columbia Public Schools decided to abandon the ENCORE special education online IEP system two years ago this week.

Now, Montgomery County Public Schools has also decided to abandon the ENCORE system, after spending at least $1.4 million dollars on on the software and licensing renewals. And that doesn't even include the staff time spent on training!

Also missing from Jerry Weast's memo explaining the change to the Board of Education (well after staff had already decided to abandon ENCORE and started to develop a new product): how much MCPS is now spending to develop a new online IEP system on the fly, and how much the taxpayers are coughing up to RDA Corporation to assist MCPS in cleaning up this self-made mess.

Reviewing the available documentation, MCPS initially paid for Encore in July of 2005, yet it didn't come on line until January of 2008, and was offline by the end of December 2009. A pretty short run for over $1,380,000 spent! Original price $540,000, plus the $210K in 2006, 2007, 2008, & 2009.

And what about the "consultants?" In the Answers to Budget Questions, we see that the Office of the Chief Technology Officer proposes to spend $381,000 (an increase of $155,000) on consultants for: Software testing for Online Curriculum and IEP PROJECTS in FY 2011(see page 3). How much of that large dollar amount is in addition to the amount already flushed away by Encore?

Oh, and did we mention that the Maryland State Department of Education offered all the local education agencies IEP software for a very reasonable price: FREE!

$540,000 here, and another few hundred thousand there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money. Too bad no one seems to exercise one whit of oversight over MCPS's spending practices. Just say "Technology" and for some reason the current and past Boards of Education feel free to fleece our wallets for the latest high-tech, high-cost project. Here's one taxpayer that won't be riding the PTA/MCEA bus to the county council to beg for more money for Jerry Weast to flush away.

Where do we go to get the $1.4 million dollars back?

Ask Congress about MCPS' investment in Wireless Generation

The link at the end of this article reproduces testimony given to Congress from the CEO of Wireless Generation on November 20, 2009. The CEO touts the "success" of the Montgomery County Public Schools "partnership" with Wireless Generation.

Maybe Congress can find out the details of the secret deal that Wireless Generation made with MCPS?

Certainly, Jerry Weast isn't telling.

As a reminder, Harvard University Business School has published an article that details that MCPS has invested at least half a million dollars in Wireless Generation's development of a product, on the bet that royalties would be income producing to MCPS. (The article was written by Stacey Childress - Harvard Business School staff, Wireless Generation Board member, and co-author of recent book on MCPS.)

Did the Board of Education ever discuss this deal? No. But Harvard knows all about it.

Did MCPS collect "income producing" royalties? Not even close.

To date MCPS hasn't even recouped the estimated half a million dollar investment, and additionally continues to pay annual fees to Wireless Generation for the use of a product whose development costs taxpayers fronted.

House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education Hearing

MCPS refuses to release financial aspects of Wireless Generation agreement

In an article last week, we released several of the documents showing royalties received by MCPS from Wireless Generation.  MCPS released these and other documents after repeated MPIA requests for information about the deal that former deputy superintendent John Q. Porter made, on behalf of MCPS, with Wireless Generation.

Of all the documents that have been received, perhaps the most interesting is the Development Agreement.  The copy of the Development Agreement, which is 24 pages long, is of interest not because of what it contains but because of what the provided copy excludes.  Under claim of exemption from disclosure pursuant to Section 10-617(d) of the MPIA, MCPS refused to provide two sections of the Development Agreement.  Without those sections, it is not possible to determine who, other than MCPS, is receiving royalties under the agreement, nor is it possible to verify that MCPS is receiving all of the royalties to which it is entitled.

The sections of the Development Agreement that MCPS reluctantly shared contain no financial details and, as such, are probably of interest mainly to MCPS and Wireless Generation.  The sections that have been redacted are short and probably of great interest to taxpayers, but MCPS has advised us that if we want copies of those sections, we will have to pursue the matter in circuit court.

In the meantime, here are the cover letter and signature page for the Development Agreement.  It is worth noting that the Agreement was signed by John Q. Porter, instead of Superintendent Weast or the President of the Board of Education, which, from all appearances, is contrary to MCPS procurement rules.
Wireless Generation Royalty Agreement (excerpt)

Details of deal between Wireless Generation and MCPS finally revealed

Of all the deals made between MCPS and vendors, the details about the Wireless Generation royalty agreement have remained the most elusive. Over the past several years, various newspapers and blogs have included articles questioning the terms of the deal.  The Parents' Coalition has finally obtained some of the documents that describe the development, distribution, and payment arrangements for the MClass DIBELS product that was jointly developed by Wireless Generation and MCPS.

In this blog article, the first of a series, we will reveal some of the details about the revenue that has been received by MCPS from the partnership between MCPS and Wireless Generation.

But first, readers who need a refresher on the deal between MCPS and Wireless Generation should review the following articles:

The Curious Case of John Q. Porter

John Q. Porter and the DIBELS Debacle

Peyton Wolcott: Maryland  (Jerry Weast Montgomery County Public Schools - Media Query)

Montgomery County Public Schools Announces Partnership With Innovative Technology Company Providing Handheld Solutions for Teachers
 
Stacey Childress: Wireless Generation (Harvard Business School Case Study)
(Note:  Dr. Stacey Childress is one the authors of Leading for Equity: The Pursuit of Excellence in the Montgomery County Public Schools and is a director of the Wireless Generation company.)

Did Harvard flub the analysis of Montgomery County Public School Performance?

Since its inception, the partnership between MCPS and Wireless Generation has yielded $320,842.59 to MCPS, illustrated by the document below.

Wg Royalties

As shown in the above document, MCPS Chief Technology Officer Sherwin Collette has directed that the royalties be placed in the "OCTO [Office of the Chief Technology Officer] Technology Initiatives" account -- a slush fund controlled by Mr. Collette.  These funds should have been forwarded back to Montgomery County government for future appropriation, but as with the E-rate rebates, MCPS improperly retained the royalties. 

Meanwhile, MCPS has purchased large amounts of products from Wireless Generation.  We will have more about the purchases and the people behind the deals in upcoming articles.

Weast Slush Fund Revealed

Did you know that Superintendent Weast has a separate source of income from the funding appropriated to the school system by the County Council? Did you know that the Superintendent had been carrying a surplus in unappropriated funds? An April 7th letter to the Council's Education Committee reveals the existence of some of the "slush fund" that is available to the Superintendent. There are two other potential sources of "slush fund" cash.

Below is testimony delivered to the Montgomery County Council on April 13th discussing these three sources of non-County income to MCPS. Will the Council seek out these funds and control their use and appropriation, or will the Council ignore these funds and continue to cut from other county requests?

April 13, 2009 - Testimony to Montgomery County Council

I may be the only person to sit before you during Operating Budget testimony and not ask for any money. Instead, I am going to tell you how to hunt down some cash. I am bringing you over $5.5 million in unappropriated funds. It will be up to the Council to bring these funds to the Council table for appropriation, or in the alternative to simply ignore their existence.

Where is all this cash?

1. MCPS has entered into a contract with Wireless Generation. The contract has not been made public but a paper on the relationship between MCPS and Wireless generation has been published by the Harvard Business School. I can’t attach a copy because the article belongs to the Harvard Business School. But I can tell you that this article gives a first look at the terms of this agreement citing specific terms of the contract. We learn in this Harvard publication that MCPS is collecting a per student royalty on every mCLASS: Reading ED software sold around the country. Click here to read about this contract.

Where are those royalties? When have they been brought to the Council for appropriation? Councilmember Marilyn Praisner had been following this partnership, but with her passing did all oversight of this arrangement also disappear? Click here to read about missing royalties.

2. MCPS has also entered into a partnership with TrueNorthLogic to develop a Professional Development online system. What are the details of this partnership? Is MCPS reaping any royalties or income from this partnership? Sorry, I can’t help you out on this one. The details of this agreement aren’t public. But take a look at the TrueNorthLogic advertisement available online to see the MCPS logo proudly displayed. Click here to see the TrueNorthLogic advertisement.

3. The last place you might want to check for unappropriated funds is the e-Rate surplus that Superintendent Weast has been carrying. In an April 7, 2009, letter to the Education Committee, Superintendent Weast reveals that he is carrying $3.9 million in unexpended e-Rate rebates. In addition, MCPS will be receiving another $1.6 to $1.8 million in e-Rate rebates this year. That’s $5.5 million in funds that are not coming to the Council table for appropriation this year alone. Why do I say that? Because in an April 2, 2009, memorandum to the Council’s Education Committee Superintendent Weast makes clear, once again, that he will not be bringing e-Rate rebates to the Council for appropriation. So if the Council wants these funds, they are going to have to go and fetch them.

See below for April 7, 2009 letter from Weast to Education Committee revealing surplus unappropriated funds that have been carried from previous years.

Click here for April 2, 2009 letter from Weast to Education Committee where he tells the Council he will not be bringing e-Rate funds to the Council for appropriation. (See what the Council President said about these funds here.)

I will end with a quote from Superintendent Weast:

"Nothing builds trust like transparency."

Jerry Weast, foreword to Getting it Right-

Why Good School Communication Matters, 2008.

April 7, 2009 Weast to EdCo.

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Magazines & Newspape Business & Law 2008 newsletter

Washington Post: New Concern Over Ex-Official's Spending

By Daniel de Vise

Washington Post Staff Writer

In 2006, while he was a deputy superintendent of Montgomery County schools, John Q. Porter spent $11,722 on travel, dining, gifts for co-workers and other items he submitted as business expenses, according to a review of his corporate American Express card for the calendar year.

That's almost twice as much as the $6,932 that his boss, Superintendent Jerry D. Weast, submitted in the fiscal year that ended in June.

Porter's spending habits are at issue now among community activists in Montgomery because of what happened after Porter left Weast's employ in mid-2007. He became superintendent of schools in Oklahoma City, but the school board suspended him in January for 21 alleged transgressions, most involving extravagant spending. The board withdrew the allegations when Porter resigned. Porter said the allegations were largely false, and the Oklahoma County district attorney concluded last week that claims of criminal activity could not be substantiated...

...On June 5, 2006, Porter dined with his second-in-command, Executive Director Sherwin Collette, at Ruth's Chris Steak House in Bethesda for $597.08. The receipt, filed by Collette, does not indicate how many people were at the table or what was served. On May 8, the two men dined at Le Boeuf Angus, a steakhouse in Montreal. The tab: $300.99. Both were listed as business meals.

Washington Post, Tuesday, March 11, 2008; Page B05