Will @mocoboe Violate the Maryland Open Meetings Act today? Objection Filed.

Under Maryland Open Meetings Act § 3-305(d)(3), I am filing an objection to the Montgomery County Board of Education's Closed Session Resolution today for failure to comply with the Maryland Open Meetings Act Closed Session requirements.  

Today's Closed Session Resolution contains only uninformative boilerplate language and is not in compliance with the Maryland Open Meetings Act law.  

Janis Zink Sartucci (signature attached) 

Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, MD

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.

BOE Member Judy Docca Not Running For Re-Election

The Parents' Coalition has heard that current District 1 Board of Education member Judith Docca will not be running for another term on the Montgomery County Board of Education.

 The filing deadline is Friday.  

3 candidates have filed to date. The current list of candidates for all Board of Education positions can be found at the Maryland Board of Elections website. 

Jay Guan of Clarksburg announces he is running for District 1 Board of Ed seat

Jay Guan, a resident of Clarksburg, has filed to run for the at-large seat of the county Board of Education. The seat is currently held by Dr. Judith Docca, who has been on the board for 16 years and is serving her fourth four-year term now.

From his Facebook page:

After much thought over the past two years, I have decided to run for the Board of Education again.

Our system many urgent issues to think through and talk about. If you have an idea or issue you (or your friends) want to discuss, drop me a line, I am all ears.

Breaking: Dec. 2, 2021 - Resolution to Change Calendar FAILS. BOE President Violates Robert's Rules of Order, Forces BOE Members to Keep Voting Until She Gets Desired Outcome. New Meeting Set for Dec. 7th.

What happened at the Thursday, December 2, 2021, Montgomery County Board of Education meeting?  Interim Superintendent Monifa McKnight surprised Board of Education members with a Resolution to add three 1/2 days to the MCPS calendar this year and to give administrators additional days off.  

Various news outlets have reported that the McKnight Resolution passed, but the meeting video shows otherwise. 

Clearly, the Resolution did not pass as the Board of Education has now called for a new meeting on Tuesday, December 7, 2021 to vote on the exact same Resolution again.

Here is our summary of the Thursday, December 2, 2021, Board of Education meeting.

BOE President Wolff presides over BOE meetings using Robert's Rules of Procedure, Newly Revised as per the Board of Education Handbook, Page 7.

Summary taken from Montgomery County Board of Education December 2, 2021, meeting video.

7. Items of Discussion/Action - 1:45 p.m.  (Watch the discussion at this link)

7.1 2021� School Year Calendar Modification

SUMMARY OF BOE DISCUSSION AND VOTES WITH TIME STAMPS TO VIDEO OF DECEMBER 2nd MEETING. [ ] indicates information from Parents' Coalition.

Interim Superintendent Monifa McKnight introduced Item #7 and talked about the Resolutions she was proposing.  

BOE Member Silvestre moved approval for purposes of discussion. Seconded.

Discussion

Time on Video: 1:30:20 BOE Member Harris Motion to Bifurcate Resolution into two. 1:46 BOE Member Smondrowski seconds motion.

1:48:20 BOE President Wolff says "we have a motion on the floor" says motion is "to vote for this as written" 

Smondrowski questions why Harris amendment is not being voted on, Wolff says "we have a motion on the floor." 

Wolff says, "All in favor, raise your hand."  Wolff, Docca, O'Looney and Evans raise their hands.  [NOTE THE RESOLUTION FAILED AT THIS POINT] "All opposed, raise your hand" Smondrowski, Harris and Silvestre raised their hands.

Wolff says, "We need 5 votes, so does somebody else want to put a motion on the floor? Can't pass it without 5 votes." 

Again, Harris makes motion to bifurcate the resolution into two parts. One resolution would relate to 1/2 days, the other resolution would relate to administrative closings and Juneteenth.  Seconded (again)

1:50 Wolff has Harris make her motion to bifurcate again [3rd time] and it is seconded again.

1:51 Wollf says "All in favor of the motion raise your hand" O'Looney, Harris, Silvestre and Smondrowski raise their hands.  "All opposed raise your hand" Docca, Wolff and Evans raise their hands. 

Wolff says "So the motion fails." 

1:51:50 Dead silence.  President Wolff looks around at BOE members.

1:52:26 President Wolff then says "Let's do this, let's put a motion on the floor to vote on the winter break and Juneteenth, first OK?" [Note that Motion JUST FAILED, yet Wolff is moving forward as if it Passed].

President Wolff is told that they just did that, she says "That's right."

1:52:36 Silvetre says "Should we try again?"

1:52:42 Harris makes her motion to bifurcate the Resolution again. [4th time] 

1:54:37 Wolff has Harris restate her motion again. [5th time].  Evans interrupts and says before that is seconded can we modify the current resolution? Evans says can we just strike the January 12th day?  

1:55 Evans goes into a speech "You're saying that we haven't given people sufficient notice. I understand that there are parents that have concerns. I felt like Dr. McKnight gave great detail explanation as to why this resolution works for the  entire system..."

"...I've heard people make concerns about how in the future we would like to get information [Resolutions] in advance. That has been heard. Duly noted*. But that should not be a reason why we delay this Resolution." 

[*NOTE:  The Board of Education Handbook, Page 13 already states that Board meeting materials are prepared for Board members in advance of meetings and that MCPS staff are available for information before or at meetings.]

1:59 Wolff says "We actually have a call for a vote on the floor.  Ms. O'Looney this is the last comment."  [In fact, Harris' 5th reading of her motion was never seconded.] 

2:00 Wolff asks Harris if she wants to rescind her motion. Then says motion was seconded [but Evans interrupted before any second. Then staff says it was seconded].

2:01:27 Wolff says "All in favor of Ms. Harris' motion to separate these raise your hand."  Harris, Silvestre and Smondrowski

"All opposed raise your hand." O'Looney, Docca, Evans, and Wolff

2:01:46 Evans "I have a motion to reconsider the previous, original resolution." Seconded 

[Let's go to Robert's Rules of Order:  The motion to reconsider may be made only by a member who voted on the prevailing side in the original vote (such as someone who voted "yes" if the motion had passed or voted "no" if the motion was defeated). In this Board of Education vote Evans voted in favor of the original Resolution and the Resolution failed.]

2:01  Wolff does not allow for any discussion.  She immediately says "there is a motion on the floor, all in favor raise your hand."  O'Looney, Evans, Wolff and Docca  "So the motion fails because we have to have 5 votes."  

Wolff does not ask for those opposed.  

Instead, Wolff looks around at Board members and says, "Any proposals?" She pauses again and looks around at Board members and begins a speech.  Wolff says, "I think it's very important that we not think about how the communication has been but think about our staff how they are struggling right now..."

2:02 Smondrowski offers amendment to original Resolution that would have MCPS commit to free activities for students at the cluster level on 1/2 days. Off camera, someone tells her no that can't be done. No second to amendment.

2:05 McKnight refers to 1/2 days as something that is being "piloted for the future."  [Note 1/2 days have been used in MCPS for decades.]

2:07 Evans again offers her Motion for Reconsideration and it is seconded for the second time. 

2:07:55 Smondrowski says she will switch her vote but says,  "...unacceptable that we be given materials of this consequence and of this importance less than 24 hours..." 

2:08 Wolff calls for a vote on the Reconsideration.  Docca, Smondrowski, Silvestre, Wolff, Evans, and O'Looney.  Harris opposed. 

2:08 Wolff says, "All right. Thank you. We are now up to..." and she finally goes on to next Agenda item.

Board of Education VP Karla Silvestre Tries to Silence BOE Member Judy Docca During Sept. 9th Meeting as Docca calls out NBC4 and newspapers reporting on MCPS' COVID Response

At the September 9, 2021, Montgomery County Board of Education meeting Agenda Item 7.1 called for a discussion of MCPS' Health Contingency Plan.

At the beginning of the discussion Board of Education members were commenting on where MCPS was on their COVID-19 response.  

Watch the video clip below to hear what BOE member Docca had to say:   

Later in the discussion, Board of Education President Brenda Wolff leans over to Board Vice President Karla Silvestre and speaks to her. 

VP Silvestre then gets up out of her chair and walks over to BOE member Judy Docca who can be heard speaking on her open microphone.  

BOE member Judy Docca says: "Oh, I know you're not going to tell me not to do this."

VP Karla Silvestre replies: "She says you can ask it after the..."

Docca: "What?"

VP Silvestre: "She said if you can ask your question after they do the..."

Docca: "No, nobody else has had to do that. 

OK.  I have to do this. I feel a need to do this. I was not trivializing the effect or the traumatic effect on parents when a child has COVID.  I was trying to emphasize that the number is small here. 

But the newspapers and NBC, in particular, I don't watch ABC and CBS, have said oh, it's over 1,000 in Montgomery County and how terrible it is.  And it's a very negative kind of response and it would be worse if our staff was not doing all the things they're doing. Which are being criticized, even today about how strict we are and we're not doing what CDC says, and how do we have the right to do that. 

So, I feel really strongly that I had to say that and that's what I was trying to get at.  Maybe I should have said all those things before I said anything about the 1%."

Overcrowding problem persists at Montgomery County school

Breaking: All Woman MoCo Board of Education FIRST to ever Approve a NEW Cell Tower Lease on Public School Land

One of the leases for a cell tower on the Woodwards Road Future School site was set to expire.

The Board of Education did not have to authorize a NEW lease.  The Board of Education could have decided that public school land should be used for building classrooms for students instead of for commercial uses of private companies.  

The Board of Education could have voted to not approve a NEW lease.  

But they didn't.  

The Board was fed a series of falsehoods, fell for them, and voted for the NEW lease. 

To date, none of the 12 cell towers existing on Montgomery County Public School land were ever approved by the Board of Education.  They were all approved by former Superintendent Jerry Weast without notification or approval of the Board of Education.  The Board of Education is the landowner. It is up to the landowner to decide what part of their land is to be leased.  

Below is the video from the August 24, 2021, Montgomery County Board of Education meeting where the unanimous Board of Education voted to approve a NEW lease for the Woodwards Road Future School site.  

In the discussion, MCPS staff (not under oath and not legal counsel) told the Board of Education members:

• That the Board has delegated their authority to the superintendent (False. They have not).
• MCPS staff called this vote the "renewal of the entire lease"  (False. It's a NEW lease.)
• MCPS staff claimed that bringing this lease to the Board was for transparency (False. It is legally required.)
• MCPS staff told Board members they were not turning over land to another company.  (FALSE. It is a lease for PUBLIC SCHOOL LAND.) 

Police officers involved in 5-year-old student viral body cam disciplined

 https://wjla.com/features/i-team/police-officers-involved-in-5-year-old-student-viral-body-cam-disciplined?fbclid=IwAR1usWor-oe2J-pulp9m78noaUKz6mNNIBKhVUQbIqydTJXSerEBHGxjU0A

NBC Nightly News coverage of East Silver Spring Elementary School incident involving police and MCPS staff berating child and telling mother to beat child.

 https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/outrage-in-maryland-over-video-of-police-handcuffing-5-year-old-109200965560

Split Md. high court allows behavior testimony in sex abuse cases

...In its ruling, the majority noted that character testimony regarding a defendant’s peacefulness and truthfulness are admissible when facing charges of assault and fraud. Likewise, a defendant’s appropriateness toward children may be admitted when he or she stands accused of sexually abusing youngsters, the majority added.

But Judge Michele D. Hotten disagreed, saying the analogy does not apply to the “particularly insidious” behavior of child sexual abusers.

“Evidence of appropriate behavior or conduct with children, unlike character for truthfulness or peacefulness in a fraud or assault investigation, adds nothing to a child sex abuse prosecution, because of the nature of the allegations,” Hotten wrote in an opinion Judge Shirley M. Watts joined.

“These types of sexual predators often hide in plain sight,” Hotten added. “They blend into the community and often stand in trust relationships – coaches, clergy, teachers, physicians, or family members – with their victims. They groom victims through these relationships and skillfully manipulate a child into a situation where he or she can be more readily sexually abused and is simultaneously less likely to disclose.”..

https://thedailyrecord.com/2020/08/20/split-md-high-court-allows-behavior-testimony-in-sex-abuse-cases/?utm_term=Split%20Md.%20high%20court%20allows%20behavior%20testimony%20in%20sex%20abuse%20cases%2526nbsp%3B&utm_campaign=Lexington%20Market%20development%20hits%20milestone&utm_content=email&utm_source=Act-On+Software&utm_medium=email

Board of Ed Voted to Overrule Jack Smith. Suspended Student May Not Return to Previous School Placement.

Below are minutes from a Closed Session of the Montgomery County Board of Education.  The matter shown is an appeal from the suspension of a student.  The Superintendent had ruled that the student would be suspended for 10 days and could then return to their home school.

Initially, Board members and Apple Ballot endorsed candidates Pat O'Neill and Judy Docca moved to affirm the Superintendent's decision.  Board member Brenda Wolff agreed with that motion.

However, the rest of the Board of Education did not agree and instead moved to affirm the suspension but reverse the decision to allow the student to return to their home school.

The public does not know what this case involved.  Did this case involve a victim?  Did this decision force an offender to move instead of telling the victim to find a new school? 

https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/BMET5874F709/$file/200310%20Report%20of%20Previous%20Closed%20Session.pdf

Damascus principal struck deal to resign, retain $160K salary in MCPS office job

By Neil Augustine, For full story go here. Yellow highlight my own.

When Casey Crouse resigned Tuesday as principal of Damascus High School amid the investigation into alleged rapes in the football locker room, she didn’t know what her job would be, but she knew she would maintain her $160,763 salary.

Crouse has taken a job in the Montgomery County Public Schools central office as “administrator on special assignment,” school spokesman Derek Turner said Friday.

Asked whether the position were permanent, Turner said, “This is the position she is going to be in for now, and she’s always welcome to apply for other positions.”

Man hid tiny cameras in his bathrooms, recorded 60 nude children, prosecutors say.

...Until fall [2017], when Montgomery County police arrested him, Oldale, who lived in Somerset, was a fixture in the town — deeply involved in the lives of his two children and those in the neighborhood.

He led a Cub Scout pack, took photos for the elementary school yearbook and volunteered as a room parent at school. He launched a small summer camp and threw the backyard splash parties...

The videos show multiple cameras were used simultaneously to record what was happening in the bathrooms of his home, authorities said in charging Oldale, and show Oldale checking camera angles.

...“Mr. Oldale would come into the bathroom,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Baldwin said in court several months ago. “He will check on a camera. He’ll look down at it and make sure the focus is correct and make sure that it’s pointing in the right direction. He did it to the one in the pedestal sink. There’s another video where he comes in, and there’s one that’s pointing from the shower over the commode in the bathroom to the bathroom door. He walks in, he leans in that camera and he artfully pushes it back so that it’s now focusing on the shower.

“You ask yourself, well, why is he doing that?” the prosecutor continued. “Well, 30 seconds later, two young girls come in the bathroom, and they take off their bathing suits, and they get in the shower.”..

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/i-have-disgraced-myself-man-charged-with-hiding-video-cameras-to-film-young-girls-expected-to-plead-guilty/2018/11/13/cf86a410-e796-11e8-b8dc-66cca409c180_story.html?utm_term=.92264afb1bd2

"Skin lacerations, gashes are open wounds for months, increased injuries" from NEW RMHS Artificial Turf #zeolite #plasticgrass #MoreBandages

At the November 8, 2018, Montgomery County Board of Education public hearing on school facilities a Richard Montgomery High School student gave public comment about the injuries caused by the new artificial turf at the school.  Watch her statement below.

The Board of Education calls this a "best practice."

The Board of Education used $562,721 of Operating Budget funds to pay for this artificial turf.  That means they sacrificed teacher salaries to pay for this new field.  They did not use Capital Budget (bricks and mortar) funds.  There is no money available to replace this field again.
Students will need to buy more bandages.

Apple Ballot Endorsed Candidate Uses MCPS Website as Campaign Website #ethics #AppleBallot #MSEA #MCEA

See what happens when we click on the Judy Docca online ad.



Are election ads for candidates supposed to use government resources to promote their campaigns?

Why doesn't this candidate have her own election website?   

Reminder Why Schools are Overcrowded: 178.66+ acres of school land declared surplus since 1994

178.66 acres of school land declared surplus since 1994:

ACLU joins students’ challenge to Prince George’s summer school tuition prices

The American Civil Liberties Union has joined four Prince George’s students’ challenge to a summer school tuition policy, arguing the costs are too burdensome for some families and inhibit students from graduating.

Debbie Jeon, legal director with ACLU of Maryland, said charging tuition for summer school violates state law requiring free public education. Many students enroll in the summer session to make up classes they didn’t complete or pass during the school year but are required for graduation, also known as “credit recovery.”

“Maryland’s Constitution promises all families a free public education for their children,” Jeon said. “If students are required by the school system to take core courses like English and math . . . to progress to the next grade and ultimately to graduate, the system can’t then impose high financial fees that make it impossible for some students to do so.”

Spokeswoman Raven Hill said the school system charged $455 per class in summer 2018, noting that nearly all Maryland districts charge for summer school. Hill did not respond to specific questions about the ACLU’s assertion that the policy violates state law.

Prince George’s students who qualify for free and reduced meal prices, a signifier of financial need, can have up to 25 percent of tuition for one class waived, district documents state.

The reduced tuition is still too costly for many families, said Grace Reusing, a Maryland public defender. The district, she said, “has the most expensive summer school program in the state, and they have the most inadequate waiver for low-income families.” In summer 2018, Montgomery County charged up to $300 per class for county residents and $340 for nonresidents.

Reusing said she sent letters to Prince George’s school district officials in March and May requesting the 134,000-student system waive four students’ summer tuition entirely. The waivers were denied June 27, days before summer school began, she said.

She appealed the decision and expects the Prince George’s Board of Education to rule on the appeal at an executive session during Tuesday’s board meeting.

“Prince George’s County Public Schools have priced summer school out of the reach of the students who need it the most,” Reusing said.

One of the students, Reusing said, is taking classes at an alternative school. Reusing has requested the district reimburse another student who paid for a less expensive online summer course.

The ACLU has promised to sue the school system over its summer school fees and waiver policy if the district refuses to waive the four students’ tuition.

“The ACLU will have no choice but to pursue litigation to address this serious constitutional violation undermining the rights of Prince George’s County students to a free public school education,” the letter read...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/aclu-joins-students-challenge-to-prince-georges-summer-school-tuition-prices/2018/10/21/f99a0748-d467-11e8-b2d2-f397227b43f0_story.html?utm_term=.0d48f890783c

Kitty Litter/Zeolite Dust Cloud at the New Whitman HS Artificial Turf Football Field. Play Ball, But Don't Breathe.

The dust you see in this video is the kitty litter/zeolite infill that the Montgomery County Board of Education now requires on all artificial turf football fields. Kitty litter/zeolite degrades and becomes dust. That is why it is considered a health hazard.

Good luck students.

WJHS Football Field is Full of #CRAP

FYI: Artificial turf football fields are supposed to look green. They are not supposed to look black.  When they look black it means that far too many tons of crumb rubber have been dumped on the field to take the place of the plastic grass.

Tons of extra crumb rubber means the field has failed and the playing surface is not safe. 

The blades of plastic are no longer able to hold the required depth of crumb rubber in place to prevent athletes from killing themselves when they hit the ground stone surface beneath the plastic.  The playing surface is no longer uniform or stable.

The Walter Johnson High School football field is being used by two football teams this season and there are no plans or funding to replace this field this year.  Students from all over Montgomery County will be risking their lives on this surface.

7 On Your Side: Montgomery County sports field washing away in rain



#CRAP = Crumb Rubber Artificial Pitches

Environmental Waste Generated by Board of Education's Lust for Plastic Football Fields: The Turf Mountain

The Netherlands is a country of artificial turf. No country in the world has more artificial turf per capita. Last summer, over 200 artificial grass pitches were replaced in the Netherlands. No less than 1 million square metres of artificial turf had to be removed. All waste that cannot be dumped. What happens to the old pitches? What happens to all that plastic and all the polluting rubber in them? Processing companies promise to separate all the waste and recycle it. Municipalities pay top dollar for that. But what is the reality? Those involved call it 'the best kept secret in the market'. ZEMBLA follows the trail of a number of transports, and finds itself in a world of dealers, defrauding artificial turf processors, absent supervisors, and a growing artificial turf pile.