New BOE Meeting

We are so lucky.

The Board of Education announced a new meeting for Monday, December 14 just to discuss the MCPS calendar!

The agenda is posted early.  Way to go, BOE.

But - no public comment?  How are all the good folks of Montgomery County Maryland going to provide public input?

Seems as if, once again, the Board of Education isn't following its own policies.  As a reminder, this is right from the MCPS web:

Public Comments at Board Meetings
Who Can Make a Public Comment?
The regular business meetings of the Board usually include a public comments period in which any citizen, group representative, parent, or student may make a statement regarding an item on a past, present or future Board open-session agenda, or a matter of general policy over which the Board has jurisdiction.
How Do I Sign Up to Make a Public Comment?
At most business meetings, 30 minutes are set aside for Public Comments from residents to encourage public participation. The first fifteen (15) speakers who contact the Board office by telephone on the Monday prior to the business meetings are granted three (3) minutes each to speak 

For those of us who have other obligations - really - who among us isn't working or waiting for a child to return from school at 2:30 in the afternoon, you can send in your comments to BOE@mcpsmd.org.  Better yet, call MCPS at (301) 279-3617.

And we had hoped that Josh Civin would help the BOE and Larry B. understand their responsibilities under Maryland law.  Even if the BOE does not consider this a "regular" business meeting, we think some opportunity for public comment is in order.

Twinbrook Citizens Association: Stop Fast-Tracking the Bus Depot

Hello Councilmembers Rice, Elrich, and Navarro,

I am writing on behalf of the Twinbrook Citizens Association to express our concerns with the plan to put a 400 bus depot at the Mark Twain Elementary School / Blair Ewing site on Avery Road.  We have only recently learned about this plan and we are very concerned that 1) a site that Rockville taxpayers and Project Open Space has funded will be destroyed, that 2) an entire functional school building will be destroyed even as Rockville is being pushed to add thousands of residents on Rockville Pike in the name of Smart Growth,that 3) a road that is already at a crawl in rush hour, Norbeck aka First Street, will be impacted by 400 school buses going in and out of the site several times a day in rush hour, that 4) business at Rockville's Redgate Golf Course, also funded with Open Space money as well as supported by Rockville taxpayer dollars, will be affected,and that 5) the site abuts Rock Creek Park, more importantly, that the site SLOPES into Rock Creek park, so that oil and waste runoff from the 400 bus parking lot may funnel into the creek.

This seems be another poorly planned MCPS boondoggle.  Even as the County cries poor in Annapolis, millions of dollars are being wasted and a school building that will be needed in the future is bulldozed.  The fact that nearby communities were not informed (including the Aspen Hill community which will receive the programs being transferred out of the Blair Ewing center) is problematic.  The Mayor and Council of Rockville so far have said that they were NOT notified that the Mark Twain site was to be "repossessed" by the County.  Questions have been raised as to WHY they were not notified and WHY Program Open Space regulations are being ignored.

Here in Rockville, we were told during our own Redgate go-round, by our then-State Senator Jennie Forehand, that decommissioning a park funded with Program Open Space funds would cause Annapolis to look with caution at "wasting" any future Open Space funds in Rockville. 

I think you should take that to heart, as well as consider the implications of putting what is essentially an industrial facility next to a nationally significant piece of parkland and a waterway that traverses historic areas of the District of Columbia.  I would hope that you are as interested in preserving parkland DOWNCOUNTY as you are in preserving parkland upcounty, as with Ten Mile Creek.

Today, as the Board of Education considers terminating Dr. Starr's contract, the question you should be asking yourself is - why is the school system so dysfunctional, that literally millions of dollars of taxpayer money is being squandered on projects of this type?  When we, the taxpayers, see this kind of hidden and backdoor deal being pushed through, and we are told, yet again, at the 11th hour, that it is a "done deal", we know there is something badly wrong.

Please, in your considerations, stop fast-tracking the bus depot.  The whole project needs to be reconsidered before it becomes an embarrassment to Montgomery County.

Sincerely,

Christina Y. Ginsberg

Treasurer, Twinbrook Citizens Association

for

Richard A. Gottfried

President, Twinbrook Citizens Association

Penalties for Meetings Have Bipartisan Support

From the great www.marylandreporter.com whose reporters are busy covering the session in Annapolis.  Thanks to reporter Ilana Kowarski for this story.  Please email our Montgomery County delegation telling them to support this bill.  To email the House, go here.  And for the Senate, here.  And, thanks to co-sponsor Montgomery County rep Kumar Barve for signing on.

And here is the excerpt from the story:

Del. Dan Morhaim,  D-Baltimore County, introduced a bill Thursday that grants additional enforcement powers to the Open Meetings Compliance Board, allowing it to levy fines and provide court testimony against government bodies that illegally deny people access to public events.

This bipartisan legislation, HB331, has 18 co-sponsors, including House Majority Leader Kumar Barve and 10 other Democrats and Minority Leader Tony O’Donnell and six other Republicans.

Barve said that Morhaim’s bill was a no-brainer.  “Why wouldn’t you support it?” he said, adding that government transparency was an “important issue” to address in this legislative session.

Penalties called necessary
Morhaim has said that financial penalties were necessary to increase compliance with the board’s rulings, which “tend to be ignored” by government officials since the board does not have the power to punish anyone.

When the board discovers the closure of a public meeting, the only thing it can do is to censure those responsible and write letters asking them to reform.  If that does not work, then the burden of enforcement rests on citizens excluded from public meetings, who must sue if they wish to challenge the legitimacy of policies created behind closed doors.


Read more: http://marylandreporter.com/2013/01/24/penalties-for-closed-meetings-have-bipartisan-support/#ixzz2JEYikdhr
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

"Backroom" Leggett wants to speed up "Public Process" Andrews

Democracy is such a pain.  Especially when it includes the public. All that discussion, debate, who needs it?

Not our County Executive. 

In the past 12 months our County Executive has successfully moved 49.5 acres of public school land AWAY from the use of public school children without public input, discussion or debate into his decisions and very, very limited public notice.  Less notice gives the public less time to be informed and respond.  

No big deal. 49.5 acres of public school land isn't important. Schools aren't overcrowded and new school sites aren't needed, right? 

• In November of 2010, County Executive Leggett surprised the public by announcing that he was selling a 19.5 acre public school site to a private entity.  After years of negotiations behind closed doors, the Leggett plan was rushed through the Council and fast-tracked by the Governor and Board of Public Works.  The whole thing was over in a few weeks. 

• In March of 2011, the public was again surprised to discover that County Executive Leggett had been working for at least 15 months behind closed doors to turn over another 20 acres of public school land to another private entity.

Now, according to the Gazette, County Executive Leggett has written to the County Council President to complain that Councilmember Phil Andrews is taking too long to push the County Executive's curfew legislation through the County Council.  4 months of public discussion must seem like an eternity to the County Executive. Council President Valerie Ervin said she wasn't going to use her "position as council president to go over the chair [Phil Andrews] of the committee."

But good news for the County Executive, according to the same Gazette article, Councilmember Roger "pull the plug" Berliner is the "presumed successor" to the position of  Council President.  Look for less "public" in the public process in the coming months!

Not again!

Another day, another violation of the Maryland Open Meetings Act by the Montgomery County Board of Education. 

This time it's in connection with the Superintendent search.

Oh dear, we had such hopes that the process was going to be transparent.  We were wrong yet again. 

The Board didn't even follow its own announced process.  Where is the list of community organizations that interviewed the candidates?

Maybe the Open Meetings Compliance Board can find out.

Let's hope that whoever the MoCo Board selects tonight after its secret process shows more leadership on transparency than Dr. Weast.

Redacted Version OMA Complaint

TX School system receives Transparency Award

PSJA schools receive transparency award | receive, schools, transparency - Now - TheMonitor.com

...“We’re looking at whether taxpayers go in and see the budget and expenditures,” Texas Comptroller spokesman RJ DeSilva said.

Janet Robles, PSJA Assistant Superintendent for Finance, said that providing such information was key for a government entity.

“We’re in charge of funds, but it’s not our money,” she said...

Closed Superintendent Hiring Process Begins

Did anyone really think that the Montgomery County Board of Education would conduct an open process to select the next Superintendent?


November 19, 2010, 9 AM to 5PM Board of Education closed meeting announcement here. 


Remember that the decision to close a meeting is a CHOICE that requires a vote of the members. This Board has chosen to CLOSE this process off from public view. 


For what an OPEN Superintendent search process looks like see this article on Chappaqua, New York's school board, and this one from Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Revealing the Underlying Rot

Where is the Board?
Commentary by Fred Stichnoth


Sometimes it takes a crisis to reveal underlying rot.  We can hope that MCPS' suit against the County fulfills this function.  It depends on us.  


Regarding the appalling suit itself:  those who function in the practical world know that bizarre and extreme measures usually are impractical and misguided.  How did the Board miss this prudential rule of thumb?  


The May 14 Washington Post editorial concludes by stating that the failure of compromise speaks poorly of Superintendent Dr. Weast, the Council President and the County Executive. The Board was not omitted because of the Post's perception of its prudence;  it was omitted because there is no expectation that the Board will exercise its statutory responsibilities.  The Board subordinates itself as a largely ceremonial office of the System.  


The Post attributes the "vacuum in leadership" to money, and "egos, conflicting personalities and political futures."  Yes, but more than those personal factors, the vacuum in leadership is about the collapse of political institutions.  The Superintendent's "leadership" without institutional checks is the riot of ego.  (The institutional checks are wanting.  A mid-level MCPS staffer argued that it is best that the Superintendent mislead the Council to believe in the consistent quality of the schools, in order to secure more funding for more of the same green zone glitter--the Post calls it "the county's golden goose."  A Board of Education member complained that MCPS staff routinely lies to and is otherwise uncooperative with the Board.)  A Board without politics is an arm of the emperor.  What, other than a collapse of politics, can it mean that the four incumbent Board members running for reelection are all without opposition?  


MCPS and its Board department have enshrined their politics-free institution in the Framework for Equity and Excellence--the central statement of Our Call to Action:  "This organizational culture also will serve to protect the ongoing work to promote equity and excellence from external factors that could possibly disrupt the work or distract staff from their focus.  These external factors include political factors, legal considerations, and economic realities."  The System opposes itself to reality.  Through its lawsuit, the Board manages to fly in the face of all three:  politics, law and economics;  true to its resolve, it absconds from the reality-based world.  


If the Board will not function, then it is up to the County Council to resist the bullying and to reveal that the emperor has no clothes.  Beyond the Board and the Council, it is up to us to restore MCPS leadership by returning it to the real world and to politics.

Paul Pinsky's Dual Role in Teacher Evaluations

Yesterday, The Baltimore Sun reported on the Maryland State School Board's move to strengthen teacher evaluations and today The Washington Post reported on the same topic.

Both articles contain quotes from State Senator Paul Pinsky. The articles state that he is chairman of the education subcommittee and is co-chair of the committee that will review the proposal before the State Board of Education. However, both articles leave out Mr. Pinsky's full-time job. 


In his full-time job Paul Pinsky works for the Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA - the teacher's union). In his position with MCEA he works on the program areas of the Teacher Evaluation System Project and Peer Assistance and Review (PAR) Panel, Elected Faculty Rep Network.

In Mr. Pinsky's full-time job for MCEA he works on behalf of the teachers union on the very issues that he is dealing with as a State Senator representing the citizens of his district and as co-chair of the joint State panel that will review the State Board's proposal on teacher evaluations. 


Here is what The Washington Post's Editors said about Mr. Pinsky on April 18, 2010:

...Sen. Paul G. Pinsky (D-Prince George's), a union organizer for the Montgomery County Education Association, played a leading role in the conference that worked out the final bill, so it should be no surprise that the requirement that measurable student gains account for 50 percent of judging a teacher's performance was dropped...

Proposed Maryland Open Government Act

I support the Maryland Open Government Act

Clicking on the above link takes you to a site to sign a petition to support the Maryland Open Government Act. This act would:

1. Allow the public free and total access to services provided on the General Assembly's website, including elimination of the $800 access fee charged for "up-to-the-minute" legislative tracking
2. Webcast General Assembly committee hearings and Board of Public Works meetings over the Internet
3. Post General Assembly committee hearing agendas at least one day in advance
4. Allow online sign-up for those wishing to testify before a General Assembly committee
5. Publish the votes of standing committees on the General Assembly's website
6. Post the Board of Public Works's proposed budget actions at least two weeks in advance
7. Allow for a public comment period in advance of Board of Public Works budget actions

Thanks to Congress . . .

for showing the good folks of Montgomery County how easy it is to adopt the new transparency initiative of the current administration.

If posting of expense logs can be done in short order with minimal need to current reporting systems, MCPS should have no trouble making their expense logs available.

Unless of course, we have something at issue with what is reported in the logs.

From the Speaker's Blog, The Gavel:

Speaker Pelosi Directs Statement of Disbursements Be Posted Online

June 3rd, 2009 by Karina

As part of Speaker Pelosi’s ongoing efforts to increase transparency and accountability in the House of Representatives, the Speaker’s office and the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) have been working on making the Statement of Disbursements - which documents all expenditures Congressional, Committee, Leadership, and administrative offices make - available online. Today, the Speaker sent the following letter to the CAO directing his office to begin posting the Statement of Disbursements online as soon as possible:

June 3, 2009

The Honorable Dan Beard
Chief Administrative Officer
United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20015

Dear Mr. Beard:

I am directing that the Chief Administrative Officer’s office begin to publish the quarterly Statement of Disbursements for the House of Representatives in an online format at the earliest date. The House is making every effort to operate in a transparent manner and online publication of these reports will expand accountability to taxpayers and the press.

For well over 100 years the United States House of Representatives has compiled and published, on a quarterly basis, a public Statement of Disbursements documenting the expenditures of each Congressional, Committee, Leadership, and administrative office. This publication provides an accurate accounting of the manner in which the House and its Members and officers spend all of the funds appropriated for the conduct of official business.

In the past, this publication has been made available in the Legislative Resource Center or by purchase from the United States Government Printing Office. However, this means for publishing material does not allow all interested parties to review the information contained in the reports. Consistent with my goal to increase transparency and ensure greater accountability to the public, please take all steps necessary to ensure that the quarterly Statement of Disbursements be made available online free of charge to the public and on a suitable House website.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

best regards,

NANCY PELOSI
Speaker of the House

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 at 11:22 am by Karina and is filed under Speaker Pelosi, Oversight. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

Let the Sun Shine In

This evening, I found a link to the Sunlight Foundation while surfing the web.

While this group is focused on transparency in federal government, its principals are just as applicable to local government, and especially relevant as Montgomery County Public Schools and the County Government continue to try to keep their constituents in the dark.

Working off Justice Brandeis's famous quote, "sunlight is the best disinfectant," the Sunlight Foundation works to improve access to existing information, by creating new tools to enable all to work towards greater transparency.

I especially like their eight principles for open data:

The eight Open Government Data Principles should be implemented, making all
government data: complete, primary, timely, accessible, machine processable,
non-discriminatory, non-proprietary, and license-free. (see: http://resource.org/8_principles.html)

Open government? Transparency? If it dates back to Justice Brandeis, it must be outdated dicta in progressive Montgomery County, right Dr. Weast and Mr. Knapp?