Hey Big Spender! Smondrowski & Kauffman Expense Reports Withheld. $15K for Smondrowski Spent on ???

Right here in Montgomery County we have elected officials that are running for re-election that will not release the public documents that show how they have personally been spending public school education dollars.

Did they go to lunch? dinner? take a trip? or buy a gift with MCPS operating budget funds?

We will never know because the Montgomery County Board of Education is refusing to release expense reports for Rebecca Smondrowski and Phil Kauffman.

We asked for:

• expense reports
• reimbursement checks
• expense logs
• credit card bills/statements

for the following MCPS staff and Board of Education members for the period January 1, 2016, to August 31, 2016.

Larry Bowers

Andrew Zuckerman

Philip Kauffman

Rebecca Smondrowski

We did not get back one single document in response to our request!  

Yet, we know that during that time period covered in the public reports linked in this response letter Rebecca Smondrowski spent over $15,000 of MPCS Operating Budget funds on personal expenses.  

We have no way of knowing what that money was spent on specifically, but we can tell you that Ms. Smondrowski is the big spender when it comes to charging taxpayers for local travel.  In the reports shown, Ms. Smondrowski charged almost $9,000 to taxpayers for her "local travel."  

Phil Kauffman is not far behind Ms. Smondrowski in his spending, but since no one in Montgomery County cares about how public school education dollars are spent, there is no point in adding up his totals.

   2016 MPIA for Kauffman and Smondrowski Expenses by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland on Scribd

Links to the Reports mentioned in Mr. Turner's non-responsive response to our Maryland Public Information Act request.

https://www.scribd.com/document/329923295/4-15-16-Quarterly-Expenditure-Report

https://www.scribd.com/document/329923306/7-28-16-Quarterly-Expenditure-Report

Potomac Almanac: Electing Members of the Board of Education

To the Editor:

#When it comes to voting for members of the Board of Education there usually is a low vote count. Many people do not know who they are voting for and yet these seven elected officials control almost half of Montgomery’s county operating budget of $5.3 billion and the education of our children and the future impact that has on each student, our community, and society as a whole.

#In the at-large election the choice is between Phil Kauffmann, the incumbent, and Jeanette Dixon. One of Jeanette Dixon’s priorities, right after her first priority of “providing a world class education for all of our students” is “operating the Board of Education (BOE) and Montgomery County School System (MCPS) in total transparency and responsiveness including the listing of the names of people who serve on all MCPS committees and interview panels and their affiliations.

#That language alone should tell you Jeanette Dixon knows how the MCPS system “really works.” She knows this because she has been a teacher in the MCPS, an assistant principal and principal in a middle school and high school for the last 16 years of her career. She has a long list of students she has taught and people she has hired who have gone on to become and still are school principals. See her resume at her website: www.jeanettedixon.org for names and details. One of those principals is the principal of the school two of my grandchildren attend.

http://www.potomacalmanac.com/news/2016/oct/28/electing-members-board-education/#comments

Oct. 7th - CAPA Board of Education Candidates Forum

WJHS story picked up by USA Today: Are the lack of standardized shock absorption rates in artificial turf leaving teens at risk of head trauma? #artificialturf

For years, the assumption was that artificial turf surfaces were better in every way for athletes. They allowed for better footing in adverse weather like extreme rain or wintry mix. They provided more cushioning in a drought than hard pack natural surfaces. What wasn’t to love?
Now there may be an answer to that question: The lack of standardized shock absorption rates may in fact leave a number of artificial turf surfaces at high schools far more dangerous than their counterparts in professional and collegiate settings.
This excellent investigative piece from Forbes‘ Mike Ozanian found that the G-MAX testing numbers — the standardized measure to test shock attenuation performance of both natural and artificial surfaces, as Forbes puts it...

http://usatodayhss.com/2016/are-the-lack-of-standardized-shock-absorption-rates-in-artificial-turf-leaving-teens-at-risk-of-head-trauma

Do Not Fall on These Parts of WJHS Field #GMAX #Concussions #HandyPocketGuide

Handy Pocket Guide of Where Not to Fall on the Walter Johnson Artificial Turf Field. Download or Print & Save.

Yesterday, Forbes reported on the condition of the Walter Johnson High School artificial turf field.  Forbes released the G-Max Test and Field Inspection Report that showed that the WJHS artificial turf field is now dangerous to use.  A player falling on this field is no longer falling on a soft, bouncy surface.  A player on this field is now falling on a surface that is very hard and can cause severe injury or potentially even death.

But, we know that Montgomery County Public Schools will continue to use this field for another 14 years because the "plan" is that each artificial turf field must last for 20 years.  As that is the "plan," we have developed a handy pocket guide for student athletes using the WJHS artificial turf field. 

This handy pocket guide should be given to football, lacrosse and soccer players at WJHS and at all of the schools (public and private) that will play against WJHS on this field or use this field.  

We know the Board of Education can not be bothered to deal with student safety, they have a MABE Ocean City vacation coming up to pack for! So we are doing our part for MCPS student athletes.  Print out this handy pocket guide and tell your student athlete to enjoy their next game at WJHS, but to just not fall down on the parts of the field marked with a red X.  Those parts of the field are way beyond the recommended hardness of an artificial turf field.

Also, warn your student athletes to make sure the field never gets to the GMAX level of 200. (Two areas of the WJHS field are already in the 190's.)
According to the chart below, OSHA says a GMAX of 200 "Will Cause Death."

Have a great game!

The Carver Coalition Demands Answers on the Bus Depot and Gets

A big turnout at their meeting tonight. A lot of emotion.   A lot of politicals.

But did they get anything else?

Maybe, maybe not.

Kumar Barve spoke on behalf of the District's State Representatives.  The four reps, Delegate Barve, with Del. Gilchrist and Del. Platt, and presumably Senator Kagan, are writing the County Council to let them know that they are opposed to the plan to relocate the MCPS bus depot partially to Carver.  Barve, Glichrist, and Kagan were in attendance tonight.I say presumable to Kagan because she sent a letter to many homes last weekend saying that the matter was no longer "urgent,"  She then posted on her website (how many read her website?) that she made a mistake and was misinformed.  Lets hope that the District 17 reps don't make another mistake.  But do they have any say in the matter?

The County Council was also represented - by Councilmembers Sid Katz, Marc Elrich, and George Leventhal, who stated that they are opposed to the Carver site as a bus parking lot.  According to Leventhal, the numbers don't add up, and he doesn't see any urgency to relocate the buses.

Rockville Mayor Bridget Newton also stated that the City of Rockville is opposed to locating the bus depot at Carver.  She was accompanied by Councilmembers Julie Carr and Mark Pierzchala.  Mayor Newton also asked that the deciding powers NOT pit Rockville neighbors against each other.  Good for Mayor Newton.  Rockville residents successfully fought off relocating the site on Avery Road, and are now told that the remaining buses that don't fit on the Carver site will be relocated to the Lincoln Park neighborhood - on the other side of the Red Line Railroad tracks.

And then the Board of Education spoke up - Phil Kaufman, accompanied by Rebecca Smondrowski and Jill Orman-Fouse, also are apparently in opposition to the relocation of the bus depot to Carver.  But what will they do with 100 buses if the County Council orders them off the property - maybe not on January 1, but some other future date when they don't have a plan?

So - who gets the deciding vote?  Why hasn't anyone offered a resolution to stop this circus?  How will these elected officials really vote - we know the County Council unanimously voted a few days ago to give MCPS money for preliminary studies.  We also know that despite all the mandatory referrals and other procedural nice things said in public, when push comes to shove, MCPS ignores the City of Rockville (as folks from Wootton and RM Clusters well know). Why study if this is dead in the water?  Why vote for the funding if you think this is a bad idea?

Bigger question.  How did we get here?  Remember, a developer wants the current bus depot site, so MCPS has to relocate 450 buses to another location.  Why are we still giving public land to developers?  We know here in MoCo our kids are educated in "learning cottages" - and now our buses need to find a new home too, because some developer has decided that housing is the way to go.

The Saga of the Bus Parking Lot at Carver Educational Center continues

The folks fighting the partial relocation of the Shady Grove School Bus Lot to Carver Educational Center are meeting with MCPS this Wednesday, May 11, 2016, at College Gardens Elementary School.

Find out the real scoop on what is happening from those who are most impacted.  Who knows, maybe your neighborhood is next.

Video: Board of Education Candidates Forum - February 2016

Presented by the Montgomery County League of Women Voters

Watch video!

James Martin: "Need for Public Transportation to Tobytown...It's about time."

James Martin public comment to Montgomery County Council on April 6, 2016.



Tobytown is located off of River Road in Potomac, Maryland.

April 11, 2016 At-Large Board of Education Debate

Announcing:
2016 At-Large Board of Education Debates Sponsored by GOCA

April 11, 2016
6:30 PM
Buffington (re-max) Bldg
3300 Olney-Sandy Spring Rd
Community Center Room

Debate starts at 7 PM and concluding at 8 PM

The Greater Olney Civic Association will be hosting a 2016 Montgomery County Board of Education (BOE) debate, in an effort by GOCA to be a better advocate for the education of the children of the greater Olney area.

The At-Large Candidates are:
Jeanette Dixon, Mike Ibañez, Sebastian Johnson, Gwendolyn Love Kimbrough, and the incumbent Phil Kauffman.

Please send any feedback including potential topics you would like to see addressed via the www.GOCA.org/contact-us page.

Would you want a 100 bus school depot in your backyard?

These folks don't, and have asked that if you agree, please sign their petition.

No 100+ School Bus Depot In Our Neighborhood

PETITION: We, the undersigned citizens of Montgomery County, MD, hereby petition the Montgomery County (MC) Council (the Council) and the MC Board of Education (the Board) to stop the currently proposed plan to relocate approximately 100 school buses to the Carver Educational Services Center Parking lot (Carver) at 850 Hungerford Drive, Rockville, MD and to seek an alternative interim location for these buses as part of its solution to the impending relocation of the Crabbs Branch Way (aka Jeremiah Park) School Bus Depot.

DEMAND FOR ACTION: For the reasons cited below, we oppose the actions of the Council and the Board to relocate these buses to Carver. We demand that the Council and/or the Board authorize full and adequate studies to be performed by qualified outside individuals on the impacts to the community as was proposed in the memo to the Council by its own Council staff on February 6, 2015. . . 

We further demand that the Council and Board find an alternative solution and location that excludes the use of Carver and that the Council delay the Declaration of No Further Need (DNFN) that closes the existing Crabbs Branch depot until such time that an alternative location to Carver is found.

Read more here and sign the petition if you agree!

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/No-100-School-Bus-Depot-In-Our-Neighborhood 

Jury: Montgomery Co. failed to reasonably accommodate blind worker

Montgomery County violated federal law by failing to provide a blind woman computer software that would have allowed her to continue to work as an information specialist in a county call center, a jury ruled Friday.
When the county decided to consolidate the Department of Health and Human Services call center, where Yasmin Reyazuddin worked, into the county’s 311 call center, officials refused to integrate the screen access software Reyazuddin had been using, which allowed her to access computer programs that converted information on a computer screen into synthesized speech or Braille.
Instead, the county denied her a job in the 311 center and relegated her to a lower-level position where she lacked meaningful work, said Joe Espo, an attorney for Reyazuddin.
“The verdict demonstrates that simply saying, ‘We got new software, and it’s difficult to make it usable,’ is not an adequate response to individuals with disabilities in the workforce,” said Espo, a partner with Brown, Goldstein & Levy LLP in Baltimore. “Employers should think about accessibility when they’re purchasing software and when they’re configuring it for use.”
...
In Reyazuddin’s case, she was at first given no work assignments once she was relegated to the lower-level position, according to her complaint. She requested additional tasks but still was not given more than four hours of work in each eight-hour day, her lawsuit claimed.
“Giving someone a paycheck is not a reasonable accommodation,” Espo said. “It’s not just a paycheck – it’s the opportunity to do meaningful work and have the same advancement and promotional opportunities as others in similar positions do. It’s very hard to demonstrate competence and achievement and to present yourself for advancement if what you’re doing is a bunch of make-work and supervisors don’t want you around. It’s hard to excel at doing nothing.”

 http://thedailyrecord.com/2016/03/01/jury-montgomery-co-failed-to-reasonably-accommodate-to-blind-worker/

Adult Teams Say No to Artificial Turf

So - we ask again, what is so appealing about artificial turf?  Why, in times of budget shortfalls, does the Montgomery County Board of Education make the same mistake - installing artificial turf fields at Montgomery County High Schools - when adult teams say no?

Who says no to artificial turf?  Since December 1, 2015 - 

1.  United States  Womens National Soccer Team.  

From the article:

The United States women’s national soccer team took one look Saturday at the artificial turf field that was to be the playing surface for Sunday night’s friendly against Trinidad and Tobago and said, enough.. . . A year after they sued FIFA over artificial turf and five months after they won a Women’s World Cup title on it, the players drew a line in the Hawaiian sand.  ntinue reading the main story

They told reporters the field wasn’t good enough. They told U.S. Soccer officials they wouldn’t play on it. And U.S. Soccer, left with little choice, agreed. And that was that. No game.  

2.  Baltimore Ravens

From the article:

The Ravens are switching from artificial turf to natural grass at M&T Bank Stadium for the start of the 2016 season.
Team President Dick Cass announced the move Friday and the players and Head Coach John Harbaugh, who already knew the plans, are giving the move a big thumbs up.

“The players really wanted to play on grass and that was a key consideration. The coaches wanted to play on grass,” Cass said. 

3.  And its more than just the Ravens in the NFL!  According to the same article:

Division rivals Pittsburgh and Cleveland both have grass, as well as the two closest NFL teams to Baltimore, Washington and Philadelphia. Overall, 17 of the NFL’s 32 teams play their home games on grass, except for Green Bay’s hybrid field. 

What is up with MCPS and the MoCo Board of Education?  Money is tight, and even the adults who play on the fields prefer natural grass to recycled tires - oops, we mean artificial turf. 

Photo courtesy of Hope Solo, Goalkeeper for the US Womens National Soccer Team. 

Joshua Starr Certified that MCPS Remediated for Positive Radon Test Results #fib

It is now 2015, and we know that when MCPS found high radon levels in classrooms back around 2013 they did nothing.

What was the point of doing any remediation for high radon levels when the Green Schools application had already been submitted and MCPS won for two schools?

It's all about the application, the awards, and the happy press releases.

It's not about the safety of the students and teachers.

Read the complete MCPS Green Ribbon Schools application at the link below.  What else in this application did MCPS fib about?

2013 US Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools Application

Breaking: BOE Attorney says Public School Classes are Free!

At today's Board of Education Policy Committee meeting, the Board of Education completely forgot that their own attorney has told them that any courses offered during the school year, for credit are available to all for FREE under the Maryland Constitution.

Ooops.

Instead, the BOE - Philip Kaufman, Rebecca Smondrowski, Patricia O'Neill and Eric Guerci - ignored the advice of their own attorney and told MCPS staff to continue charging students for classes given during the school year for credit.  

The BOE members listed above did not even make any changes to Policy JNA, even though their OWN WEBSITE SAYS THAT SCIENCE LAB FEES MAY NOT BE CHARGED.

Policy JNA

MCPS website

The MCPS website says that science lab fees may not be charged, but the Board of Education's Policy JNA says that lab fees may be charged. 

Confused? The Board of Education doesn't care. They will rip you off every chance they get. 

Tough luck parents and guardians. The rest of Maryland public schools offer free public school, but not here in Montgomery County.    

   BreslerLetter by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland

How California's Largest School District Blamed an 8th Grader for Her Rape #mocoboe #mcps #larrybowers #joshuapstarr #jerrydweast #sexualabusestudents

"...that is to say, an institution with more than 655,000 students kept fighting to probe the sexual history of an eighth grader molested while in its care..."

When “M.S.” was 13, her math teacher at Edison middle school in Los Angeles invited her to be friends online. Soon, according to a California appeals court, the same teacher started sending her sexually explicit messages. That winter, he called the 8th grader into a classroom and told her to shut the door. The teacher, Elkis Hermida, kissed and hugged the student. In March, he drove M.S. (as she’s referred to in court records, to protect her privacy), then 14, to a motel, where, according to the court, “they had sexual intercourse.” On a second occasion, “they … had sexual intercourse” in Hermida’s classroom.
“The next time they had sexual intercourse was on a Saturday at a motel,” the court records say. “Hermida told her that they were not in a relationship but were just having sex.” At that point, M.S. “wanted to stop having sexual intercourse with Hermida, but did not feel that she was free to do so.” At their next encounter, the teacher wanted anal sex. M.S. objected. “Hermida inserted something into her anus anyway,” the court said.

That May, a friend of M.S. alerted another teacher to the relationship. That teacher reported Hermida, who was quickly arrested, charged, and sent to prison for three years. M.S.’s family sued the Los Angeles Unified School District [LAUSD] for negligence.
This is the story of the LAUSD’s depraved defense...[in the civil trial]

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/10/lausd-ms-wyatt-elkis-hermida/410077/

BOE Expenses Soar to $204,165 for FY 2015 #expenseaccounts #creditcards

On July 22, 2015, Board of Education staff put together a summary of Board of Education expenses for Fiscal Year 2015 for the BOE Fiscal Management Committee.  BOE staff could not even be bothered to put the document together in a readable format, so we did.  Below is the document in SCRIBD with the pages turned so they can be read easily.

BOE staff also did not provide any totals. All of the expense categories are on separate pages.  Again, we put together one spreadsheet showing the expense account totals for each category and for each BOE member.  What was so hard about doing that, or did BOE staff really not want to make it easy for the public to see that BOE spending had gone up in FY 2015?  Eliminating credit card spending by Board of Education members for FY 2015 did not put the BOE under budget.  The FY 2015 expenses for the Board of Education are still over what was budgeted for the year.

   2015 FY 2015 BOE Expenses by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland

   2015 June 30 MCPS Expenditure Standards by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland

BOE to Leave Children in Danger of Being Sexually Abused, BOE to Accept Illegal Policy

Open Letter from Jennifer Alvaro to Montgomery County Board of Education in advance of their Monday, June 29, 2015, vote on Policy JHC Child Abuse and Neglect.

------------------------------ 

June 21, 2015 

To:  Montgomery County Board of Education

In 2012, you were instructed by the state board of education to correct errors and flaws committed by MCPS which allowed and enabled a member of your staff to continue sexually abusing students for years. You chose to do nothing. Since 2012, the public has been made aware of well over a dozen cases where MCPS staff have been arrested & convicted (for sexual abuse) or publicly identified as being as inappropriate sexually to our children.

Please share your rational for ignoring the state board of education and their recommendations.

Please tell me other situations where constituents are ignored and dismissed without being spoken to directly after 3 years of outreach.

Please tell the public what other workgroup(s) MCPS has convened (which have been downgraded to advisory group) whose own group members have to file freedom of information requests to get public documents that relate to the issue they are working on. Information I am still waiting for, I might add.

Please share with the public what other policies & regulations MCPS are currently implementing or planning to implement with full knowledge they violate / conflict with current laws, statutes and AG opinions.

Please share with the public how it is possible to pass a policy based upon other critical documents that have not yet been written much less approved.

Please explain how the schools are going to train 23,000 employees and countless volunteers about sexual abuse without being able to show them (via the code of conduct) what grooming behaviors are.

Please share with us, why county leadership is willing to pass a policy when MCPS staff who are the lead members of the advisory group have stated in meetings, “it’s not perfect” and “we’ve done a lot but still need to do more”.

Please share with us how we as parents are to find it reassuring or acceptable you as a board are going to leave our children in danger of being sexually abused by your staff by you passing a flawed policy because, “we are going to review it every year”. Please show us hard data where this has worked for you in the past.

Please explain how it is acceptable to attempt to publicly blame & shame parents by making public comments saying they have demanded action but now are demanding you slow down. These parents (myself included) are simply asking you to postpone one vote and demand accountability and excellence from your staff so our children are safe. We are not asking you to slow down anything, had you demanded excellence from your staff, we would now be supporting approval of the policy.

Please explain how it is acceptable for the leaders of a world class school system to have abdicated their most basic duty to ensure safety and demand excellence.

Please explain how it is acceptable to knowingly do the wrong thing because you have delayed doing the right thing for so long.

Please reflect upon the following:

“To study psychological trauma is to come face to face both with human vulnerability in the natural world and with the capacity for evil in human nature. . . Those who bear witness are caught in the conflict between victim and perpetrator. It is morally impossible to remain neutral in this conflict. The bystander is forced to take sides. It is very tempting to take the side of the perpetrator. All the perpetrator asks is that the bystander do nothing. He appeals to the universal desire to see, hear, and speak no evil. The victim, on the contrary, asks the bystander to share the burden of pain. The victim demands action, engagement, and remembering”. Judith Herman

Jennifer Alvaro
MCPS Child Abuse Advisory Group Member 
Parent of 2 MCPS Students 
Alumni of MCPS Schools 
Licensed Clinical Social worker (MD &VA) 
Certified Sex Offender Treatment Provider

Breaking News: MCPS May Shut Down "Infamous" Secret Database of Staff Suspected of Sexually Abusing Students. Kauffman calls it the "infamous" database, Smondrowski laughs.

MCPS Elem. Music Teacher Mug Shot

On Monday, June 15, 2015, the Montgomery County Board of Education's Policy Committee met and discussed changes to the extremely outdated BOE Child Abuse Policy.  BOE Committee meetings are now videotaped, yet there has been no press coverage of this important discussion.

Below is the video of the June 15th BOE Policy Committee meeting. At minute 17:50 you can hear BOE member Phil Kauffman talk about the "infamous" secret MCPS database of staff suspected of sexually abusing students.

Phil Kauffman:  "...In the past, I think that's where we were collecting this database, I guess, called the infamous database, um [ BOE member Rebecca Smondrowski laughs out loud] where I would say that these were innocent things being collected in a database and, but, maybe if you have 20 innocent incidents this looks like this isn't so innocent anymore.  It looks like we are not planning to keep this database anymore..."

MCPS staff, Josh Civin:  "We took out of the Protocols references to an Inappropriate Interactions Database while we are looking into that, with some concerns on that..."

Mr. Kauffman seems to think that the Infamous Database was used for innocent incidents. Maybe Mr. Kauffman should talk to some of MCPS elementary school teacher Lawrence Joynes' 15+ victims (here, here, here, and here)  and see if he still considers those incidents "innocent."

As to Rebecca Smondrowski's outburst of laughter during this discussion, in what society is harboring sex offenders in public schools for decades anything to laugh about, ever? 

Advisory Group Member Tells BOE to Reject Policy as Written. Tells BOE to Reflect Upon the Words of Augustine of Hippo, "Right is right even if no one is doing it; wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it.”

Comments on proposed policy and protocols regarding child abuse and neglect.

6/7/15 Submitted to Montgomery County Board of Education

By: Jennifer Alvaro

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration in this matter. For 3 years I have been engaged with Montgomery County schools and officials to improve their prevention and response to child sexual abuse of its students. As a member of the original MCPS Child Abuse Work group (formed due to my advocacy in April of 2014); and as a member of the current Child Abuse Advisory group I would urge you NOT to implement the current policy as submitted to you by the schools.

The current version of the draft policy appears superficially to be a comprehensive response to the astounding trail of abuse committed over years by dozens of school system employees and contractors against our children. In reality the policy and regulations are so riddled by errors, loopholes and conflicting information they would be a step backwards instead of forward.

I will not waste time here enumerating the legal flaws in the policy or regulations, I would instead refer you to the excellent submission by Ellen Mugmon for that information.

Now is not the time to mince words or spare feelings. Mincing words, sparing feelings and ignoring reality have landed MCPS in the national spotlight for failing in every sense of the word to do what is right to protect our children from those who have roamed freely in our schools and have been allowed to harm them, their friends, their families, other staff and their communities.

This policy and these procedures, even if corrected regarding the legal aspects, will still only be words on paper unless you demand other action be taken as well. This plan is doomed to failure unless there is an infrastructure to implement, maintain and continue its mission. Parceling aspects of the work out among various departments and people (who have no expertise in this field) is planning for failure. This plan is doomed to failure as long as the system continues to operate in secrecy, not only from the public but from its own advisory group members as well. This plan in doomed unless other correlating documents / policies / departments / regulations are brought into line and into compliance with these policies. For example, how long will the board continue to allow MCPS to tell staff and students (regarding sexual harassment):

"Prohibited conduct may include, but is not limited to, unwelcome behavior of a sexual nature. For example: Grabbing, touching, or patting / Sexual propositions / Sexually offensive pictures, magazines, notes, calendars, cartoons, or jokes / Unwanted flirtations or advances / Verbal abuse / Repeated pressure or requests for sexual activities / Rewards for granting sexual favors or the withholding of rewards for refusing to grant sexual favors /Graphic comments about an individual’s body or dress / Sexually degrading names / Such conduct may also constitute sexual harassment. In determining whether prohibited conduct constitutes sexual harassment, consideration will be given to the totality of the circumstances, including the context in which the conduct occurred. Dating or sexual relationships between employees/adult volunteers and students is prohibited.”
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/info/sexualharassment/

Shockingly, students and staff are advised to report the aforementioned behaviors NOT to police or Child Protective Services but rather to school staff and parents. This breach of duty has been brought repeatedly to the attention of your staff over the past year and yet, to this day, remains unedited on your website. When will an employee code of conduct be published? Codes of conduct for staff and volunteers are a critical piece of any response to addressing child abuse & neglect. Why is participation in the drafting of the code being hidden from Advisory group members and limited to
“internal stakeholders” / “superintendent’s cabinet”?

These are some of many examples which could be provided to highlight the egregious nature of what is acceptable, condoned and allowed to continue under the guise of protecting our children.

I ask you to demand a full, impartial investigation be conducted (with a public report and accounting) regarding the systemic failure of the schools to protect our children and staff from these abuses over the past decades.

I ask you to reject this policy as currently written and if and when corrected, continue to reject it without reviewing and approving the procedures, regulations, MOUs and other corresponding components (specifically the secret database of suspicious and inappropriate employees and those on restricted plans / instructions) related to this critical work. I ask you to commit to the protection of our children and staff. I ask you to reflect upon the words of Augustine of Hippo, "Right is right even if no one is doing it; wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it.”

Sincerely,

Jennifer Alvaro
MCPS Child Abuse Advisory Group Member 
Parent of 2 MCPS Students 
Alumni of MCPS Schools 
Licensed Clinical Social worker (MD &VA) 
Certified Sex Offender Treatment Provider

Comments on Proposed Policy and Protocols Regarding Child Abuse and Neglect by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland