County school board appoints eight to new MCPS leadership posts

The Montgomery County school board unanimously approved appointments of eight high-level administrators Tuesday, reassigning some staff and adding new hires under a restructuring of Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) leadership.  

MCPS Superintendent Thomas Taylor is reorganizing the district’s central office at the leadership and general staffing levels. Taylor said Thursday the restructuring of the central office, which includes cutting about 81 positions, would provide more support to schools through the reassignment of some staff members.  

MCPS began making changes to its leadership structure in November, after it announced eight chief-level positions. The posts include the chiefs of school leadership, talent management, student support, equity and development, technology, academics, and operations. The district also listed the post of general counsel, or the head of the district’s in-house legal team, as an open position. All positions were filled by Tuesday’s appointments and report to Taylor...

  County school board appoints eight to new MCPS leadership posts   - Bethesda Magazine

Breaking: @mcps Former Asst. Dir. of Transportation Charles Ewald Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison for Theft & Abuse of Position. Bought Vaca Condo w/ MCPS $$$$.

Count 1 (Theft):  15 years incarceration with all but 5 years suspended.

Count 2 (Abuse of Position) 5 years of incarceration.

Notes from today's sentencing: 

MCPS former Assistant Director of Transportation Charles Ewald was sentenced today to spend the next 5 years in prison for his theft of MCPS funds and for his abuse of his position in MCPS. 

At today's sentencing the public learned that along with all of the other things that had been reported as to how Mr. Ewald used the funds he stole from MCPS he used the funds to purchase a vacation condo in North Carolina along with luxury vehicles.

As of today, Mr. Ewald has written a check to MCPS for $250,000 in restitution for some of the funds that were stolen.  

The scheme went on for 5 years until a MCPS audit discovered credit card abuse and then the embezzlement.  

The prosecutor said that Mr. Ewald received 35 checks over the years from the school bus vendor in the embezzlement scheme. 

The prosecutor said that Mr. Ewald's SUPERVISOR (that would have been Todd Watkins) established the slush fund and Mr. Ewald took over the slush fund.  Mr. Ewald didn't just use the slush fund to line his pockets, he used it to circumvent the rules. 

The abuse of the MCPS credit cards was a whole separate scheme.  Mr. Ewald had 110 transactions over the $500 per purchase limit.  

Mr. Ewald charged $313,000 on the MCPS credit card which was nearly half of all the department charges.  

MCPS General Counsel Stephanie Williams was in the courtroom. (Note:  MCPS staff never show up for child abuse cases.)

The Judge made a statement and said that the actions of Mr. Ewald were an enormous breach of trust and impact the way people look at MCPS and our government.  His actions lead to cynical talk about government and hurt our community. 

Does MCPS General Counsel Review Resolutions Sent to the Board of Education? A Glaring Error in a Resolve for 4/20/23 Board of Education vote.

 To:  MCPS General Counsel Stephanie Williams

Re:  Board of Education Agenda Item 11.11 on April 20, 2023

On the Board of Education's April 20^th Agenda Item 11.11 Delegation of Authority to Execute Permanent Easements, Utility Easements, Rights-of-Way, Rights-of-Entry, Memoranda of Understanding for Land-Related Issues, and Land-Related Agreements of a Routine Nature contains a glaring error. 

In the whereas paragraph listing Board of Education authority and control. The paragraph states:

WHEREAS, The Board of Education has authority and control over the granting of ...not including telecommunication-related items, 

But the Board of Education does have authority and control over matters relating to telecommunications items on Board of Education land.  

It appears that the 11.11 Memorandum was never reviewed by the MCPS General Counsel's office.  The reference initials at the end of the Memorandum do not show review by anyone from the General Counsel's office.   

The Resolve of this Memorandum is exactly the same as was proposed in August of 2022.  The August 2022 Resolution was removed from the Agenda without discussion.  Changes have been made to the Memorandum and the Whereas paragraphs, but not to the actual Resolve that the Board of Education will be voting on.  

The actual Resolve allows the delegation of controversial, fee simple land issues to MCPS staff.  In the 2014 Resolution that was passed by the Board of Education, land issues that were controversial or involved fee simple land transactions were not permitted to be delegated to the superintendent or staff.  Agenda item 11.11 would rescind that prior Resolution. 

To make the glaring mistake clear, here is the whereas paragraph written as a list delineated by each of the commas in the paragraph.

WHEREAS, The Board of Education has authority and control over the granting of 

permanent easements, 

utility easements, 

rights-of-way, 

rights-of-entry, 

memoranda of understanding for land-related, 

not including telecommunication-related items, 

issues, 

and other land-related agreements that encumber or impair Board of Education-owned property; and  

We request that Board of Education Agenda Item 11.11 be removed from the Agenda pending review by the MCPS General Counsel office. 

Thank you for your prompt attention to this urgent matter. 

Janis Zink Sartucci

Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, MD