@mocoboe Goes Into Closed Session After Evening Meeting without Agenda or Notice. [Open Meetings Act violation]

Apparently the Montgomery County Board of Education has given up completely on following any procedures or laws.   

Why bother with the Open Meetings Act? They got their $3.3 Billion to play with, maybe they are planning their next holiday party? 

After a long day with a 7 hour Closed Session during the day, followed by an Open Meeting that was shut down twice by protesters on two different issues, the Board of Education ended their public meeting by going into a surprise, unannounced Closed Session without any agenda.

The Maryland Open Meetings Act requires that a board hold an open session to vote on going into a closed session. At the open session, the closed session agenda is to be announced and voted on.  A closed session is a choice, it's not required and the public has the right to know what a board is going to discuss in a closed session before the closed session begins.   

But who cares? Watch as the Montgomery County Board of Education ignores the Maryland Open Meetings Act.   

https://www.youtube.com/live/YpLWWMCEZ6U?feature=shared&t=18701

@mocoboe Holds Marathon 7 Hour Closed Session Meeting [Open/Transparent]

Today, the Montgomery County Board of Education went into a 7 hour Closed Session.  

The Board of Education was behind closed doors from 9 AM until 4 PM. 

The posted Agenda is pretty short considering the amount of time the Board of Education spent behind closed doors.  Although the 7 hour meeting probably included a catered breakfast and lunch. 

Open and transparent?  Probably not today.  

https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/D5JQMA69E8DB/$file/240523 Resolution for Todays Closed Session Revised.pdf

1/31/2024 5:30 PM *** Now: @mocoboe going into ANOTHER Closed Session to discuss personnel matters AGAIN.

 https://calendar.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/240131 Resolution for Todays Closed Session.pdf

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.

Thurs. 9/22: @MoCoCouncilMD CLOSED Session to Discuss Appointee, Employee, or Official over whom it has jurisdiction

 

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/COUNCIL/Resources/Files/agenda/col/2022/20220922/20220922_AG.pdf

TODAY 2/1/22: You Can Object to the Board of Education Hiding in a Closed Session to Discuss Snow Days and/or New Superintendent Hire

Today at noon the Montgomery County Board of Education is going in to a Closed Session. 

What will they be discussing? They don't want you to know, but the public can guess.  Maybe they will be discussing virtual snow days? Maybe they will be voting to pick the next superintendent? 

Do you want the Board of Education to discuss these topics in secret or do you want Board members to have a public discussion about these topics? 

The Board of Education doesn't want you to know what they are discussing so they are claiming an exception to the Maryland Open Meetings Act allows them to hold this closed meeting to exclude the public.

  Section 3-103(a)

a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section and § 3-104 of this subtitle, this title does not apply to:

(1) a public body when it is carrying out:

(i) an administrative function;

(ii) a judicial function; or

(iii) a quasi-judicial function; or

(2) a chance encounter, a social gathering, or any other occasion that is not intended to circumvent this title.

Under the Maryland Open Meetings Act a member of the public may object to the Closing of a Board of Education meeting. 

From the Maryland Open Meetings Act manual (page 78): 

 If a member of the public objects to the closing of a session, the public body must send a copy of the closing statement to the [Open Meetings Act] Compliance Board. See § 3-305(d)(3).

Even for a virtual meeting, the Board of Education must meet in public first and allow the public the option of objecting to the closing of the meeting.  15 OMCB 5,8 

If you object to the closing to today's Board of Education meeting notify the Board through the chat function of the virtual meeting or any other method available. The Board of Education will then have to comply with the law and send a copy of their Closing Statement from today's meeting to the Maryland Open Meetings Compliance Board.  

The Parents' Coalition suggests the following options for objections to today's closed session of the Board of Education:  virtual chat, e-mail [ boe@mcpsmd.org ] , Twitter, phone 240-740-3030, or FAX  301-279-3860

Montgomery Co. Board of Education to Discuss Virtual Learning on Snow Dates in CLOSED Session while Anne Arundel Co. Discusses in OPEN Session.

Montgomery County Board of Education Closed Session for February 1, 2022 to discuss Virtual Learning on Snow Days.

 https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/CB4SXK74A6A6/$file/220201%20Resolution%20for%20Todays%20Closed%20Session.pdf

Meanwhile in Anne Arundel County their Board of Education will be discussing the same topic in an Open Session with an opportunity for Public Comment.

https://www.aacps.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=24362&dataid=91434&FileName=Agenda%2002-02-22.pdf

PRESS RELEASE from Anne Arundel County Board of Education: 

Anne Arundel County Public School: Board To Receive Presentation On AACPS' Virtual Learning Plan For Inclement Weather Days

Interim Superintendent Monifa McKnight Hires Former Student Member of the Board of Education as her "Special Assistant," Includes him in Closed Door BOE Meetings

 

https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/C4VKAD49B861/$file/210715%20Report%20of%20Previous%20Closed%20Session.pdf

Montgomery County Board of Education Closed Session Minutes show former Student Member of the Board of Education Eric Guerci has been hired by Interim Superintendent Monifa McKnight.  

BOE Held Closed Session to Discuss "assignment and employment of individual employee" and More Ongoing Collective Bargaining

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/boe/meetings/agenda/2017/170201%20Resolution%20for%20Closed%20Session-rev.pdf

BOE meets in closed session Tues. at 10:35am to deliberate & get legal advice on future of school superintendent

Montgomery Cty (Md) school board meets in closed session tmrw at 10:35am to deliberate & get legal advice on future of school superintendent
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) February 2, 2015

BOE Holding Special 3 Hour Closed Session to Hire/Fire/Promote/Demote

The Montgomery County Board of Education will be meeting on Friday, January 23, 2015, for three hours to discuss someone's employment contract. 

Who will the Board of Eduction be discussing for three hours and why is it a secret meeting?

Remember a Closed Meeting is a choice! The Board of Education is not required by law to hold Closed Meetings. Maryland law allows boards to hold a Closed Meeting if the members of the board vote to hold such a session.  If the Montgomery County Board of Education wanted to hold this discussion in an Open Meeting, they could.

The Board of Education will have to meet in an Open session first on Friday and vote to go into a Closed session. Will the vote to go into a Closed session be unanimous? 

   Montgomery County Board of Education Closed Session Resolution January 2015 by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland

Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett and others have questioned why the school system’s operating budget has not been posted to the site

Montgomery school officials mulling county budget website use

Complaint Opens Meetings, Forces Release of Memo

The Washington Post Editorial

The Maryland Open Meetings Act Compliance Board has released their opinion concerning the secret meetings of Board President Phil Kauffman's credit card committee.

The original complaint was filed on May 31, 2014, by a member of the Parents' Coalition. The filing of the Complaint brought to light the creation of a backroom committee to discuss the Board of Education's (BOE) use of credit cards. When the complaint was filed the committee had already been formed and had met without any public notice.

On June 8, 2014, The Washington Post published a lengthy Editorial suggesting that the BOE had something to hide.

After the Complaint was filed, BOE President Kauffman changed his mind and made subsequent meetings of the credit card committee open to the public. As part of the filings that followed the initial Complaint, the BOE finally released the memorandum that had created the backroom credit card committee. The memorandum was made public on July 16th, almost two months after the committee had been created.

The filing of the Open Meetings Act complaint on May 31st was the catalyst for the opening of future meetings of this committee and forced the BOE to release the memorandum that originally created the committee.

The Open Meetings Act Compliance Board has determined that BOE President Kauffman's creation of a backroom, closed door committee did not actually violate current Maryland Open Meetings Act law. However, the process of permitting the public to question actions of boards by the filing of a complaint regarding the Maryland Open Meetings Act served to push the BOE to open meetings that otherwise would have been closed.

Through the complaint procedure, a member of the public was allowed to question a secret, closed door meeting and bring attention to the backroom dealings of a Board of Education. Shining a light on this backroom committee forced its existence into the sunlight and allowed the public and the press to attend and observe subsequent meetings.

  2014 August Open Meetings Act Opinion by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland

BOE to Hide for 3 1/2 Hours Today in Closed Meeting

This mornings Board of Education Closed Session is 2 1/2 hours long!

What in the world is the Board of Education discussing this morning for 2 1/2 hours?  The Agenda for this mornings Closed Session lists a few topics, but nothing that would necessitate over 2 hours of discussion.

The Closed Session will continue with another hour of closed discussion at lunch time. That's a total of 3 1/2 hours of Closed Session today.

The Board has Open Meetings that barely last that long.

Note that the final item on the Board's Closed Session Agenda concerns the recent decision of the Maryland Open Meetings Act Compliance Board.  We assume this will be a discussion of the Opinion of the Compliance Board. Why is that public Opinion a topic for a secret meeting? Guess they have something to hide.

Oh, and by the way, the Closed Session goes until 11:30 PM.  So for all you members of the press and public who believed the Board's Agenda when it said today's meeting would start at 11:00 AM, you might want to adjust your schedules. The Montgomery County Board of Education would rather meet in private without you in the room.

  2014 August 21 Closed Sessions