“This is a management issue. It’s not a fiscal issue. Rather than be accountable, this idea of using hyperbolic hypothetical scenarios to obfuscate responsibility is not helpful to the public,” Friedson said during a virtual press briefing Monday when asked about whether the school board had been transparent about spending reductions that Montgomery County Public Schools would need to make to close a $30 million budget gap in its fiscal year 2025 budget.
Today we see an example of a consequence of the Board of Education delegating their authority.
According to a Tweet from the Albert Einstein High School football team, Seth Adams has made a decision to place classroom trailers on the Einstein High School tennis courts.
If true, obviously that decision wipes out the tennis team or any tennis instruction.
That's of no concern to Seth Adams. He's not an elected official and he's not accountable to anyone. His $172,885 salary is set.
The Board of Education can claim they don't know anything about this decision and ignore complaints from students.
Day 1: Hey @MCPS why are you taking away facilities from our school and community for more portables? Putting portables on tennis courts? Please provide and explanation and cite your evidence as to how this is equitable to our students
— AEHS Football (@AEHSfootball) May 17, 2023
Under the request from Superintendent Monifa McKnight, “the superintendent of schools or his/her designee” will approve and 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 with governmental entities and adjoining land owners, to provide greater administrative efficiency.”
If this consent agenda item is approved, the facilities management staff will decide issues surrounding school land and placement of cell towers and bus depots, according to the Parents’ Coalition of Montgomery County, which was formed in 2002 for “greater transparency and accountability,” according to its self-described principles...
The Montgomery County Board of Education is voting this Tuesday on a resolution that will hide controversial approvals like school cell towers and massive bus depots by delegating land use decision-making to a civil servant.
This action will remove the public scrutiny of the Board of Education having to vote on this issue.
If this resolution is approved on Tuesday, land use decisions, such as whether to install cell towers on MCPS property, will be made behind closed doors without public notice, public input, or a public vote of the Board of Education.
TAKE ACTION NOW
Send a Letter Now! CLICK HERE to tell the Board of Education to move the Delegation of Authority resolution out of the consent agenda. This item should have 30 days for public input and be left to the incoming Board. Send a Letter Now.
Contact the Board of Education TODAY
BOE Telephone: 240-740-3030
BOE Fax: 301-279-3860
Email Yourself: Brenda_Wolff@mcpsmd.org, Karla_Silvestre@mcpsmd.org, Shebra_L_Evans@mcpsmd.org, Rebecca_K_Smondrowski@mcpsmd.
On Tuesday, August 23, 2022, the Montgomery County Board of Education is going to hand over the power to make major, controversial land use decisions to the Superintendent who can then hand over that power to the MCPS Director of Facilities, Seth Adams.
Under the Board of Education's current policy these same school land use decisions can only be delegated to the Superintendent and only for non-controversial matters.
But on Tuesday, that will all change with the Board vote. Not only will the Superintendent be given the power to delegate these important land use decisions to a mere staff member, but the land use decisions subject to delegation will include controversial matters.
Over 130 MCPS school buses will be parked at the following high schools: Magruder, Wootton, Richard Montgomery, Rockville, Gaithersburg and Watkins Mill.
That works out to about 22 school buses parked at each high school.
In order to move the 400 school buses to these various locations, land use documents will be needed. Memorandums of Understanding, permits, easements etc...
After Tuesday, August 23, 2022, if the Board of Education approves the Resolution to Delegate their land use authority to the MCPS Director of Facilities, Seth Adams, all of those controversial land use decisions will be made without public notice and without a public vote of the Board of Education.
It won't matter who you vote for in November, Board of Education members will have already given away their power to decide controversial school land use matters.
