FACT CHECK: @mocoboe spouse says, KID Museum has "shown significant results year over year." But MCPS hasn't evaluated results, they've only counted number of students.

Board of Education member Scott Joftus' spouse KID Museum founder and executive director Cara Lesser says that KID Museum "partnership has been evaluated every year both by MCPS Office of Shared Accountability and by external evaluators and we've been showing significant results year over year." 

The Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, MD filed a Maryland Public Information Act request for: 

• MCPS Office of Shared Accountability evaluations of MOCO KIDSCO dba KID Museum since 2015

We received just two documents from MCPS in response to this request. Both documents are shown below. 

The documents from MCPS show only two years of data on the numbers of students that attended KID Museum.  The 2022 data brief was only tasked with reporting numbers of students, nothing else. There has been no actual verification of performance by MCPS. 

The 2021 data brief was tasked with reporting numbers of students and number of classrooms implementing the KID Museum curriculum and nothing else.  

For reference, MCPS has about 33,000 students in Grades 2, 3 and 4.  The 2022 data brief from MCPS shows that KID Museum served just 1,079 Grade 2-4 students in one of their programs, and 2,942 students in a summer program.

MCPS middle schools have an enrollment of about 36,000 students.  The 2022 data brief from MCPS shows that KID Museum served just 1,450 middle school students.  

In Fiscal Year 2022, the Board of Education paid KID Museum $1,707,632 and served just 5,471 students out of 69,000 students in the targeted grades.

Kid Museum Data Brief _21-2... by Parents' Coalition of Montg...

KID Museum Data Brief _v.15... by Parents' Coalition of Montg...

UPDATED: Montgomery College Enrollment Continues Dropping as MCPS Enrollment Increases

UPDATED: Montgomery College Enrollment Continues Dropping as MCPS Enrollment Increases: Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland

Iowa must permit school districts to require masks in some cases, federal court rules

Iowa school districts must consider medically sensitive students' requests to require mask wearing of those around them, notwithstanding a state law that banned school mask mandates, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

The decision by Judge Robert Pratt comes in a suit filed by several families challenging Iowa's pandemic-era law, which Gov. Kim Reynolds signed in May 2021, banning school districts and local governments from mandating mask wearing. The plaintiffs are parents of children with chronic health conditions or disabilities rendering them particularly at risk for complications from the coronavirus. They sued, arguing that the state was violating federal disability rights law by denying reasonable accommodations for their children... 

Iowa school mask mandate ban must yield to ADA, federal judge rules (desmoinesregister.com)

Supreme Court Allows TSA To Issue Mask Mandates

Nov. 1, 2022
On Monday the Supreme Court left in place a ruling that allows the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to issue mask mandates on planes, trains and other forms of transport, as it had for more than a year during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic...

Supreme Court Allows TSA To Issue Mask Mandates (forbes.com)

BCC High School Social Media Threat

 On Nov 1, 2022, at 1:55 PM:

For parents who don’t receive the connectEd messages: 

The B-CC administration is aware of a social media threat against our school. MCPS Safety and Security and MCPD are currently investigating.  There has been no disruption to the instructions program. An additional update will follow as we learn more.

In Montgomery Co., bus driver shortages anger parents, strand students

In Montgomery County, a bus driver shortage has led to some schools having to excuse students from classes when their buses do not show up in the morning. At others, parent volunteers are solicited to drive groups of bus riders to school in their personal cars...

...Gizework Atraga got an email early Friday morning that the bus that takes her child to Montgomery Knolls Elementary School in Silver Spring wouldn’t be coming. Miscommunication later with a staff member led her to believe the bus would come at some point. But that information was wrong, and she found out from the principal that the bus wouldn’t be there...

...It wasn’t the first time it happened this school year. Even on the first day of classes, the bus didn’t show...

In Montgomery Co., bus driver shortages anger parents, strand students - The Washington Post

Julie Yang Opinion: We need more than business as usual to mitigate staff shortages

MCPS should consider innovative and time-tested efforts to attract and maintain a qualified workforce

It will take more than business as usual to solve the staffing shortage crisis facing our public schools, including in Montgomery County. As a long-time educator, I know firsthand the physical, emotional and mental demands needed to ensure students have every opportunity to succeed. The invisible work carried out by staff inside and outside of the classroom, such as overseeing student clubs or serving as a trusted adult, often goes unnoticed or unappreciated. Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) has operated too long on the same hiring processes and mechanisms to maintain school staffing. I believe we can do better with the staffing situation. What we need is to apply innovative strategies to achieve quality staffing for future years to come...

Opinion: We need more than business as usual to mitigate staff shortages | Bethesda Magazine & Bethesda Beat

Maryland Audit: Transportation Employees Used 'Off the Books' Account

Maryland state audit report indicates that transportation management personnel in Montgomery County Public Schools may have used an “off the books” account to spend about $649,000 on goods and services “purportedly on behalf of MCPS from October 2017 to November 2021.”

An ‘Off the Books’ Account

Last November, as School Bus Fleet reported, MCPS put then-Transportation Director Todd Watkins and his assistant director, Charles Ewald, on administrative leave pending an investigation into those purchases.

“One of the employees was subsequently terminated in February 2022 and the other employee resigned in March 2022,” the report stated.

The account, maintained by a transportation vendor “outside the control of MCPS’ Office of Finance,” apparently was funded with about $1.2 million due to the school district for liquidated damages because the vendor hadn’t delivered goods on time “and credits for certain items included in the original bus procurement contract and paid for that were subsequently cancelled.”

After an internal audit and the account’s discovery, the district reported the situation to the Montgomery County Police Department and hired an accounting and advisory firm to conduct an independent forensic investigation.

The firm reviewed about $572,000 in spending by transportation department employees “that were considered questionable or required additional review,” the report stated.

Some reported purchases included gift cards and furniture shipped to the management employee’s home, according to the district’s Internal Audit Unit.

The audit report indicates that the MCPD and State Attorney’s Office were investigating the issues.

“The two individuals associated with this matter no longer work for MCPS, but police may still apply charges as part of their investigation,” said Christopher Cram, director of the school district’s communications office. “Because there is still an investigation and work to be done, we cannot comment further at this time.”

The report also delved into irregularities with the procurement of a school bus safety camera system. Wrote legislative auditor Gregory Hook:

“Our audit also disclosed that MCPS did not competitively procure or establish a fixed cost to be paid on a contract to use a vendor’s school bus safety camera system to assess violations against drivers that illegally pass a stopped school bus. In addition, the contract lacked sufficient details to enable effective monitoring of the amounts invoiced and paid to the vendor, which totaled $21.9 million as of June 30, 2021.”

Brawls erupt between Whitman, B-CC students after rivalry football game despite new security measures

By Grace O’Halloran

OCTOBER 22, 2022

A B-CC student allegedly “jumped” a Whitman senior in downtown Bethesda after last night’s football game between the rival schools, sparking a series of brawls that involved at least eight students and a Montgomery County Police officer.

At approximately 7:49 p.m., a B-CC senior struck a Whitman senior from behind on a sidewalk outside the Chipotle on Old Georgetown Road, according to the Whitman student and a bystander. Then, at least eight other students pushed the Whitman student to the ground and proceeded to punch, kick and curse at them, the student said.

In 2019, The Black & White reported on a pattern of increasingly violent altercations outside the Bethesda Chipotle in the hours following football games between the two schools. After police removed 12 students from Whitman’s homecoming game due to aggressive behavior, Whitman and B-CC administrators announced on Monday that this year’s Battle of Bethesda would take place an hour and a half earlier than in previous years.

Football player Jacob Gaum, a junior, said that the fight didn’t shock him and he believes that the altercations will remain popular after intense games...

Brawls erupt between Whitman, B-CC students after rivalry football game despite new security measures – The Black and White

Parents' Coalition Obtains Financial Disclosure Forms for 11 Planning Board Applicants from MD State Ethics Commission

Under Maryland Land Use law, the public was to have 3 weeks to review the list of applicants for the Montgomery County Planning Board. [That didn't happen.]  

Applicants were to file financial disclosure statements with the State Ethics Commission with copies to the chief administrative officer of the county and the county council. [We don't know if all that happened.]

These financial disclosure statements were to be filed 5 days before the applicant was interviewed.  [That didn't happen.]

During that 5 day period, the financial disclosure statements would have been available for the public to review.  

Obviously, in this recent appointment process for Montgomery County Planning Board the 5 day period between filing of the financial disclosure statements and interview did not happen.  At best, the public had one day to view the financial disclosure statements of the applicants.  And that would have only been possible if a county resident traveled to Annapolis to the office of the State Ethics Commission.  

In the interest of transparency and accountability, and with a look at how this process was supposed to be run under Maryland law, the Parents' Coalition has obtained the financial disclosure statements of the 11 applicants, and we are making them public now. The public should have been able to view these documents before the interviews, but nothing in this appointment process has followed the timeline established by Maryland law. With that, we give you the financial disclosure statements of the 11 applicants: 

2022 October Montgomery County Planning Board Applicant Financial Disclosures | Scribd

Individual                                 Year            Date Filed

 

Raj Barr-Kumar                        2021            10/22/22    (amended 10/26/22)

Cherri Branson                          2021            10/24/22    (original 10/22/22)

Francoise Carrier                       2021            10/23/22

Norman Dreyfuss                     2021             10/22/22    (properties do not have addresses and does not disclose membership on board of Affordable Housing Conference of Montgomery County) 

Barbara Goldberg Goldman      2021            10/23/22    (does not disclose Quora business or board membership on nonprofit Affordable Housing Conference of Montgomery County)

David Hill                                2021            10/22/22

William E. Kirwan III               2021            10/22/22    (Did not list Silver Spring property)

Vincent Napoleon                     2021            10/21/22  

Roberto Pinero                         2021            10/23/22

Amy Presley                             2021            10/21/22

Jeff Zyontz                               2021            10/21/22    

Email from my pediatrician’s office today saying Shady Grove, Holy Cross, Suburban and Children’s ERs so full they are closed to ambulances due to surging RSV cases

Email from my pediatrician’s office today saying Shady Grove, Holy Cross, Suburban and Children’s ERs so full they are closed to ambulances due to surging RSV cases pic.twitter.com/hOs7LrMpTH

— Lindsay Watts (@LindsayAWatts) October 28, 2022

MCPS parents frustrated with busing issues as district faces driver shortage

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (7News) — Kids were cold and crying, parents were late for work, unclear if buses were coming and no notifications -- These are just some of the complaints this week in Montgomery County.

The same week Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) announced the purchase of a fleet of electric buses, but many parents are asking who is going to drive them. The public school webpage that gives a list of all the school bus routes shows dozens of “uncovered” routes each week. Some parents say they are not getting calls or emails and the webpage they say doesn’t always update correctly...

MCPS parents frustrated with busing issues as district faces driver shortage | WJLA

Bethesda Beat tricked by Fani-Gonzalez defense against property tax fraud claim by PCMC

In an amazing case of failure to comply with a fundamental rule of news reporting -- interviewing all involved parties to ensure fairness and impartiality --  Bethesda Beat released an incredibly biased story about our discovery of Natali Fani-Gonzalez's property tax fraud on October 24.  

Not only did Bethesda Beat fail to even attempt to interview anyone from the Parent's Coalition, but they even patched up their story two times in the space of two hours after Fani-Gonzalez wasn't happy about its content.  The story was initially released at 5:10 PM on October 24, then modified and re-released at 6 PM, then modified again and re-released at 7 PM.  

The Parents' Coalition has attempted to contact the reporter, Ginny Bixby, numerous times by email and by telephone, but we have not received a response. 

Ms. Bixby failed to ask Fani-Gonzalez the most important question of all:

If Mr. Gonzalez has had a 100% disability rating since 2017, why did he appeal his rating?  It's not possible to get a rating higher than 100% so appealing makes no sense.

Fani-Gonzalez's defense makes no sense, yet reporter Bixby fell for it.  And apparently so did SDAT.

We were able to reach the editor of Bethesda Beat and she indicated that BB might ask Fani-Gonzalez the above question and do a follow-up story.  So far, though, there has been no follow-up story or further response.

Perhaps Fani-Gonzalez would like to answer our question in the comment section below.  We aren't holding our breath, though, while we wait for her to respond.

Prior related stories:
https://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2022/10/fani-gonzalez-attempts-to-deflect-tax.html

https://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2022/10/pcmc-exclusive-county-council-candidate.html

Breaking: @mcps Under Investigation by Montgomery County Office of Inspector General (OIG)

  The OIG currently has four announced engagements in progress: 

o Audit of the Department of Environmental Protection 

o Audit of the Office of Intergovernmental Relations 

o Emergency Procurement Practices 

o Accountability at Montgomery County Public Schools 

Microsoft Word - October 27 Audit Meeting_v1 with karen edits (montgomerycountymd.gov)

Atty General Brian Frosh Responds to Parents' Coalition. The General Assembly, Governor, Comptroller, Treasurer, State's Atty, Marc Elrich or Gabe Albornoz can request an Opinion on Planning Board Appointments

On October 23, 2022, the Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, MD wrote to Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh and asked the Attorney General to answer the question: Can the Montgomery County Council change the statutory term for Planning Board appointments so that they are only temporary appointments?

Today the Attorney General's office responded:  

OAG <OAG@oag.state.md.us>

To:

• You

Wed 10/26/2022 12:58 PM

Dear Ms. Sartucci,

Thank you for contacting the Maryland Office of the Attorney General.

The Attorney General is the legal counsel for the State of Maryland and its agencies. As such, this Office provides legal advice to state agencies, boards and commissions and investigates and prosecutes crimes against the State. The Office further represents the State in all cases pending in the Appellate Courts of the State, and in the U.S. Supreme Court and lower Federal Courts. To learn more about the Office of the Attorney General, follow this link: http://www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov/ 

Under the longstanding policy of the Attorney General’s Office, we are unable to respond to requests for advisory legal opinions from private citizens.  We simply do not have the resources to undertake the many hours of legal research and writing that would be necessary to respond in the form of an official opinion to the hundreds of inquiries that our Office regularly receives from private citizens.  Instead, we must limit ourselves to opinion requests from the various State government agencies and officers that, by law, we are required to represent as well as, on occasion, to requests from local governments. See http://www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov/Pages/Opinions/faq.aspx (explaining our Office’s policy regarding official opinions). 

Thank you again for contacting our Office.

Sincerely,

Citizen Response Coordinator

Office of the Attorney General

************************************

Who can request an Opinion from the MD Attorney General's office:

...The Maryland Constitution directs that the Attorney General is to give an "opinion in writing whenever required by the General Assembly ... the Governor, the Comptroller, the Treasurer or any State's Attorney on any legal matter or subject." Article V, §3...

...a request by a local government for an Opinion of the Attorney General must be made by the chief executive of the local government or by the presiding officer of the local legislative body on behalf of the entire body...

Let's Discuss the Planning Board Candidates Right Here. Right Now.

10/27/2022:  UPDATE:   Planning Board Chair and Commissioners that the Montgomery County Council picked by violating MD Land Use law are highlighted below.

The Montgomery County Council has apparently taken a secret vote to defy Maryland Land Use law and is only giving the public about 48 hours to review the list of candidates for Planning Board chair and commissioner seats.   

Montgomery County residents are already doing their own due diligence to research these candidates.  We are getting lots of information from various sources.  We are opening up this blog post as a clearinghouse for filling in missing information on the candidates.  We will update this post as new information comes in and the comments are open.

The candidates' resumes are part of the packet released by the County Council at 5 PM on Monday, October 24, 2022. However, the packet did not reveal which candidate applied for which position, chair or commissioner, and party affiliations were not available for all candidates. We are also finding out additional information about the candidates and posting here.

Candidates: Feel free to update your information, that is, if you are a fan of transparency. 

All candidates must be residents and registered voters of Montgomery County § 15-102 (a)(2)(i).  Are they? 

Maryland law also requires: 

Restrictions on commissioners

(c)(1) Of the commissioners from each county, not more than three shall be members of the same political party.

But the Montgomery County Council didn't put any Republicans on the interview list so that's not going to happen. But wait! Party affiliations appear to be changing by the hour.

 

D = Democrat   R = Republican   I = Independent 

Raj Barr-Kumar (D)

• Potomac
• Council packed misspelled last name as Kuma

Cherri Branson (D)

• Silver Spring

Francoise Carrier (D)

• Rockville
• Currently a registered lobbyist - lobbying MNCPPC Planning Board
  
  
  
• Previously on Planning Board with Planning Board Chair Casey Anderson

🔻Norman Dreyfuss (not a registered voter in Montgomery County)

• As of 2020, Mr. Dreyfuss appears to have moved to Colorado. He's active in land use issues there. 
• Previously on Planning Board with Planning Board Chair Casey Anderson
• On Board of Barbara Goldberg Goldman - Affordable Housing Conference 

🔺Barbara Goldberg Goldman (D) 

• Potomac   
• March 15, 2022, Article in Maryland Matters 
• Political contributions to Councilmember Andrew Friedson
• See Maryland Judiciary Case Search
• Affordable Housing Conference Co-Chair and Founder (Norm Dreyfuss also on Board)

David Hill (I)

• Rockville
• City of Rockville Planning Commission 2006-2016

William Kirwan (D)

• Silver Spring
• only a Redacted Resume was made public
• campaign contributions to Councilmember Hans Riemer
• campaign contribution to Councilmember Andrew Friedson
• Council packed misspelled last name as Kirwin
• Previously applied for Planning Board 
• MCPS is a client of his firm

Vincent Napoleon (D)

• Potomac
• Treasurer for CERG 2.0 PAC which endorsed Councilmember Gabe Albornoz, Evan Glass, Will Jawando and Sidney Katz. 
• See Maryland Judiciary Case Search

Roberto Pinero (D)(I)(D)

• Silver Spring
• Housing Opportunity Commission experience
• Already on Board of Appeals
• Switched party from last time applied for Planning Board

Amy Presley (R) (D) (R)

• Clarksburg
• Previously on Planning Board with Planning Board Chair Casey Anderson
• Presley Facebook: "masks are a farce" 
  

Jeff Zyontz (D)

• Rockville
• 2006 - 2020 Montgomery County Council Staff
• 1974 to 2006 Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission, attorney