New report faults Montgomery County Public Schools in handling of employee misconduct

The largest Maryland school district has significant shortcomings in how it handles complaints of employee wrongdoing.

That’s what a second investigation into Montgomery County Public Schools found following another probe back in September, which looked into the alleged sexual misconduct by former middle school principal Joel Beidleman.

Separately, the school system confirmed that as of Wednesday, Beidleman, who had been placed on leave since the allegations came to light, is no longer employed by the school system. A school spokesman said Beidleman has not received a salary since December.

The results of the investigation by the Montgomery County Office of the Inspector General, published Wednesday, said that MCPS does not have a comprehensive protocol “addressing the receipt, evaluation, tracking and disposition of complaints.” The report also pointed to evidence that a school official tasked with handling employee misconduct claims would often “downplay or minimize” allegations.

The investigation also uncovered that the same deficiencies the inspector general found had been identified before and reported to the school system, but “MCPS failed to implement appropriate corrective actions.”

In a statement, schools Superintendent Monifa McKnight said she was “fully in alignment” with the recommendations of the report — which comes amid school board members’ call for McKnight to “step away from” from her post.

The Board of Education, in a statement Wednesday following the release of the report, said it has already “taken personnel actions and will continue to hold those responsible for the systemic failures to account.”

The county’s largest teachers union called for the board to “put a swift end to the chaos.”

“There’s ample evidence that changes in top leadership are needed if we are to restore trust in the system,” the Montgomery County Education Association said in a statement, adding that its members are “constantly sidetracked with additional stories of MCPS’s mismanagement.”

Meanwhile, the council of PTA for Montgomery County expressed concerns about the ongoing issues with the school system and called for accountability and transparency and a prompt resolution of these issues.

Following the public release of the inspector general report, Montgomery County Council members Evan Glass and Dawn Luedtke in a statement called for the school board to “take decisive action,” citing the erosion of the public’s trust.

Members of the Montgomery County Council will meet in February to discuss the report.

What the IG found

The review looked at more than 800 electronic case files from July 2020 to September 2023. The investigation found that there are several ways complaints can be submitted, including email, in-person, by phone and online. The complaints are assigned based on the nature of the complaint.

In addition, there are several email addresses used to receive complaints, as well as options to email MCPS staff and Board of Education leaders, some of whom use their own ways to track complaints they’ve received and what information is kept and shared with others. The inspector general’s office said it was “hamstrung” by the school system’s email retention policy, which automatically deletes most emails after one year.

“Due to the nature and variety of ways that complaints can be reported to MCPS, it was difficult for us to ascertain the total number of employee misconducts related complaints” or what was done to address them, the report said.

The schools’ Department of Compliance and Investigations, or DCI, handles employee misconduct reports. The report found that there was little documentation of what factors were considered when assessing complaints and no consistent process to document decisions and dispositions.

And while the DCI director reportedly held regular staff meetings to discuss complaints and case assignments, two former employees told the inspector general that the director would often “downplay or minimize” the allegations, and that the director did not document conversations and actions taken on the complaints.

Another finding relates to the DCI’s investigative practices, how investigations are conducted, what records were kept and how results are documented. Seven files, the inspector general found, did not have a copy of an investigative report or any indication that the DCI even addressed them.

One file even showed that an employee, who was on administrative leave due to a misconduct investigation, had returned to work, but there was no document that an investigation had taken place.

What the superintendent says in response

The inspector general issued five recommendations to improve Montgomery County schools’ handling of complaints, including implementing comprehensive policies and procedures.

Superintendent McKnight said she accepts all of the findings in the report and has already addressed some of the recommendations, including updating the email retention policy from one year to three years, which will go into effect in February.

McKnight said the school system has purchased a complaint tracking and processing program that will be implemented by the end of January.

As to the findings of a 2019 investigation by a private law firm that identified concerns about DCI staff’s responsiveness, timeliness of investigations, missing documentation and general disorganization of the office, McKnight attributed the absence of communication to staff transition, and said that she’s committed to “directing staff to act on them.”

“Part of overhauling MCPS is cultivating an environment and policies that facilitate greater collaboration and coordination, ensuring that important information is shared with appropriate leaders who are empowered to take action when we recognize rot in the system,” McKnight said.

Meanwhile, the board of education said it will bring a team of external experts “to help us ensure we are implementing best practices going forward.”

“We will heal our system, restore trust and build a strong oversight infrastructure,” the board statement said.

Council member Will Jawando told WTOP that the board of education has tasked McKnight to come up with a report, but he also acknowledged the call for McKnight to step down.

“Obviously, we’re dealing with the controversy around whether the superintendent will continue and how long. But today, Dr. McKnight is the superintendent,” Jawando said.

Council members respond

Council members Glass and Luedtke said the “culture of non-compliance” within Montgomery County schools was unacceptable.

It “deprives students, educators and staff of the safe learning and working environment they deserved,” they said in a statement.

They added that there are lingering questions regarding the promotion of Beidleman to become principal of Paint Branch High School despite sexual harassment allegations against him over the years.

“The public’s trust has been eroded and the school board must commit itself to leading with transparency and accountability,” Glass and Luedtke said. “After three investigative reports by the inspector general and a Board of Education-commissioned report by the Jackson Lewis law firm, it is time for the school board to take decisive action.”

In a joint statement, Council members President Andrew Friedson, Kate Stewart and Jawando echoed the call for accountability and transparency.

“We will examine the inspector general’s findings including concerning deficiencies which the inspector general indicates were previously identified and reported to MCPS,” they said.

The council’s Audit committee, of which Stewart is the chair, and the Education and Culture Committee, which Jawando chairs, will meet jointly on Feb. 8 to discuss the findings of the latest report.

Jawando said that the findings show that there needs to be a lot of work done particularly in the DCI.

“There wasn’t standard training,” Jawando said. “They didn’t document everything. You didn’t know who followed up on what complaints and how the decision was made to investigate or to find harassment. So there’s just a lot of holes in the system.”

He said the joint committee meeting will be a way for people to ask questions and for the public to hear what the council, school board and superintendent have to say.

1st report substantiated sexual harassment allegations against principal

The inspector general’s report on sexual harassment allegations against Beidleman, released in December, supported that he “made repeated comments about the appearance of female subordinates, directed offensive comments and jokes of a sexual nature at subordinates, bullied subordinates, and had a sexual relationship with a subordinate over whom he had supervisory responsibility.”

Beidleman had been promoted to run Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville in June 2023. He was placed on leave by Montgomery County Public Schools in August, after The Washington Post unearthed a slew of complaints against him that had been submitted to the school district over the past seven years.

When the report was released, McKnight said the report “clearly and professionally documents years of disturbing and egregious behavior” by Beidleman. “Now that the OIG has referred this matter to me, I am moving forward without delay to ensure that wrongdoing is held to full account.”

WTOP’s Jack Moore, Thomas Robertson and Scott Gelman contributed to this report.

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