WASHINGTON — Gov. Larry Hogan plans to meet with the Prince George’s County NAACP in the coming weeks after the group asked him to make changes following evidence of possible grade-changing.
Hogan is considering further action to step in after the findings of an independent audit revealed thousands of students’ grades may have been changed to boost Prince George’s County graduation rates.
“When the findings came in and found widespread wrongdoing, the school system, again, and the county, refused to take it seriously. Now we have a letter from the NAACP pleading with us to get involved and take it to the next level,” Hogan said following a news conference.
Hogan suggested he had the power to make changes in the school’s leadership, if it came to that. A Maryland education statute (article 3-1002) says that with the approval of the governor, “the State Board may remove a member of the county board for any of the following reasons: immorality, misconduct in office, incompetency; or willful neglect of duty.”
The state Department of Education commissioned the audit. The school system had 60 days from the release to respond to the findings; that will expire at the end of December.
“Now we need to know the state has our back to make sure the audit’s recommendations are implemented accurately and expediently. We cannot leave PG County administration alone to handle this matter,” Bob Ross, president of the county’s NAACP chapter, wrote to the governor, which was delivered Thursday.
“The level of dishonesty leads us to believe that a deeper investigation needs to occur and that more state involvement is necessary,” Ross wrote.
County Executive Rushern Baker, who is running against Hogan for governor, responded to the letter by saying the county, and Superintendent Kevin Maxwell and his senior staff, are taking the need for change seriously.
“What I can tell you is, they have taken it serious because we met around it. And we continue to meet with Dr. Maxwell and his senior staff about making changes there,” Baker said.
He questioned the governor’s contention that the county is not taking the audit seriously, pointing out that the response period has not expired.
“The report said the school system had 60 days and the 60 days must be up for the governor to say that. Or maybe he didn’t read it or didn’t understand it,” Baker said.
The governor plans to meet with the Prince George’s County NAACP in the next two weeks.
Read the letter:
PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY NAACP LETTER TO GOV. HOGAN by wtopweb on Scribd
