(1/2022) I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. There are two topics I would like to cover for this month’s article. The first is the Department of Justice report into the Frederick County Public Schools and the second is the creation of two new County Departments – the Department of Climate and Energy and the Department of Stormwater.
First, the issue of schools. Frederick County has an independent elected school board that is responsible for managing the school system. However, because Frederick County Government devotes half of its budget to send to the Board of Education (BOE) to pay for schools and teachers, we have an important interest in, and check on, the BOE.
The Department of Justice found that physical restraint was improperly utilized against students, and that in thousands of instances these children were systematically and maliciously secluded in violation of state and federal law. This major policy violation harmed countless students and there needs to be further investigation into how these violations were sanctioned by the BOE. Frederick County policy used these extreme techniques in cases where they should not have; in fact, hundreds of times more than any other jurisdiction in the state.
As a consequence of this report, the Superintendent of Frederick County Public Schools Theresa Alban resigned. However, even in resignation, the BOE failed the public. The BOE voted unanimously to approve a resignation package of over $800,000 to the Superintendent – an unprecedented and outrageous sum. This payment is simply unacceptable. This money represents public tax dollars that should be used in the classroom, on staffing, and on educating the children directly. We need to take steps with changing state law or otherwise to make sure this type of compensation abuse cannot happen again. The BOE is not a private entity with golden parachutes.
Finally, the County Government has proposed creating two new Departments – the Department of Climate and Energy and the Department of Stormwater. Along with the Department of Social Justice and Equity, this would make three new Departments created in the past few months. I am not in favor of creating these three Departments in the last year of our term, thereby binding a new future County Executive and Council. Creating new Departments inevitably requires new staff and a growing county government. If these functions are necessary, we should find a way to do it without requiring creation of new Departments and growing county government.
