School board approves $800K severance deal for PGCPS CEO Dr. Kevin Maxwell
UPPER MARLBORO, Md. - The school board has approved giving two years worth of salary to Prince George's County Public Schools CEO Dr. Kevin Maxwell as part of his severance package.
The deal that was negotiated would give Maxwell $790,000 in severance pay along with his remaining paid leave.
At a school board meeting Thursday night, seven board members voted for Maxwell's severance deal while two others voted against it. Two board members abstained from the vote.
Prince George's County Board of Education chair Dr. Segun Eubanks, who negotiated this agreement, refused to speak about the severance deal along with Dr. Maxwell, who left after the school board's executive session.
Eubanks left with two security guards after the school board meeting Thursday night and would not answer FOX 5's questions about what he would say to Prince George's County taxpayers regarding Maxwell's severance.
After the vote, school board members David Murray and Edward Burroughs called on Eubanks to resign.
"I want to take this opportunity to ask you, Dr. Eubanks, publicly to help us turn a new leaf by stepping down along with Dr. Maxwell so that this system can come together," Murray said at Thursday's meeting as the crowd erupted in applause afterwards.
Burroughs, one of Dr. Maxwell's vocal critics, told FOX 5, "I'm very disappointed that our tax dollars were wasted. These are dollars that could have gone to the classroom, but instead will leave with Dr. Maxwell."
Burroughs also said he was threatened by Eubanks after calling for his resignation.
"After the meeting, his attorney asked me to come to the back room and when I went to the back room, [Eubanks] pushed me against the bookcase and told me he was going to blank me up … And as you have on your video footage, he was escorted off the premises by school system security."
Another school board member who witnessed the alleged incident backed up Burroughs' account. Eubanks did not respond to our request for his account of what happened.
Back in May, school officials announced Maxwell would be leaving Prince George's County Public Schools. He will be departing with three years left on his contract.
Deputy superintendent Monica Goldson will be the interim Schools CEO until a permanent replacement is named.
The embattled head of Prince George's County Public Schools was appointed by County Executive Rushern Baker in 2013 and reappointed in 2017. During his tenure, the school district has encountered several scandals that included a state audit revealing widespread grade changing that violated school policies along with students graduating without fulfilling requirements. A second audit is also expected to be conducted.
Several school system audits have uncovered a variety of salary increases in the central office that appear to violate district policy. FOX 5 was first to report on the latest audit that found excessive and inappropriate pay in the human resources department. The report shows mistakes add up to several hundred thousand dollars.
Prince George's County police said in April that they were investigating a hidden camera found inside an administrative office at a Prince George's County school.
Back in 2016, the federal government pulled a $6.5 million grant to fund the school district's Head Start program after reports of misconduct and abuse surfaced. In the same year, a former school aide at Judge Sylvania Woods Elementary School pleaded guilty for sexually abusing children at the school.