Montgomery County school board in hot water over mishandling of alleged sexual harassment complaints
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. - The mishandling of complaints surrounding alleged sexual harassment and bullying has landed the Montgomery County school board in hot water.
Some members of the school board are expected to appear before county council on Thursday, February 8, after a report found deficiencies with how MCPS handles complaints. The school district has been under fire for a while now, but there is a lot to unpack here.
Earlier this week, County Council President Andrew Friedson said that this is not intended to be a witch hunt.
READ MORE: Families paying 25% more for groceries since pre-pandemic times: report
The investigations were launched in response to an explosive report on former Farquhar Middle School principal Joel Beidleman published by the Washington Post. The findings revealed that he was the subject of at least 18 verbal or written reports alleging sexual harassment, bullying and retaliation submitted to the school district dating back to 2016.
While Beidleman was under investigation, the school board promoted him to become principal of Paint Branch High School.
Shortly after the investigation, the school system hired a law firm to scrutinize its handling of the complaints. A heavily redacted report released by the school board found that five people who participated in Beidleman’s promotion process —knew about an internal investigation into his conduct, among other findings.
This comes just days after the school board apologized for the district’s failures in handling of employee misconduct complaints and vowed to heal the school system.
The county inspector general as well as leadership from the school board and MCPS are all expected to attend the committee meeting that starts at 3 p.m.
Featured
Lanham mother charged with murder in son's stabbing death
Why would a mother stab her own child?