Alsobrooks appoints Paul Monteiro to serve in the PGCPS Board of Education

Paul Monteiro

According to press release, Angela Alsobrooks is appointing Paul Monteiro to the Prince George’s County Board of Education. Monteiro ran against Alsobrooks for County Exec and is a former Obama White House aide. Monteiro is a product of Prince George’s County public schools, he graduated from High Point High School. He’s filling 1 of 2 open board seats.

“He inspires confidence, and he’s also respected,” Alsobrooks said of Monteiro. “He’s going to be a good colleague on the school board.” Through his Facebook account, Monteiro said, “Honored that our County Executive-elect has asked me to serve on the PGCPS Board of Education. I look forward to giving back to a public school system that gave me so much.”

Monteiro comes to the Board following an exposé involving University of Maryland College Park and the Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) which has continued to be a cash cow for some in an organized version, Chairman Segun Eubanks has announced plans to finally resign. According to a letter sent to the entire board and later shared with the press, the letter details Eubanks’ plans to leave his post by either January 1 or whenever Prince George’s County Executive-Elect Angela Alsobrooks decides to appoint his replacement.

Since 2016, Prince George’s has reeled amid controversies. The PGCPS personnel and other parties tied to illegal activities in the county should resign on their own terms before its too late.

To Paul Monteiro, do what is right and don’t tolerate a culture of cover ups and embezzlement. The duty of the youth is to challenge the corruption in the society. Everyone is watching you!

Prince George’s County executive-elect Angela Alsobrooks

 

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Former director of troubled DC agency now heads to Prince George’s County. Oh Lord!

The D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, DCRA Ex-director, Melinda Bolling

By Delia Goncalves and Stephanie Wilson

WASHINGTON, DC — The D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, DCRA, is an agency in turmoil. Four top leaders are out and many of them are named in an employment discrimination lawsuit, including the agency’s ex-director, Melinda Bolling.

Bolling is now the head of the Department of Permits, Inspections and Enforcement for Prince George’s County, Md. That department is currently under FBI investigation for approving faulty electrical work that severely injured a little girl at MGM National Harbor last summer.

In a year long investigation, WUSA9 uncovered shoddy elevator inspections and illegal construction throughout D.C.

City council members even grilled Bolling for her mismanagement o the department.

“The day I saw the report I said ‘great, that’s something that someone is bringing to light because these are issues I saw myself dealing with DCRA,'” said Scott Williams.

He signed a lease on a Northeast, D.C. storefront back in September. He had high hopes to get his business off the ground. But, Williams said because of DCRA, he’s not only out of business but out of his life savings.

“I didn’t fail. DCRA failed me,” he said.

Williams even had a soft opening for his new business, District CBD, an alternative wellness center and art gallery.

He transformed the old beauty salon with some elbow grease and a coat of pant so he thought getting a permit to open would be simple enough. But, think again.

“They’re asking for a slew of different things, this electrical outlet needs to be this place and exactly these dimensions,” he said.

After months of visiting DCRA, Williams said that he never got a straight answer. And, they kept asking for architectural documents tha should have already been in the system sine he didn’t make any structural changes.

“I really don’t know if there was a prejudice towards us or if their inherent process is broken,” said Williams.

And now he’s broke, $30,000 invested in the business that he says got derailed by DCRA.

We reached out to county executive-elect Alsobrooks about the appointment of Melinda Bolling. Her spokesperson said in the following statement:

“Like all of the appointments we announced today, Melinda came to us as part of a national search conducted by a highly regarded talent acquisition agency. She was then vetted by our team and in all of our conversations with her, we found her to be a person of integrity with strong ethical standards. We have also spoken with several people in the District of Columbia to include council members, business leaders and members of the community and not one person had a negative thing to say about Melinda or her work. Like all of our appointees, she is someone with a proven track record in the area for which she was selected. She is a strong leader who holds people accountable and gets the job done. We are confident in her ability to efficiently and effectively serve the citizens of Prince George’s County.”

And, the spokesperson added that “we are aware of the lawsuit.”

Prince George’s County executive-elect Angela Alsobrooks 

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Board chairman Segun Eubanks steps down in Maryland school system

Dr. Segun Eubanks plans to resign by either January 1 or whenever Prince George’s County Executive-Elect Angela Alsobrooks decides to appoint his replacement

Following expose involving University of Maryland College Park and the Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) which has continued to be a cash cow for some in an organized version, Chairman Segun Eubanks has announced plans to finally resign. According to a letter sent to the entire board and later shared with the press, the letter details Eubanks’ plans to leave his post by either January 1 or whenever Prince George’s County Executive-Elect Angela Alsobrooks decides to appoint his replacement.

Eubanks’ departure is one of several recent leadership changes that will impact the immediate future of PGCPS.

Over the summer, PGCPS CEO Dr. Kevin Maxwell resigned from his post with a $800,000 severance package. He was replaced by Interim PGCPS CEO Dr. Monica Goldson who is marred by her own scandals and allegations of paying off lawyers among other issues in Maryland.

Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker will also soon leave his post to make way for the Alsobrooks administration on Monday.

Chairman Segun Eubanks role as part of allegation in ongoing scheme in Maryland must continue to be carefully monitored in retirement. Since 2016, Prince George’s has reeled amid controversies. The PGCPS personnel and other parties tied to them who might be engaged in illegal activities  should resign on their own terms before its too late.

We reprint the report by Washington Post below.

Segun C. Eubanks, right, chairman of the Prince George’s County school board, in 2016 with then-school system CEO Kevin Maxwell, left, and County Executive Rushern L. Baker III. (Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)

By Donna St. George

The chairman of the Prince George’s County school board is stepping down, citing personal and professional reasons for his departure from Maryland’s second-largest school system amid a shifting political landscape.

Segun C. Eubanks, chairman for more than five years, announced his departure Thursday, four days before the inauguration of Angela D. Alsobrooks (D) as county executive.

Eubanks presided over the board through hopeful and rocky periods as the low-performing school system looked to improve student success but in the past two years became mired in scandals.

His term on the board was set to end in June 2021.

“It’s the right time for me personally and professionally, and I think it’s a good time for the system,” Eubanks said in an interview, acknowledging recent difficulties. “We’ve made some significant progress. Some of that progress was overshadowed by the challenges we had.”

He cited among his accomplishments recent work with an equity task force that is seeking to steer more resources to students who need them the most, as well as a community schools initiative to combine education with social services.

Eubanks said he continues to support the county’s hybrid board structure — with a mix of appointed and elected members — despite criticism from some in the community. “I think people will be a lot more accepting and embrace it” in years to come, he said. “The politics of change are never easy and never simple.”

Eubanks, 56, was appointed in 2013 by County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D), who is leaving office after two terms and an unsuccessful bid to become governor. Baker thanked Eubanks in a statement, saying that during the chairman’s tenure, the school system saw a rise in enrollment and expanded academic offerings to help ensure students were prepared for college and the workplace.

Eubanks said the timing of his departure seemed right, given that Alsobrooks is about to take over and that he is steeped in projects at the University of Maryland, where he is director of the Center for Educational Innovation and Improvement.

In a resignation letter addressed to Baker, dated Oct. 21 and made public Thursday, Eubanks said he would leave Jan. 1 or as soon as Alsobrooks appointed his replacement.

He said in the letter that he did not actively seek membership on the board of education but “happily accepted it with hope, confidence, and determination.”

He said the school system was better than five years earlier, pointing to an expansion in prekindergarten classes, dual enrollment programs that provide early access to college classes and opportunities in career and technical education.

He gave a nod to the difficulties — without naming them — saying that he and Baker “often joked that in my 30-plus years of education program and policy work, nothing has been more challenging than serving on the school board.”

Since 2016, Prince George’s has reeled amid controversies. A major sex abuse case that year involving a school volunteer, Deonte Carraway, raised questions about school district policies and oversight.

In the same year, the school system lost a multimillion-dollar Head Start grant amid allegations of corporal punishment and humiliation of children.

Afterward, scandals erupted over inflated graduation rates, large pay raises to executive staffers and a nearly $800,000 payout to an unpopular schools chief leaving before his contract ended.

Eubanks at times faced sharp criticism from community members and several fellow board members, most notably clashing with member Edward Burroughs III. Following a tense board meeting in July, Burroughs accused Eubanks of pinning him against a bookcase in a backroom and yelling, “I will f— you up” several times. Burroughs asked for a temporary restraining order and filed an assault complaint.

[Prosecutors move to drop assault charge against Prince George’s school board chairman]

Burroughs later dropped the restraining order, and prosecutors dropped the assault case in August, citing insufficient evidence. As prosecutors dropped the case, Eubanks called the allegations false and reckless and said he hoped board members would “put other agendas aside” and focus on serving students.

Board member David Murray, who was often at odds with Eubanks, said Eubanks too often stifled voices of disagreement. He called the change a “good clean break” for the school system.

He said he looks forward to a more collaborative board chair who will “practice the oversight that the school board is supposed to conduct.”

John Erzen, a spokesman for Alsobrooks, said that she and Eubanks met to discuss board leadership and that the change made sense. Alsobrooks wanted to select her own board chairman, which she felt was important.

Erzen said Alsobrooks recognizes Eubanks’s long career in education and is thankful for his service to the county.

She has not appointed a replacement but is working on it, he said, adding that Alsobrooks told board members this week that she would leave the choice of a vice chairman to them.

Alsobrooks filled a vacant seat on the board with Paul Monteiro, an unsuccessful candidate for county executive and an official in the Obama White House who graduated from Prince George’s County public schools.

Monica Goldson, interim chief executive of the school system, voiced appreciation in a statement for Eubanks’s work, calling him “a dedicated community servant, champion of public education and fierce advocate for our students.”

Via Washington Post

 

Ravens players write to U.S. senators backing criminal justice reform

U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin meets with a group of Ravens at their team headquarters in September 2018 to discuss criminal-justice reform. (Courtesy of Office of U.S. Senator Ben Cardin)

By Jeff Barker

More than a dozen Ravens players and executives have written to U.S. Senate leaders urging passage of legislation they say would bring “much needed change” to the criminal justice system.

The First Step Act, pending in the Senate, has unusual bipartisan support in a Congress often divided on social issues. The measure, overwhelmingly passed by the House in May, aligns many NFL players on an issue with President Donald Trump — who criticized players last season for kneeling during the playing of the national anthem to protest racial inequality and police brutality.

The legislation would give judges greater latitude to depart from mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug violations, and would bolster rehabilitation programs.

Trump tweeted recently that the measure amounts to “really good criminal justice reform” and that it had a “true shot at major bipartisan support.” It’s not certain the bill will be voted on in the lame-duck Senate as members negotiate possible changes.

The letter urging a vote was sent to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other senators. It was signed by Ravens Javorius Allen, Brandon Carr, Morgan Cox, Matthew Judon, Anthone Levine Sr., Chris Moore, C.J. Mosley, Justin Tucker and Brandon Williams. It also was signed by team president Dick Cass, general counsel Brandon Etheridge, community relations director Heather Darney and public relations vice president Chad Steele.

“Criminal justice reform is an issue that deeply affects our community in Baltimore, as well as the nation as a whole,” the letter said. “Not only will this legislation strengthen our nation’s criminal justice system, but it enjoys the backing of an incredibly diverse group of supporters.”

The letter follows a September meeting in which U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin was invited to the team’s headquarters in Owings Mills. Among those who met with the Maryland Democrat was Judon, who had earlier worn a black T-shirt during training camp emblazoned with the message: “More than 60% of prison populations are people of color.” At the bottom of the shirt was a hashtag: “#endmassincarceration.”

Judon said afterward that the meeting with Cardin — which also touched on racial and religious profiling — was empowering.

Cass said in a statement Tuesday that “the letter does speak for itself” and pointed to the meeting with Cardin, adding, “This letter follows up that discussion.”

“Our players continue their social justice efforts, which have included ‘ride-alongs’ with local police, visits with students and time spent at the Baltimore Juvenile Detention Center,” he said. “The players have funded a number of different projects in the community, one with the Baltimore school system that will be announced sometime soon.”

The legislation’s broad aim is to minimize warehousing of prisoners and make it easier for inmates to succeed once released. While some law enforcement groups support the bill, others have expressed concern that the measure could release dangerous criminals back into society.

Cardin, who plans to sign on as a co-sponsor, said in a statement Tuesday that he is thankful that Ravens players and executives were committed “to policies that will build a more just nation for all of us. By using their public platform to support bipartisan criminal justice reform, they are giving hope to countless Americans in Baltimore and nationwide who are caught in an often unreasonable system.”

Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, also a Democrat, said people across the country “are speaking out about the need for criminal justice reform, and we welcome the Baltimore Ravens players and other members of the Raven organization who are adding their voices to this effort.”

Van Hollen called the bill “an initial way to move forward on this vital issue” and said it has his “strong support.”

Via Baltimore Sun

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Mississippi Senator Who Made “Public Hanging” Remark Attended Segregated Choice

(Jackson, Mississippi, seen here at dusk). Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city of Jackson also includes around 3,000 acres comprising Jackson-Medgar Evers International Airport in Rankin County and a small portion of Madison County.

The Jackson Free-Press (Mississippi) reported that Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith attended an all-white segregation academy in her high school years.

The story was picked up by Huffington Post.

It’s important to remember that segregation academies were created as the first statewide examples of school choice. Their purpose was to allow white students to avoid being forced by federal courts to go to school with black students after the Brown vs, Board of Education decision in 1954.

Senator Hyde-Smith’s alma mater, Lawrence County Academy, “was established in 1970, one year after the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Mississippi to desegregate its schools. For 15 years after desegregation became law of the land, Mississippi dragged its feet on integrating black and white students.”

It was part of the school choice movement across the South whose purpose was to avoid and defeat desegregation.

In Maryland, charter schools have been out of control where they have existed since 2003. In 2003, the General Assembly passed legislation authorizing charter schools in Maryland. The legislation outlined the parameters for applicants, authorizers, employees, the application timeline, and the review and revocation of charter agreements. Since the passage of the law, charter schools have been opened in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Frederick, Prince George’s, and St. Mary’s counties and Baltimore City. The majority of charters are found in Baltimore City, where 38 of the state’s 52 charter schools operate and more than 10,000 of the state’s 17,000 charter school students are enrolled.

Charter schools provide an opportunity for focused learning using innovative curricula and instructional methods with the goal of enhancing student achievement. They have the potential to facilitate education reforms and develop new and creative teaching methods that can benefit children in all public schools.

However, research has shown that charter schools are not a panacea for every problem plaguing students despite public corruption plaguing them at very turn within their ranks. The state of Maryland is not doing enough to curb public corruption within the schools. If anything, the state officials have been busy covering things up. College park academy raised eyebrows when it was launched in 2017. Public Corruption tied to it continues to this day.

Time has come to stop the charter school movement from spreading further in Maryland at the expense of the public schools. A few public school officials involved in malfeasance must be exposed and let go.

College park academy raised eyebrows when it was launched. Public Corruption tied to it continues

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PG Parents Demand Administrative Procedure on the Assignment of Homework (AP No. 6154) be updated without Delay.

A petition has been launched by Meredith Kaunitz and supported by PG Parents. It calls for the Administrative Procedure on the Assignment of Homework (AP No. 6154) in Prince George’s County be updated. The current document has never been updated since 1983. The petition is directed at the following individuals: Dr. Goldson, CEO of PGCPS, Shauna Garlington Battle, Esq., General Counsel of PGCPS, Segun Eubanks, Chair of School Board of PGCPS. By the time of publishing this post, the petition had already generated more than 42 signatures. 

Homework has a long and surprisingly controversial history in the United States. Those who argue in favor of homework see it as a way to ensure practice and mastery of critical academic skills as well as a key way for parents to stay informed about their children’s education. Those who criticize homework suggest it may lead to boredom and keep children from participating in useful leisure and community activities. While there are reasonable arguments on both sides of the debate, surveys show that parents overwhelmingly support homework because it gives them a way to monitor the quality of their children’s education.

BACKGROUND
Research shows that the benefits of homework are more evident at the high school level than at the elementary or middle school level (Cooper, 1989). There is little question that parental involvement in homework has a strong positive effect (Van Voorhis, 2003; Xu, 2004). In fact, some research suggests that parental involvement in homework has a more powerful influence on achievement than either social class or the parents’ own educational level. While parents may be tempted to throw up their hands when their children resist homework or lack the skills to do it, school success may depend on parents’ willingness to help overcome obstacles to homework completion.

However, without structure, Parents as well as students often feel somewhat at the mercy of schools, teachers and homework assignments. One thing many parents have on their side is knowing their children. You know if he or she can find the time and complete their assignments on their own, or if they could use some structure.

By providing choices on the school district level, the school district and parents working together provide a measure of control for students and their families. Parents cannot control what the assignment is or how much work they will be given, but they can control how they will respond.

REASONABLE HOMEWORK EXPECTATIONS
It is generally agreed that children are expected to devote increasingly more time to homework as they get older. A general rule of thumb that is easy to remember is the expectation that children do 10 minutes of homework for each grade level (Henderson, 1996). Thus, first graders would be expected to do about 10 minutes of homework, second graders 20 minutes, third graders 30 minutes, and so on. If your child is spending more than 10 minutes per grade level on work at night, then you may want to talk with your child’s teacher about adjusting the workload.

WHAT PARENTS CAN DO
Parents can help children succeed with homework by providing clear messages about the importance of homework and specific support strategies. Parents can also get involved in petitions such as this one for proper adjustments.

Here is the petition as presented on actionnetwork.org

Did you know the Administrative Procedure on the Assignment of Homework (AP No. 6154) has not been updated since 1983?

County-wide parents are having unnecessary conflicts with their teachers, Principals and schools over homework load. We can fix this with 3 simple changes to the Administrative Procedure. The changes are based on evidence-based research completed over the past 35 years and are designed to be helpful for everybody: parents, students, teachers and Principals. Learn more about the reasoning behind them here.

The proposed changes are:

• Change procedure IV.B.10 to read: The length of time required to perform all homework assignments from all teachers on a given day should not exceed 10 minutes multiplied by the grade. This means 1st graders will not be expected to work on homework for more than 10 minutes each night, 2nd graders 20 minutes, etc.
• Add a procedure that states: Teachers must provide, in writing, a homework accommodation for any student (with or without an IEP or 504 plan) whose parent reports that the assignments are taking the student longer than the upper limit.
• Add a procedure that states: Homework is not required to be assigned if the teacher feels there is no benefit to their students based on their particular teaching strategies, even in cases where a percentage of the teacher’s grading requirements is dedicated to homework. A teacher may exempt all of his/her students from homework grades.

These simple changes will set teachers, parents and administrators free from the constant and unnecessary conflict over homework. They give teachers more freedom to customize their teaching strategies while ensuring parents’ and students’ rights to have reasonable and effective homework assignments are codified.

We reprint the letter from PG Parents forwarded to Dr. Goldson CEO of PGCPS, Shauna Garlington Battle, Esq., General Counsel of PGCPS, Segun Eubanks, Chair of School Board of PGCPS demanding immediate actions below.

From: [Your Name]

We are residents of Prince Georges County, parents of PGCPS students, and teacher/staff of PGCPS. We ask you to change the official homework policy in order to help us prevent unnecessary conflict over homework that has plagued our county for decades. The homework policy has not been updated since 1983, ignoring 35 years of evidence-based research findings.

We ask you to make the following changes to Administrative Procedure No. 6154, Assignment of Homework:

* Change procedure IV.B.10 to read: The length of time required to perform all homework assignments from all teachers on a given day should not exceed 10 minutes multiplied by the grade. This means 1st graders will not be expected to work on homework for more than 10 minutes each night, 2nd graders 20 minutes, etc.

* Add a procedure that states: Teachers must provide, in writing, a homework accommodation for any student (with or without an IEP or 504 plan) whose parent reports that the assignments are taking the student longer than the upper limit.

* Add a procedure that states: Homework is not required to be assigned if the teacher feels there is no benefit to their students based on their particular teaching strategies, even in cases where a percentage of the teacher’s grading requirements is dedicated to homework. A teacher may exempt all of his/her students from homework grades.

These simple changes will set teachers, parents and administrators free from the constant and unnecessary conflict over homework. They give teachers more freedom to customize their teaching strategies while ensuring parents’ and students’ rights to have reasonable and effective homework assignments are codified.

Please take immediate action to help us prevent unnecessary conflict over homework.

Monica Goldson Interim CEO of PGCPS

Segun Eubanks, Chair of School Board of PGCPS

Shauna Garlington Battle, Esq., General Counsel of PGCPS

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Prince George’s Ballot Shortages / Voter suppression More Widespread Than Previously Thought

On November 7, 2018, this blog was the first to highlight the voter suppression which occurred in Prince George’s County on November 6, 2018. Now NBC4 News, has done an independent in depth investigation and found problems were wide spread than previously reported. Prince George’s County elections officials have said, they will conduct an investigation into the ballot shortage that left thousands of voters stuck in line for hours on Election Day, and are pledging to prevent the error from happening again. What is the Prince George’s County NAACP going to do about it and other authoritative agencies and organizations in what appeared to be a deliberate exercise to sabotage the voting?

We reprint their investigative findings of NBC4 News below.

By Jodie Fleischer, Katie Leslie and Jeff Piper

Prince George’s County elections officials say they will conduct an investigation into the ballot shortage that left thousands of voters stuck in line for hours on Election Day, and are pledging to prevent the error from happening again.

Nearly two weeks after the midterms, the county still does not have a comprehensive list of the precincts that ran out of paper ballots.

But the News4 I-Team has compiled voter complaints indicating at least 30 precincts ran out of ballots — more than double what was initially reported.

The shortage prompted cries of voter suppression from some voters, but Prince George’s elections officials say “human error” was to blame.

Alisha Alexander, who runs the Prince George’s County Board of Elections, said officials printed more ballots than required by state law. She said the county based the allocation on the 2016 presidential election, but “unfortunately we did fall short.”

The I-Team reviewed voter turnout for the precincts with ballot shortages and found, in almost all of them, turnout was higher for the midterm election than the 2016 presidential election — something Alexander said is rare.

From the Upper Marlboro Community Center to Brandywine Elementary, voter after voter contacted the News4 I-Team to complain that lines were not moving. By late afternoon on Election Day, phone calls, emails and tweets indicated problems at more than a dozen locations.

The I-Team filed an open records request for election officials’ internal emails and found several angry emails voters sent to the elections board, noting problems at additional locations.

Voters also complained that some of the precincts only had one working electronic machine, making it even harder to vote once the paper ballots ran out.

The county scrambled to deliver additional ballots in rainy weather and rush-hour traffic, but some voters who got tired of waiting in line for hours left without voting.

One voter emailed the board and said: “I’m 65 years old and this is the very first election I have not been able to participate in.”

Others were still waiting long after the polls closed, which delayed the posting of statewide results.

The elections administrator told the I-Team her review of the ballot shortage will begin next week. The report should be finalized by mid-December.

Here’s the list of polling places where voters indicated ballot shortages on Election Day: 

Accokeek Academy, Accokeek
Faith United Methodist Church, Accokeek
Heather Hills Elementary School, Bowie
High Bridge, Bowie
Baden Elementary School, Brandywine
Brandywine Elementary School, Brandywine
Gwynn Park High School, Brandywine
Clinton Baptist Church, Clinton
Fort Evans Elementary, Clinton
Stephen Decatur Middle School,  Clinton
Waldon Woods, Clinton
E Michael Roll Municipal Center, District Heights
Spauldings Branch Library, District Heights
Andrew Jackson Academy, Forestville
Tayac Elementary, Fort Washington
Reid Temple Church, Glenn Dale
Hyattsville Middle School, Hyattsville
William Paca Elementary School, Landover
James H Harrison Elementary School, Laurel
Laurel Boys and Girls Club, Laurel
Mt. Rainier Elementary School, Mount Rainier
Skyline Elementary School, Suitland
Green Valley Academy,  Temple Hills
Arrowhead Elementary School, Upper Marlboro
Excellence Christian School, Upper Marlboro
James Madison Middle School, Upper Marlboro
Kettering Middle School, Upper Marlboro
Marlton Elementary,  Upper Marlboro
Rosaryville Elementary School, Upper Marlboro
St. Mary of the Assumption School, Upper Marlboro
Upper Marlboro Community Center, Upper Marlboro

via NBC4 News

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Enjoy your day.

If you are not making dinner, go to a church or homeless shelter to volunteer to serve others. It will remind you of your blessings and good fortune. Former President Obama helped prepare food bags for those in need in Chicago

The spirit of giving is contagious.

When we think of those to whom we are thankful, we Think first of family and loved ones.

We think of you, who take time from your day to read what we write.

We think of the teachers in Maryland, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Colorado, North Carolina, and Arizona who taught the nation a lesson.

We think of all those who work tirelessly for others to make our communities better places to live.

Despite our woes in Maryland and in Prince George’s county in particular, we have much to be thankful for.

Reform Sasscer Movement’s secretariat.

PGCPS School Librarian Retires After shocking response from Interim CEO – Employee Admitted Racial Slur in Viral Video

Interim CEO Monica Goldson acted powerless at first and then later on played a major role in the cover up.

When it comes to film and film criticism, there’s usually an overall consensus on whether a movie is worth your time. Yes, themes are unpacked, performances are critiqued, and problematic elements are confronted, but in the end, a film is either branded “good” or “bad.” So, in the same spirit, a public school librarian in Prince George’s County has retired after a viral video showed her admitting to yelling a racial slur at an African-American man in a Walmart parking lot in Southern Maryland.

In a shocking response, at first, the Interim CEO Monica Goldson acted powerless despite evidence to the contrary and covered up the shenanigans to give the establishment time to review the facts and the employee room to retire.

Dawn Tolson-Hightower posted a video on Facebook in which she asks the white lady, “Did you just call my husband the N word?”

The woman responds, “Yeah, I did.”

Outrage grew on social media after people learned the white woman in the video worked at Prince George’s county Public Schools – Potomac Landing Elementary School in Fort Washington.

“Obviously I was not happy to see the video and know that that was one of our Prince George’s County public school employees,” interim CEO Monica Goldson said. She pointed out that the school is 90 percent students of color.

Goldson says she is working with labor unions to provide each school system employee with bias training.

The school system reassigned the librarian before Tuesday when the press learned of her retirement. The school system is still investigating the confrontation.

Tolson-Hightower said the incident happened while she and her children were in the car with her husband in a Walmart parking lot in Charles County.

“For a moment, I was in complete shock and I was, like, did she just really say what I think she said?” Tolson-Hightower told News4.

“My daughter loves the library, and to have someone like that working the library, that’s crazy,” Potomac Landing Elementary parent Marqui Evans told News4.

Maybe the acting is so awful you can’t look away. Maybe the plot is held together by so many nonsensical strings that it turns into a two-hour comedy. Maybe you figured out the movie’s poorly hidden bombshell minutes in, and want to watch the underdeveloped main characters twist in the wind until the light bulb comes on in their heads. Whatever the reason, good-bad movies make up a wonderful corner of the film industry, and they should be celebrated rather than panned.

So, along the same lines, their terribleness now out in the open for all to enjoy.

Most employers are well aware that they must and should prevent discrimination in the workplace. Indeed, failing to curb discrimination can be costly and result in increased employee turnover and absenteeism, lower employee morale and productivity, and higher insurance premiums and defense costs, among other things. Therefore, it is important for employers to be proactive and prevent discrimination from occurring in the first place.

Disciplinary action must follow protocol and be consistent for all employees, whether the employee is the janitor or the vice president of operations, chief of staff or labor relations director. All action must be documented in human resource files.

Consistency shows that you expect everyone to be treated fairly and by the same standards regarding discrimination or racism. It also protects you (Monica) legally. No one can come back and say you (Monica) allowed one person to get away with a similar behavior, with only a warning and no disciplinary action plus retirement.

The librarian is expected to receive her full state benefits. Thanks to Monica Goldson for advancing the Shenanigans in the county and for applying double standards as other innocent victims of racism and employees suffer in the cold. Thus, following manufactured evidence on victims of discrimination and racism by Monica and minions, the advancement of poisoned chalice in the county is a confused mess with a few moments of levity—a movie too bad to be enjoyable but not bad enough to make anyone want to line up for the trainwreck. It’s got a nice big grin, but nothing in its fangs to help fix the problems as we see them. There are far more closet racists who are well known in PGCPS system, yet the county refuses to act diligently.

As with any employment situation that could result in litigation, PGCPS system must document all aspects of policy training, complaint investigations, hiring and promotion practices, management development, employee preventative training. Monica Goldson and minions must show good faith efforts to prevent employment discrimination, harassment and retaliation, which may serve them in ways we don’t know in the future, but in an increasingly litigious hostile environment driven by a racist agenda, more is expected to come.

Auntie Darlene Sale was busted on camera using the N-word in a video which has gone viral on social media.

 

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Montgomery official pleads guilty to charges related to embezzlement from county – What about in Prince George’s?

Many folks in Prince George’s County (Maryland) know that we are constantly asking to see the financials, the books, the independent audits. We have also been advocating for an independent Inspector General (IG). Due to the community support for transparency and accountability through this blog, most people in this progressive County fight these requests (“Everything is fine, no one is stealing. The books are private. Move along buddy, nothing to see.”)

For many of us, the independent auditing thing is a serious piece of the public/government transparency issue. We certainly cannot say we are for transparency and then turn around and say, “Just trust us.” By nature, many of us  want to trust, but then on the other hand, good government really is fundamentally all about total transparency. Will it absolutely stop people for stealing? No. But we  think knowing that someone is regular watching causes folks to behave differently. And it might stop a serious embezzlement scheme such as the one discovered during the waning days of Dr. Kevin Maxwell when he engaged in serious issues of dishing out thousands of cash without any oversight. From the very beginning we knew something was amiss. 

The same goes for the current administration of Monica Goldson in Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) engaged in violating rights and covering up misconduct on several levels including censoring the press to hide our demand for transparency and accountability.

Former Montgomery County official Byung Il Bang leaves federal court in Greenbelt, Md., on Friday after pleading guilty in an embezzlement scheme. (Lynh Bui/TWP)

By Jennifer Barrios, Dan Morse and Lynh Bui 

To those he worked with, Byung Il “Peter” Bang exuded an aura of calm competence — speaking deliberately, explaining deals patiently. The ­second-in-command at Montgomery County’s economic development department was in charge of spurring new businesses and breathing life into old ones in the Maryland county of 1 million people just outside Washington, D.C.

But the meticulously groomed, 20-year employee had another side — one that led him to embezzle $6.7 million in county money to feed his gambling addiction.

He spent six years diverting economic development funds to a sham company, getting caught only after federal tax authorities began investigating the massive cashier’s checks he brought to casinos.

In separate federal and state court appearances Friday, Bang, 58, the former chief operating officer at the county’s now-defunct Department of Economic Development, pleaded guilty to federal charges of wire fraud and making false statements on a tax return, and to state charges of a theft scheme and misconduct in office.

In U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Md., on Friday morning, Bang, dressed in a dark suit, responded to questions from U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis with short yes-and-no answers.

When Xinis asked whether anyone was forcing him to accept the plea agreement, Bang responded, “Other than my conscience, no.”

Byung Il Bang, also known as Peter Bang, is shown testifying before the Montgomery County Council in this 2015 video still. (N/A/Video Still)

He faces federal sentencing in February, followed by sentencing in state court in Montgomery. Bang was given supervised release pending sentencing, and he must also alert his new employer, a cleaning service, of his conviction.

As part of Bang’s guilty plea in Montgomery County, he also is obligated to repay the county more than $6.7 million.

The scheme rocked government officials in Montgomery, a suburb that prides itself on a reputation for good governance.

“I’m absolutely shocked and appalled,” County Council member George L. Leventhal (D-At Large) said.

He said that Bang had a reputation as a stickler for detail who would reject proposals from businesses if he didn’t feel they were robust enough.

“He was always impeccably dressed. And he spoke with great precision. He projected an image that was very careful and credible,” Leventhal said. “Oh my God, it’s a Hollywood movie — it’s incredible. It’s impossible to believe. We’re all reeling.”

Yet the county’s economic development system also had been without tight transparency and rules that allowed Bang, who lived in Germantown, freedom from scrutiny.

“There should have been clearly more oversight, a combination of it, that’s clear,” County Executive Isiah Leggett (D), who took office in 2006, said Friday.

The controls have since been enhanced, with new procedures for reviewing agreements that are exempt from usual procurement rules and the creation of a compliance unit at the Finance Department.

Leggett said the fraud was limited to Bang. “This is not some ongoing corruption from an entire agency or department,” he said. “This is an act of one person.”

Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said the thievery was driven by Bang’s gambling addiction, which “served as motive for his crimes.” Bang visited casinos in Las Vegas, Delaware and West Virginia between 2010 and 2016, the years the scheme was in place, officials said.

As his office’s chief operating officer, Bang, who started working for the county in 1997, could request disbursements of county money to various incubators, designed to support small companies that would then grow and bring jobs and tax revenue to the county.

The siphoning of funds began, according to federal authorities, after Chungcheong­buk province in South Korea entered into an agreement with the Montgomery County government to set up an incubator fund to help grow South Korean businesses in the county.

Bang created a sham company with a highly similar name, Chung­buk Incubator Fund LLC, and opened four Chungbuk bank accounts using his home address, according to federal court records.

Using fraudulent invoices that he was in position to approve for payment, Bang routed county funds — via checks and direct deposits — to the bank accounts he controlled, federal authorities say. Between 2010 and 2016, Bang had the county Finance Department send $5.4 million to the Chungbuk bank accounts, according to Bang’s plea agreement.

Bang also used phony paperwork to get around procurement freezes the county put in place during budget constraints, the state’s attorney’s office said Friday.

He also got the Maryland Economic Development Corp. to send $1.2 million and diverted more than $43,000 in rent payments from the Conference and Visitors Bureau of Montgomery County — which shared office space with Bang’s department — to his shell company.

Bob Brennan, executive director of the Maryland Economic Development Corp., said the organization routinely received requests from the county through Bang to relinquish funds to support various development initiatives. None of the requests raised red flags.

“There’s nothing that would have triggered or caused us to be suspicious,” Brennan said, adding that Bang’s requests were backed up by his department.

The fraud was discovered after the Internal Revenue Service reviewed reports of suspicious activity made by several casinos. Bang, who had filed for bankruptcy in 2007, brought cashier’s checks to the gambling sites that ranged in size from $35,000 to $200,000, officials said, but declined to tell the casinos the source of the funds. Investigators obtained copies of the checks and traced the money to fraudulent bank accounts Bang had created, and then to Montgomery County.

His plea to making false statements on his tax return stems from his failure to claim the money he was embezzling as income.

“The IRS brought the case to our office and really drove this investigation,” said Jon Lenzner, the first assistant U.S. attorney for Maryland. “Mr. Bang was entrusted with the important mission of bringing economic development and jobs to Montgomery County, and he violated that trust by embezzling nearly $7 million.”

Bang’s department was disbanded and privatized in 2016, a change that Leggett at the time said would foster private-sector involvement in efforts to grow the county’s economy.

Bang was transferred to the county’s Finance Department that year and was paid an annual salary of $175,127. He was terminated by the county in June 2017.

The money Bang stole appears to be gone, McCarthy said.

Via Washington Post 

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