Investigating Head Start and other PG school fiascoes
In his 2010 inauguration speech, Rushern Baker said:
Some have asked, “Are you planning on taking direct control over the county schools?” My answer is no, but let me say this: I will also not sit idly by and be silent.
Neither Mr. Baker’s inauguration speech, nor his request to his enablers in the General Assembly said that he would use his control of the county schools as a high paid jobs program for his cronies or that he would (1) tolerate sexual predators and bullies who would prey upon and humiliate our youngest, most vulnerable children, (2) protect the high paid cronies who allowed that behavior to continue, (3) allow the destruction of, and give up funding for and control of, what was once among the most successful of the county schools’ programs, or (4) that he would, in fact, “sit idly by and be silent” while his cronies ignored ongoing problems and concealed them from elected board members and the public for months.
Note that after the latest scandal–Head Start–became public, the Mr. Baker’s minions took action against six low-level employees, including a whistleblower who was fired despite having reported abuses to her boss, but Mr. Baker has done nothing about the administrators who tolerated and/or were ignorant of the behavior of their subordinates.
Another of Mr. Baker’s promises, repeated frequently with essentially the same thought but varying wording was
I also pledge to establish a first ever County Inspector General to police ethics conduct and perform annual ethics audits.
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The County will create an office of Inspector General to investigate waste, fraud, abuse, mismanagement and conflicts-of-interest in the County government. The Inspector General must be professionally qualified with a background in auditing and public financial management. The Inspector General must be selected based on ability and integrity, without regard to political affiliation. The Inspector General will be appointed by the County Executive and confirmed by the County Council for a fixed term of office that is staggered and non-concurrent with the Executive and Council. The office of inspector general will have its own staff and will enjoy subpoena power. The Inspector General will conduct investigations, review financial managements, examine potential conflicts-of-interest, conduct performance audits and similar reviews, make recommendations, public findings, and make referrals to law enforcement agencies. The Inspector General will also conduct annual ethics audits of locally elected officials and make results public.Creating the Inspector General office was just another of Mr. Baker’s broken promises.
Here is a sampling of 2015-2016 media headlines (other than widely-reported Head Start humiliation and Deonte Carraway sex abuse scandals). Many additional problems in earlier years were listed in PG-Politics daily news summaries):
- Ex-janitor get year in jail for stealing school’s laptops (8 Jul 2016)
- Prince George’s County elementary school teacher arrested in prostitution sting (22 Jun 2016)
- Prince George’s Co. teacher arrested for sexually abusing student (3 Jun 2016)
- Former Prince George’s County, Md. School Board Member Sentenced (30 Apr 2016) [member appointed by Mr, Baker]
- Family sues Prince George’s County Public Schools after 8-year-old daughter is sexually abused (17 Apr 2016)
- Police: Teenage girl’s pimp says he is a Prince George’s County school bus driver (3 Mar 2016)
- Rushern Baker, P.G. County executive, didn’t get the memo (3 Mar 2016)
- The Special-Education Charade; Individualized Education Programs, or IEPs, are one of the greatest pitfalls of the country’s school system. (3 Jan 2016) [in The Atlantic, by a Prince George’s County parent]
- 6th grader beaten by fellow students on Prince George’s County school bus (17 Dec 2015)
- Parents allege corporal punishment at Blue Ribbon school in Maryland (6 Dec 2015)
- 7 On Your Side shocked to find PGCPS ‘confidential’ student records exposed to public view (23 Nov 2015)
- Student’s family sues Pr. George’s school system claiming illegal search (27 Oct 2015)
- A school bus driver caught by students texting and driving behind the wheel in Upper Marlboro is still employed by the school system. (23 Oct 2015)
- Prince George’s Co. Public Schools Health Director Placed on Leave as Thousands of Students Need Immunizations (28 Sep 2015)
- Former Md. high school football coach convicted of having sex with a student (15 Sep 2015)
- Prince George’s County students claim school lunches are undercooked, contain mold (14 Sep 2015)
- Md. mother ‘heartbroken,’ angry after son, 4, placed on wrong bus (2 Sep 2015)
- Prince George’s School Board Members Continued Using Taxpayer-Funded Credit Cards After Vote to End Them (12 Aug 2015)
- Two students stabbed in Prince George’s County school (2 Jun 2015)
- Maryland mom pulls daughter from school, says building makes her sick (22 May 2015)
- Video shows teacher hitting students with belt (19 May 2015)
- 9-year-old Landover student beaten by classmates on school bus (12 May 2015)
- Prince George’s County Elementary School Teacher Accused of Sexually Abusing Student (6 May 2015)
- Teacher Who Pleaded Guilty to Sex Assault Not on Sex Offender Registry (27 Mar 2015)
- Md. high school principal accused of discrimination has left her job (22 Jan 2015)
Crossposted from PG-Politics
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