A Guest Watchdog reflection on the HCPSS Board of Education’s recent decision to change its opening statement for public forum to include rules that may violate the First Amendment and to cordon off the public meeting room dais with theatre-style ropes.
A detailed investigation of how Howard County Executive Calvin Ball promoted his underqualified family member to a county position that they didn’t have the educational requirements for and personally authorized ten years worth of pay raises in just three years for this family member after they wrongfully denied the public release of hundreds of emails that included evidence of broken laws and backroom deals on land use and development.
Issue #7 of the HoCo Watchdogs newsletter. This newsletter provides a concise list of articles, videos & social media posts for readers to stay well informed about important Howard County, Maryland issues such as public school policies, land use & development, and county governance.
Remember the time when two HCPSS Board of Education members held a private text message conversation to discuss redistricting strategy during a public Board meeting as crucial decisions on the Fall 2019 HCPSS redistricting plan were made? Ever wonder if there was something illegal about that?
A concerning pattern of statutory violations and ‘inadvertent mistakes’ have been made by the BOE over the past two months under the leadership of Chairwoman Mavis Ellis that is eroding public confidence and trust.
We’re finally starting to receive responses to the Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA) requests that were submitted following the controversial ending to this year’s HCPSS school redistricting process back in November and WOW, is there some interesting stuff.
The complaint below was submitted on December 18, 2019 to the Open Meetings Act (OMA) Compliance Board, detailing recurring OMA violations via electronic communications between BOE members over the past year. The BOE has until January 17, 2020 to respond to this complaint.
Here’s a tiny glimpse into how the sausage got made during this Fall’s school redistricting process — text messages between BOE members Sabina Taj & Jen Mallo during the November 18, 2019 work session. I wonder which move was “nice to Chao”?
The discussion about the statement that Mavis Ellis made on behalf of the Board prior to the redistricting ‘ratification vote’ held on December 17, 2019 is so concerning that it deserves further attention.
On December 17, the BOE held a ‘ratification vote’ on the controversial Clemens Crossing redistricting vote that occurred on November 21, 2019, in which the vote initially failed 3-4 and then was overturned 4-3 after a sudden and seemingly illegal recess by the Board.