The Montgomery County school board policy management committee has introduced a new policy for the investigation of allegations of employee misconduct, taking another step toward corrective actions recommended after the 2023 mishandling of sexual harassment allegations against a former middle school principal.
The draft policy, which was presented to the policy management committee Nov. 14, is in compliance with recommendations made in January by the Montgomery County Office of the Inspector General (OIG), according to the presentation. The recommendations are a result of the OIG’s investigation into Montgomery County Public Schools’ (MCPS) employee misconduct complaint process following the mishandling of sexual harassment allegations against former Farquhar Middle School Principal Joel Beidleman.
The OIG recommended the district implement comprehensive policies regarding the receipt and processing of complaints, formalize procedures for assessing complaints and making disposition decisions and evaluate the role of the district’s Department of Compliance and Investigations, among other recommendations.
James Koutsos, acting director of the Department of Compliance and Investigations, said while presenting the proposal that MCPS didn’t wait for the policy to be developed to implement the OIG’s recommendations. Koutsos told the board the district has been “very busy” making progress in developing a case management system and finalizing an updated internal manual for employee misconduct investigations while collaborating with the OIG for feedback.
The introduction of the draft policy follows several corrective actions the district has taken since the scandal erupted last year. The district has a corrective action progress report last updated in June that details the status of multiple steps it is taking, most of which are in progress.
According to the draft policy presented to the committee, the superintendent will establish a case management process for the receipt, evaluation, tracking and disposition of all employee misconduct investigations. This would include a confidential public hotline, a case tracking system that logs reports and an investigation of all reports, regardless of whether the complainant was anonymous or not.
The policy would also establish guidelines for the documentation of investigations and develop protocols for investigators.
The protocols would require investigators to immediately disclose any conflict of interest within the case, coordinate with applicable outside agencies such as law enforcement agencies to avoid jeopardizing those agencies’ investigations and make sure all parties in the investigation are aware of MCPS’s safeguards against retaliation.
The policy also sets expectations for those conducting investigations, including a balance of expertise and a variety of skills among the investigation group and the implementation of professional development for the group.
“The objectivity and professionalism of the investigators should never be in question,” Koutsos said.
School board members Rebecca Smondrowski and Shebra Evans, who will leave the board in December, as well as board member Brenda Wolff said they appreciated the work staff members put into the policy.
“I’m really pleased with the outcome,” Wolff said. “This [policy] is an outgrowth of knowing and identifying where there was a problem and what changes needed to be made.”
