Yesterday, while potential candidate for governor, County Executive Rushern Baker was announcing the renewal of PGCPS CEO Kevin Maxwell’s contract, a bill was introduced in the House of Delegates to repeal the County Executive’s control of the school board.
HB 1565 will repeal sections of the 2013 HB 1107, allowing the PGCPS Board to return to an elected-only board. Of course the school board, minus elected members Borroughs & Ahmed, has declared their opposition to this bill. The board itself, especially County Executive Baker’s appointees, has plenty of scandal and corruption in it’s history. While we the people have the ability to hold the elected members responsible for their actions at the ballot box, we have no way of holding the County Executive’s appointees responsible for their actions. Add to that, County Executive Baker’s appointments have been less than stellar, getting involved with the misuse of credit cards, and even scamming free lunches from the school system. And of course there is the matter of the County Executive hiring his former brother-in-law, Segun Eubanks, to be the Chairman of the board. Not only is Mr. Eubanks related to the County Executive, he is a director with the NEA, the largest teacher’s union in the country. One could question whether his loyalties lie with the students he is supposed to be caring about, the teachers he is paid to look out for, or his family, which includes his brother, Musa Eubanks, the Director of Community Relations in the County Executive’s office. There is a whole spider web of connections within the County Executive’s office that look suspect, including having a sitting Delegate, Del. Dereck E Davis, working for the County Executive’s office, whose wife just happens to be the Deputy CEO of the PGCPS system.
Just to be clear — Monique Davis was hired by CEO Kevin Maxwell, who was hired with the help of Segun Eubanks, who got his position because of a bill passed by the Maryland Legislature, a bill for which Del. Dereck E Davis voted.
The cronyism and corruption in the county run deep, and it all ties right back to the County Executive’s office. This is why we must take the control of the school board back, out of the hands of an office that has been plagued with corruption for decades. Doing so will give the citizens of our county the ability to hold the school board members directly responsible for the issues in the school system. Issues like the cover-up of the problems in the Head Start Program and the sexual abuse of children – including special needs children that had PGC citizens, the local NAACP chapter, and even some PGCPS board members calling for the ouster of several board members, including CEO Maxwell.
HB 1565 needs to get the support of all Prince George’s County voters. The bill has been sent to the House Rules and Executive Nominations committee. Please call your representatives, and the members of that committee and urge them to support this bill.