By Bruce DePuyt
The ethics panel that produced a controversial set of findings against members of the Prince George’s County Board of Education is stepping down en masse.
The panel notified board chair Juanita D. Miller of their intention to resign as a group in an April 3 letter that was obtained by Maryland Matters. The departures will take effect on Friday and will leave the board, which has been dogged by allegations of misconduct, without ethics overseers.
The school board’s ethics panel is made of five county residents who serve without compensation. The panel produced a confidential set of “findings” against seven of the board’s 14 members last year. The members named in the documents vigorously rejected allegations of wrongdoing, and the public release of the reports — which were mailed anonymously to elected leaders — sparked months of controversy.
Critics of the seven-member bloc viewed the findings as cause for their removal; defenders of the group saw the investigation as a politically motivated smear. The reports deepened feelings of ill will between the members accused of wrongdoing and a slightly smaller bloc that tended to side with Miller.
In their letter, members of the ethics panel said their service forced them to deal with a school board that is “seen by many, including the State [Board of Education], as dysfunctional.” They also complained that members of the board “ignored” their requests for information and of attempting to “litigate Ethics Panel Findings in the press.”
Notably, the panel also cited a previously unreported “investigation” by the Maryland Office of the Inspector General for Education.
Asked on Tuesday if he is investigating the ethics panel, Inspector General Richard Henry declined to comment. “I can’t discuss any investigations that we have or have not (launched),” he said.
In an interview, Gregory T. Morton, a Bowie attorney who led the panel, defended the 2021 findings that were leveled against members of the school board. Read more at Maryland Matters.
Photo: The Prince George’s County Public Schools headquarters in Upper Marlboro. Photo by Danielle E. Gaines.
