In a move that Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz called “shameless,” the state has blocked Verletta White’s appointment to serve as the permanent superintendent of Baltimore County Public Schools.
In a letter to BCPS Board of Education Chairman Ed Gilliss, the state superintendent of schools, Karen Salmon, said ethical violations and a lack of an audit caused her to decline his request to name White as the permanent superintendent.
Instead, Salmon said, White could be named interim for another year, which would allow time for an audit and further investigation into the ethics complaints.
County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, who is running in the Democratic primary for governor, criticized Gov. Larry Hogan for the decision.
“Larry Hogan has a troubling pattern of playing politics at the expense of children’s education. He’s created turmoil over the school calendar and the school construction process,” Kamenetz said in a statement. “Now he directs his schools chief to take the unprecedented step to overturn the judgment of the local school board who knows Superintendent White best. He’s shameless!”
Board member Julie Henn, who is running to represent Towson in the upcoming Board of Education election, had a made a motion at the previous meeting to name White as interim for another year instead of giving her the job permanently; that motion was voted down.
White shared the news with BCPS colleagues on Wednesday:
From: Verletta.White
Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2018 1:05 PM
Subject: Message from the Superintendent
Dear BCPS Family,
I regret to inform you that the State Superintendent has declined to approve me as the permanent superintendent for Baltimore County Public Schools. The State Superintendent has stated that she believes that the ethics review panel’s findings cause her “concern,” and has indicated that the lack of an audit is another matter that prevents her from providing her approval “at this time.”
The State Superintendent appears to be unaware of the fact that the audit, one that I have been advocating for throughout this school year, was intended to review our system’s purchasing practices under past administrations. There has never been any indication that procurement practices of my administration lack integrity.
I firmly believe that an audit will show that our procurement practices are above reproach. I also believe that the allegations raised by some concerning my character have been based on speculation and not fact. To that end, I am releasing the ethics review panel’s decision in this matter. In the past, I have been hesitant to release the full decision, as it is a part of my personnel record and confidential. However, given the apparent conclusions made by the State Superintendent, I am taking the unusual step of releasing the report, which is attached.
I have, from the outset of my appointment last year, expressed my desire to be appointed as permanent superintendent. That desire has not changed. As of December 2018, the local board of education will be, for the first time in Baltimore County’s history, both elected and appointed. This major shift in the school system’s leadership is another reason for my desire to remain as superintendent to provide stability and continuity.
I have also attached the State Superintendent’s letter so that the BCPS family has the full text at its disposal. (Note that the State Superintendent’s legal authority is found in the Education Article in §4-201, not §7-201).
Please accept my sincere appreciation for your support and encouragement this year. As always, let’s continue to stay focused on highly effective instruction for all students in BCPS.
Verletta
In a controversial move, the Baltimore County Board of Education voted to give White, who had been interim superintendent, the job permanently just two weeks after voting to spend $70,000 on a national search for someone to fill the position.
The job became open after the former superintendent, Dallas Dance, unexpectedly resigned. It was later learned that he was under investigation for perjury related to failure to disclose outside income. He is currently serving six months in prison.
White acknowledged that she also failed to report outside income of a lesser amount; she has not been charged with any crime.
This story will be updated.
It is hard for me to understand how Julian Jones and co completely missed the fact that there is a large number of stakeholders – parents, teachers, taxpayers…who feel so disenfranchised by the leadership of BCPS. How could this be a surprise, I cannot fathom. A case of denial? A recurring theme in how BCPS serves the public.
Bla bla bla…sick of hearing about it!
Re: Argument about an elected school board.
April 10, 2012: Balto. Co. school board bill fails in legislative session – Baltimore Sun
“He [Kamenetz] also wrote that now is not the time to make a “drastic change” on the school board, given the recent hiring of new superintendentS. Dallas Dance.”
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-county/bs-md-co-school-board-bill-20120409-story.html
After Dance had been exposed I looked at YOUTUBE videos of White on stage with Dance and endorsing the products of an ERDI client Company, which had and still has contracts with BCPS. White’s and Dance’s endorsements continued to be used after it was well known that she and Dance accepted money from these clients. I’ve unsuccessfully searched for these videos again. They may have been removed after Dance’s and White’s’ notorious behavior was published nationwide. I found those videos on a client company’s web site. If I had a list of ERDI’s BCPS contractors I’d recognize the company’s name.
As for Kamenetz, he’s the one who is “shameless”. For several years he blocked passage of an elected BCPS school board, while the legislature approved elected school board for other counties . This was before Dance was hired. Kamenetz and Delegate Steve Lafferty rationalized that we shouldn’t replace incumbent board members with elected ones then because those school board members would not have voted to hire the superintendent, whose tenure would be with a different school board. (Look how that worked out.) Now Kamenetz has the audacity to have the incumbent school board appoint a BCPS superintendent who will be working with an entirely new school board effective Dec. 3. Furthermore, this school board voted not to conduct an audit, claiming they did not have the authority. (Hows that for a non denial?) Kamenetz, O’Malley and their appointed school board are responsible for this mess.
Strong points, Karl. Here’s video of an edtech-sponsored event, and details:
Video of Verletta White, along with Dallas Dance and digital director and promoter Ryan Imbriale, at an edtech summit co-sponsored by Global Silicon Valley. The panel was led by a representative of Discovery Education, whose $4 million contract with BCPS was expanded to $10 million just a few months later. The school district said the conference paid for their trips and pricey California hotel rooms.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2mEg7cAT1k
ASU+GSV, where this video was filmed, is a major (and very expensive) conference attended by edtech entreprenuers, edtech companies, investors, and educators. I was at the GSV conference in 2017, and I ran into someone who lived in Baltimore County and worked for a HUGE ed-tech company/publisher. I asked him what he thought of Dallas Dance. “Oh, I love Dallas Dance,” he said. “I think he’s doing a great job.”
Just another example of Baltimore County and Baltimore city leadership permitting unlawful acts to continue as usual. We have a “swamp” too. When will these people be removed from their jobs? Accountable must be implemented along with deep background checks before anyone is considered for leadership positions. We the citizens deserve more than we get.
There’s more to this issue: the Ethics Review Panel also found White violated ethics law by accepting compensation as private gain “in her capacity as a school official.” (White admitted earning $12,000 over four years of undisclosed consulting for the Education Research & Development Institute). Under Policy 8363 “Conflict of Interest — Prohibited Conduct,” as cited by the ethics panel and the state superintendent in her letter: “A school official may not intentionally use the prestige of office or public position for private gain of that official or the private gain of another.” White has vowed not to consult (as Dance also promised), yet has she paid that money back? That gain would remain. Additional info here: https://statusbcps.wordpress.com/2018/05/02/absence-of-permanence-state-rejects-school-board-appointment-of-verletta-white/ Also of interest: White claims that the audit would target the work of her predecessor as “the previous administration.” Yet she was second in command, and also oversaw and recommended the selection of the multi-million no-bid curricula contracts under BCPS policy 6002 (ERDI clients). Indeed, the audit should now be expanded to cover her year in office as well, including the approval of DreamBox, iReady/Curriculum Associates and the recently approved next $140 million round of laptops squarely under her tenure as interim superintendent. If things are fine, then a promised audit should simply be pursued, and the results reviewed before a permanent role is approved, as the state super noted. A last-minute appointment of White as “permanent” by the board — under pressure from the county exec — after the board actually… Read more »
White has never disclosed the companies she met with at ERDI, for which she received payment. We know that many ERDI clients have multimillion dollar contracts with BCPS. Why is there no mention of which companies she met with in the ethics documents? That is information that is essential to know.
And that’s coming from a man of integrity !!