By Adam Pagnucco.
Last week, MCPS released a summary of its initial investigation of issues connected to former Principal Joel Beidleman and his promotion amidst sexual harassment allegations. The Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA) responded. Among other things, I was struck by an apparent factual disagreement between the report and MCEA. The report claimed that the school board did not know about allegations against Beidleman when he was promoted. MCEA replied, “We, also, find it curious that Jackson Lewis uncovered 30,000+ documents during their investigation, but somehow could not find emails sent by MCEA members and staff to the Board of Education, MCPS, and Superintendent McKnight outlining the harassment claims.”
I asked MCEA for copies of the emails to which they referred. They graciously provided them.
The first email was an anonymous email of May 3, 2022 addressed to the superintendent and school board.
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From: Concerned Member of MCPS <concernedmemberofmcps@gmail.com>
Date: May 3, 2022 at 6:44:00 PM EDT
Subject: [EXT]Concern about Farquhar Middle School
Dear Members of the Board as well as Dr. McKnight,
I’m messaging you today to express concern about what is going on at Farquhar Middle School. Specifically, I want to know how Dr. Joel Beidleman is allowed to still lead the school.
I have seen firsthand the way he treats his staff. He is emotionally abusive to them and he sexually harasses his female staff.
I know these are heavy allegations to raise against someone and I don’t want him to lose his career. But I want to ensure that the staff members of Farquhar are safe, which requires him being moved from the building.
How can I prove this? There have been multiple reports made to the Maryland Safe Schools website this year from staff who are too scared to speak up. These reports come with detailed evidence as well as images of texts from staff he has harassed.
Let us also remember that this is the same man who was allowed to keep his job after publicly calling the 8th grade girls “hoes” in an assembly. He was protected by Eric Mynus when many members of the community had called for his ouster. Let us also remember that this is the man who was made principal AFTER he had multiple DUI and a love affair at Roberto Clemente Middle School. Let us also remember that this is the same man who has done illegal restraints against students.
He has made it clear who he is.
I’m putting this on you to rectify immediately before I take this to the press. This is not an idle threat. But please know the die has been cast and people are willing to come forward.
Farquhar has become an exceptionally toxic environment for its staff. The county knows this. The county knows what Dr. Beidleman is, yet they continue to allow him to lead this school. The harm he is doing on the staff, and therefore the students is inexcusable and needs to stop…yesterday.
Thank you for taking the time to read my concern,
Please take the correct steps. Check the Maryland Safe Schools submissions for Farquhar. You’ll see.
*****
Let’s state clearly that this email is making claims, not stating proven facts. Let’s also acknowledge that MCPS’s investigation summary stated, “After searching the MCPS servers and interviewing several witnesses, Jackson Lewis found that neither the Superintendent nor the Board received an alleged May 3, 2022 anonymous email and a May 9, 2022 email from an MCEA representative containing anonymous allegations.”
The second email MCEA provided was sent by Lindsay Barrett, MCEA’s Managing Director of Field Operations, to MCPS officials Steve Blivess and Carrie Booth on May 9, 2022. At the time, Blivess was MCPS’s Director of Labor Relations and Lead Negotiator and Booth was a Labor Relations Coordinator. Barrett copied Heather Carroll-Fisher, MCEA’s Executive Director. Barrett referred to the earlier email and made further allegations about Beidleman.
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From: Barrett, Lindsay [MD] <lbarrett@mceanea.org>
Sent: Monday, May 9, 2022 7:59 AM
To: Blivess, Steven N <Steven_N_Blivess@mcpsmd.org>; Booth, Carrie D <Carrie_D_Booth@mcpsmd.org>
Cc: Carroll-Fisher, Heather [MD] <hcarroll-fisher@mseanea.org>
Subject: Farquhar Middle School Harassment Allegations
Hi Steve and Carrie,
I am reaching out regarding some egregious reports we have received regarding our members at Farquhar MS being sexually harassed by the Principal, Dr. Joel Beidleman. I have copied the email (below) that went to the Board of Education and Superintendent. MCEA has also had conversations with staff at Farquhar and discovered that despite repeated reports, nothing seems to have been done to address the concerns and protect staff members from this sort of behavior. Because of this, staff are fearful of speaking out publicly because they feel MCPS is protecting this administrator. Some of the specific complaints from various staff include the following:
“He looks at my chest all the time.”
“He has made comments about women’s chest sizes ”
“He frequently looks women up and down before talking to them”
“He has made a comment to one educator that how she can bend her back backward and related it to bedroom activities”
“He has made comments to female educators that have made them uncomfortable”
“He previously made comments about 7th and 8th grade female students calling them “hoes” in an assembly.” FMS staff feel Eric Minus did not conduct a thorough investigation and the result was the Administrator was further emboldened to continue making sexual comments towards students and staff.
“He has engaged in sexual activity with staff in every building he has been in, including Farquhar.”
“Farquhar is a toxic environment in the building when he is involved, especially when he is in one of his moods.”
As you can see, these are some very, very concerning accusations. We would like to know what MCPS is doing to protect educators and other staff in this building from further harassment. MCEA is willing to work with MCPS to resolve these issues, including working with impacted staff to make statements on the record. That said, we do not believe it is in any way appropriate to have MCAAP members involved in the investigation of this matter. We also believe it is critical to make it clear to the Farquhar MS staff that there will be absolutely no reprisals for staff involved in making these complaints.
Please let us know if MCPS has a plan to address these concerns.
Best,
Lindsay
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The third email provided by MCEA was a reply from Booth, the MCPS labor relations coordinator, and copied to Blivess. It was written 25 minutes after the email from MCEA’s Barrett.
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From: Booth, Carrie D <Carrie_D_Booth@mcpsmd.org>
Sent: Monday, May 9, 2022 8:24:26 AM
To: Barrett, Lindsay [MD] <lbarrett@mceanea.org>; Blivess, Steven N <Steven_N_Blivess@mcpsmd.org>
Cc: Carroll-Fisher, Heather [MD] <hcarroll-fisher@mseanea.org>
Subject: [EXT]RE: Farquhar Middle School Harassment Allegations
Thank you for brining this to our attention. As I believe you know, we have a sexual harassment policy that covers just such situations. This regulation applies to all sexual harassment incidents involving MCPS employees. The policy and regulation address incidents committed by a person of either sex against a person of the opposite or same sex and establish that it is against policy for MCPS employees to commit acts of sexual harassment. Once reported the full circumstances of the situation will be considered and a written determination of whether the alleged conduct constitutes sexual harassment, consideration shall be given to the record of the incident as a whole and to the totality of the circumstances, including the context in which the alleged incidents occurred. As part of these policies, anyone in the system can file an administrative complaint or make a report of harassment. These types of investigations are handled by the Department of Compliance and Investigation. I will be forwarding your email to them. Staff can also file individual/or a group administrative complaint with our office using the administrative complaint form. There will be no adverse action against an individual for reporting an incident, or participating in or cooperating with an investigation of an alleged incident and confidentiality will be preserved consistent with applicable laws.
Carrie
*****
While these emails do not prove that the superintendent and school board received the initial email sent to them, they do show that MCPS’s Department of Labor Relations – at a minimum – was aware of allegations against Beidleman more than a year before he was promoted on June 27, 2023.
Additionally, MCPS’s Booth wrote, “These types of investigations are handled by the Department of Compliance and Investigation. I will be forwarding your email to them.” The email does not contain evidence that it was forwarded, but MCPS’s investigation summary states that Beidleman “was promoted while he was being investigated by MCPS.” Was Beidleman under investigation for more than a year? And what was the status of earlier complaints against Beidleman, which the Post reported dated back to 2016?
What this record shows is that MCEA reported serious allegations against a middle school principal which an MCPS official acknowledged receiving. Over a year later, with an investigation apparently not concluded, this principal was promoted anyway. This was a terrible failure by school district management. Consequences await.