February 22, 2024 Heather L.

Mitchell
t 410.244.7681
f 410.244.7742
HLMitchell@Venable.com

VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL

Open Meetings Compliance Board
c/o Attorney General’s Office
200 Saint Paul Place
Baltimore, MD 21202-2021
opengov@oag.state.md.us

Re: Response to Open Meetings Act Complaint Dated January 22, 2024 (No. 24-17)

To whom it may concern:

The Montgomery County Board of Education (“Board”) hereby responds to the January
22, 2024, Complaint lodged by Ms. Janis Zink Sartucci on behalf of the Parents’ Coalition of
Montgomery County, MD (“Complainant”).

1. The Complaint

Complainant alleges that the Open Meetings Act, Md. Code Ann., Gen. Prov., §§ 3-101 et
seq. (“OMA”), was violated during the January 22, 2024 closed session. Specifically,
Complainant claims that the OMA was violated because, she alleges, the closed session “was held
without an Open Meeting to vote on whether the Board of Education would go into a Closed
Session” and “without notice to the public that a meeting would occur.” Accordingly, the sole
issues raised by Complainant are whether the Board held an open meeting vote prior to going into
closed session on January 22, 2024 and whether the Board provided notice to the public of the
meeting.

2. The Board Did Not Violate the Open Meetings Act.

On February 2, 2024, the Board and the superintendent of Montgomery County Public
Schools (“MCPS”) announced that they had reached a mutually agreed separation. The
discussions leading up to that mutually agreed separation occurred in the weeks leading up to
February 2, 2024. It was an evolving situation that required several emergency closed session
meetings. On January 22, 2024, specifically, the superintendent released a public statement
indicating that the Board had asked her to step away from her role.
Open Meetings Compliance Board
c/o Attorney General’s Office
February 22, 2024
Page 2

The Board determined that a closed session was required on Monday evening to discuss
these evolving events. Public bodies are permitted to meet in closed session on an emergency
basis. At 11:30 a.m. on January 22, 2024, the Resolution for Today’s Closed Session, which is
attached hereto as Exhibit 1 was posted on the Board’s website. Part of posting the resolution to
the website is creating the calendar event. Accordingly, the calendar entries, which appear in the
attached screen shots (Exhibit 2 and Exhibit 3), were on the Board’s website as of 11:30 a.m. on
January 22, 2024. A person accesses the calendar found at Exhibit 2 by clicking on the Meeting
Calendar button on the Board’s website. Found here:
https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/boe/meetings/. A person accesses the calendar found at
Exhibit 3 but visiting the central calendar for MCPS. Found here:
https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/calendar/index.aspx?calendarViewType=month&calend
arDate=1/1/2024&filters=2&isAll=n&langId=1033&monthShows=1.

The screen shot provided by Complainant, which does not show the calendar entry, appears
to be from Board Docs, which does not list calendar entries for meetings that do not have agendas.
As this was a stand-alone closed session, it did not have an agenda and does not appear on that
calendar. A person accesses that listing by clicking on the Access Meeting Information button on
the Board’s website, which is below the Meeting Calendar button. Found here:
https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/Public.

Notably, the attached article from MoCo360.com, which was originally published at 3:39
p.m. on January 22, 2024, states, “From 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Monday the Board of Education is
scheduled to hold a closed session virtual meeting to ‘receive legal advice regarding a personnel
matter regarding the status of employment for an employe,’ a school board resolution stated.” (See
Exhibit 4). This article evidences the fact that the public was aware of the closed session prior to
its commencement. Moreover, the Complainant admits that she learned of the Closed Session
through media reports. Again, the media could only know about the closed session because the
Board provided prior notice of the closed session.

Finally, the Board held an open meeting vote prior to going into closed session. When the
Board meets via Zoom, any person can access the open meeting vote by clicking on the Watch
Live Meetings button on the Board’s website. That would have taken them to the live broadcast
of the vote, which can be found here: https://mcpsmd.new.swagit.com/videos/295731.
Open Meetings Compliance Board
c/o Attorney General’s Office
February 22, 2024
Page 3

In conclusion, the Board held a vote in an open meeting and provided notice to the public
prior to going into closed session on January 22, 2024. The Board, therefore, complied with the
OMA, and the Board respectfully requests a finding to that effect.

Very truly yours,

Heather L. Mitchell

Copy to: Karla Silvestre (via e-mail)

Lori-Christina Webb (via e-mail)
Patricia A. Ursprung (via e-mail)
Stephanie P. Williams, Esq. (via e-mail)
Janis Zink Sartucci (via e-mail)