The Prince George’s County chapter of the NAACP wants County Executive Rushern Baker to remove public schools Superintendent and CEO Kevin Maxwell immediately, following a number of incidents within the school system.
At a news conference Wednesday morning, local NAACP President Bob Ross said the residents of the county lost confidence in Maxwell’s ability to run the school system a long time ago.
In a statement released Wednesday, the Local NAACP said “CEO Maxwell has failed to protect the health, safety and civil rights of the students of this school system. Every child in the Prince George’s County school system deserves to attend school in a safe, secure and protected environment. Those who are entrusted with the children’s care and well-being are hired to teach, transport and deliver our county’s most vulnerable citizens to their homes safely every day. The Prince George’s County school system has failed to properly vet and oversee the staff and teachers it has entrusted with the care of our children.”
“Right now, the citizens have no confidence in Maxwell being the superintendent of the schools, and that’s why we’re asking that Rushern Baker remove Maxwell as superintendent of schools,” Bob Ross said.
Maxwell has failed to protect students and failed to properly vet and oversee staff and teachers entrusted to protect children, the NAACP said. It brought up allegations of abuse on school buses and abuse allegations that led to the loss of a federal Head Start grant.
It has been a challenging year for Prince George’s County Schools after several situations surfaced concerning student safety. On September 21, Chief Of Staff George Margolies was relieved of his duties after an email he wrote regarding ongoing issues in the school system was leaked. The next day, school board member Edward Burroughs, III appeared on FOX 5 to call for the resignation of CEO Kevin Maxwell after questioning an alleged cover-up regarding the county’s Head Start Program.
Just Tuesday, the press reported on the arrest of a high school teacher for allegedly touching a student inappropriately and sending him inappropriate text messages for months.
Last school year, a teacher’s aide at an elementary school was accused of sexual abuse of children and recording sex acts between children. He was first charged in February, and in June a grand jury indicted him on 270 counts of sex abuse of a minor, sex offenses and child pornography charges covering 23 victims.
“We reviewed the report that was done by the federal agency, and that date is Feb. 29, 2016,” said June White Dillard, of the Prince George’s County NAACP. “The schools CEO has had a tremendous amount of time to deal with these issues and has not done anything effectively until August, September, and that kind of delay is just unconscionable.”
Reform Sasscer Movement secretariat is planning to have a conversation with Dr. Maxwell, but in the past he has refused to resign stating he is in for a long haul. A spokesperson for Baker said he supports Maxwell and has no plan to remove him from office. However, the county schools are not doing too well at the moment.
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PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY PARENTS, MARYLAND BLOG 