Maryland Superintendent's Deleted Texts and Hidden Email Surfaces Amid Intensifying Grade-Rigging Scandal
We've closely followed the investigative journalism of Chris Papst from Fox45 News' Project Baltimore, who has uncovered what could be one of the largest education scandals in the country involving Baltimore City Schools. Papst's latest report asks: What is the Maryland State Department of Education hiding?
For some context, Papst and his team of reporters have dedicated six years to investigating the Baltimore City School system, the fourth most funded in the nation. Their findings are shocking:
2017: Attendance At Baltimore City Schools Crashes To 13 Year Low Just As Juvenile Crime Spikes
2017: 13 Baltimore High Schools Have Zero Students That Are Proficient In Math
2019: Grade-Changing Scandal: Judge Orders Baltimore City Schools To Release Documents
2021: After Grade-Rigging Scandal, Baltimore City Schools No Longer Holding Back Failing Students
2023: 'Education Crisis': 23 Baltimore City Schools Have No Students Proficient In Math
Baltimore City has been riddled with scandals, and one of the most concerning ones has been the school system with a $1.6 billion budget. It appears some education officials are compromising the future of America's next leaders by rigging grades. And the corruption might not stop at Baltimore but could extend to the leadership of the Maryland State Department of Education.
Papst spoke with attorney Scott Marder who believes that the Maryland State Department of Education under Superintendent Mohammed Choudhury may have violated the Maryland Public Information Act.
Papst's team found metadata for 98 text messages sent or received by Superintendent Choudhury in the first quarter of this year. The metadata was obtained through a public records request.
When the texts were sent, Papst's exposé on 23 schools in Baltimore City with zero students proficient in math was published. Then the state decided to change how it reports test scores. Papst believes these text messages hold the answer to why the state government made that decision.
... but it appears the public will never know because those text messages were deleted.
In an email last week, the Maryland State Department of Education told Project Baltimore:
"The metadata of text messages provided is all that our Office of Information Technology could retrieve due to storage limitations."
Put simply, the 98 text messages were deleted.
"The cell phone issued to Mohammed Choudhury by Maryland State Department of Education is a government cell phone that's supposed to be used for government business," Marder told Project Baltimore.
He said, "I'm troubled by the fact that the Maryland State Department of Education says that they had to delete (the texts) because of storage issues. I find that troubling."
Project Baltimore pointed out that if the Maryland State Department of Education "willfully" violated Maryland Public Information Act, then that could mean the school officials might face upwards of 3 years, a fine up to $1,000, or both. The law clearly states a person cannot: "destroy, remove, or conceal a public record" and "the term' public record' would also include, for instance, text messages and other electronic communications."
In a separate report, Papst's team wrote, "Hidden email address for Maryland Superintendent revealed after Department of Education removes redactions." His team asked:
What is the Maryland State Department of Education hiding?
Deleted text messages, a hidden email account, unlawful redactions - @Project_Bmore reached out to Maryland’s top elected officials asking for their thoughts on the State School Superintendent’s actions. We’ll have a report on their responses Monday. https://t.co/JwpB6figOk
— Chris Papst (@chrispapst) August 13, 2023
Here's more on the reporting...
And another report from Project Baltimore stated last week:
A bombshell report just released by the office of the Maryland Inspector General for Education found that failures in Baltimore City Schools internal investigation into Augusta Fells, a high school in west Baltimore, hindered the chance of prosecuting those responsible.
The IG finding City Schools Staff Investigations Unit lacks a written policy regarding self-incrimination, which potentially places employees at risk during internal investigations. This lack of a written policy, which is known as a Garrity Warning and is similar to Miranda Rights, according to the IG's report, raised major concerns among local, state, and federal prosecutors. As a result, those prosecutors declined to consider criminal charges.
Project Baltimore, in 2021, exposed a major scheme to change grades and inflate enrollment at the West Baltimore high school. Fox45 News obtained a list of 21 students who were enrolled at Augusta Fells but were not actually attending. Ghost students, as they are known by educators, are used to pad the rolls and increase the amount of funding a school receives.
Dominos are quickly falling in the nation's fourth most funded education system that now could involve a top Maryland education official. None of this should be shocking for a state run by out-of-control Democrats.
