Board of Education Committee Violated MD Open Meetings Act. Board knew they violated law, but hired outside legal counsel anyway and spent thousands of dollars to lose.
Complaint filed on May 11, 2026, by Janis Zink Sartucci
Watch how a simple request to MCPS to produce the legally required minutes of a Board Committee cost taxpayers thousands of dollars in attorney’s fees over 3 months.
On April 27, 2026, a request was made to MCPS for the minutes of meetings of the Board of Education’s Advisory Committee on Communication and Engagement. Instead of producing the minutes, MCPS fought the request, stonewalled, hired outside counsel and ultimately were found to have violated the Maryland Open Meetings Act.
The Board of Education even paid their outside lawyer to add a footnote to a response that said that if I had “asked for copies of the minutes, rather than submitting a MPIA request…the minutes would have been “promptly provided.” (Scroll down for the June 26 letter from MCPS outside counsel for this statement, highlighted in yellow.)
In fact, on April 27, 2026, that is exactly what I did. I requested copies of the legally required minutes of this committee and MCPS turned down that request and instead turned it into a Public Information Act request. The waste of precious education dollars began, rather than simply following the law and producing the minutes, MCPS stonewalled, fought the request, and spent thousands of dollars in attorney’s fees. Money that could have gone to classrooms was spent on a losing legal battle. 20 Official Opinions of the Compliance Board 225 (2026).
Here is the April 27, 2026, simple request for minutes:
Instead of producing the requested minutes, MCPS instead turned the request into a Public Information Act request. Then, MCPS said that it was possible that the production of these legally required minutes could require the payment of a fee and would take longer than 10 days.
MCPS was informed this was not a Public Information Act request.
Instead of producing the minutes, MCPS continued to stonewall.
At that point, a complaint was filed with the Maryland Open Meetings Compliance Board.
Here is the original Open Meetings Act complaint filed with the Maryland Open Meetings Compliance Board:
May 11, 2026
To the Maryland Open Meetings Act Compliance Board:
This complaint is filed with regard to the Montgomery County Board of Education’s Advisory Committee on Communication and Community Engagement.
The Montgomery County Board of Education (Board) formed the Advisory Committee on Communication and Community (Committee) by resolution on December 5, 2024. The Board appointed the members of the Committee on March 18, 2025. The Resolution to appoint the members is attached.
The Committee has met three times since May of 2025, yet to date, no minutes have been posted for these meetings.
Attached to this email are screenshots taken today of the Board’s calendar showing the past meetings of the Committee. No minutes are posted for any of the past meetings.
It would appear that the Committee has failed to prepare minutes and has failed to post minutes for these meetings in violation of the Maryland Open Meetings Act.
Thank you for your review of this complaint.
June 11, 2026, the Board of Education paid their outside lawyer to respond to the Complaint rather than complying with the Maryland Open Meetings Act.
https://www.scribd.com/document/1068138403/2026-06-11-Board-of-Education-reply-to-Open-Mtg-Complaint
June 18, 2026, reply to the Board of Education’s response:
June 18, 2026
To the Maryland Open Meetings Compliance Board,
In reply to the Montgomery County Board of Education’s response to my complaint, I submit the following:
One of the goals of the Maryland Open Meetings Act is, “The ability of the public, its representatives, and the media to attend, report on, and broadcast meetings of public bodies and to witness the phases of the deliberation, policy formation, and decision making of public bodies ensures the accountability of government to the citizens of the State.” § 3-102(b) It is impossible for the public to witness the deliberation, policy formation and decision making of public bodies when the public bodies do not comply with the law.
As is clearly stated in the Board’s response, the Open Meetings Act was not complied with in regard to the posting of meeting minutes for the Advisory Committee.
The Board’s website very clearly lists meeting dates, agendas and minutes. As of today, the minutes for the Advisory Committee are still not posted to the website where all other minutes are posted. https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/boe/meetings/https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/boe/meetings/
The purpose of the Open Meetings Act is to make agendas and minutes accessible to the public. The Act does not require the public to play a game of hide and seek with the public body to find the documents that comply with the Act. The Advisory Committee meeting minutes were not, and still are not, posted to the public website where all other minutes are posted.
Attached is the “10 Day Letter with Potential Fee” that I received from the Board on May 5, 2026. The letter stated a fee could be charged to produce these public minutes and that it would take longer than 10 days to respond to my request. This letter contradicts the Board’s assertion and Affidavit that the minutes were posted on April 29th. According to the Board’s letter, the Board was still looking for these minutes a week after my original request. If they couldn’t find them, how is the public expected to find them?
Thank you for your review of the Board’s failure to comply with the Maryland Open Meetings Act.
Janis Zink Sartucci
Parents’ Coalition of Montgomery County, MD
June 26, 2026
The Board of Education once again responds to this complaint and includes the footnote that if I had just requested the minutes they would have been produced, even thought that is exactly what I did.
Thousands of education dollars were spent to avoid producing legally required minutes. That’s education dollars that could have gone to MCPS classrooms.
