BOE to Parents & Guardians: Shut Up and Go Away. Board changes public notice and input rules in Closed Sessions.
Board will change time for releasing Board Resolutions and Documents, and restrict public comment on Thursday, July 16, 2026.
by Janis Zink Sartucci
On Thursday, July 16, 2026, the Montgomery County Board of Education will make changes to their Board Handbook that dictates how meetings are run, how public comment is accommodated, and how agendas are made public.
Last year when the Board Handbook was changed the Board of Education first heard about changes at a Board meeting (September 4, 2025), then voted on the changes at a subsequent meeting (September 25, 2025). But there was ZERO public discussion of the changes. The changes were voted on in a unanimous vote of the Board members present without any discussion.
The Board members, however, did discuss the changes to the Board Handbook, but behind closed doors in a Closed Session. The Board deemed this discussion to not be of interest to parents and guardians. Keep in mind that Closed Sessions of the Board of Education are a choice. There is no law that mandates the discussion of the Board Handbook be done behind closed doors. When the vote was taken on September 25th, there was no Resolution for the Action item on the Agenda.
This year, once again, the Board of Education will be making changes to the Board Handbook that impact parents and guardians.
Once again, we can expect that these changes will be discussed and finalized in a Closed Session. On July 16th, the Board’s Closed Session will be held before the meeting begins so that public comment on these changes will be after the Board has discussed this Action Item in secret. Again, no Resolution has been posted for the July 16th Board meeting relating to the changes to the Board Handbook.
The changes to the Board Handbook this year are being discussed in MCCPTA and on parent sites. Below are two action alerts about these changes.
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From MCCPTA:
This Thursday, 7/16, the Board is poised to vote on their new handbook, which lays out their responsibilities and policies as Board members.
If you look closely at the redline, most of the proposed changes are to timelines around public engagement: https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/DVQG9342A6AD/$file/Board%20Handbook%202026-2027%20(Redline).pdf
You can see these redlines clearly reflected in the final draft: https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/DVTSPY73B628/$file/1306.26_BOE_Handbook.pdf
The top areas of concern are:
On pages 27 and 36, they discuss the timeline for making meeting materials available. Current guidance is that they be available in advance or on the Friday before the meeting (we all know they don’t meet that goal, but it is what is in the book). The new draft merely says “prior” without a timeline, meaning that they don’t need to post them until that item comes up for discussion.
On pages 39-40, they discuss public comment. The negative change here is that in the previous version it said “When the Board receives more requests than the allotted number of testimony slots available, first priority will be given to individuals who have not testified in the past 30 days.” This is being recommended to change to “at any of the past four Board business meetings or regular work sessions,” which works out to two months.
