MCPS Sexual Misconduct Report Too Heavily Redacted, MoCo Officials Say

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — Montgomery County Council President Andrew Friedson wants county schools to submit a less redacted version of an investigative report into sexual misconduct in the school system, according to reports.

The investigative report into allegations of sexual misconduct by MCPS principal Joel Beidleman, released in October, was heavily redacted, with pages and paragraphs completely blacked out.

“Unless there’s a specific legal reason not to do it, we would like to see the unredacted report,” Friedson said during a media briefing on Monday, MoCo360 reported Monday.

The Montgomery County Council is scheduled to hold a joint session of the Education and Culture Committee and the Audit Committee on Feb. 8 to discuss a separate Jan. 23 report from the Office of the Inspector General that found several deficiencies in the way MCPS deals with complaints.

In an interview with Fox 5, Councilmember Evan Glass also said the MCPS should release an unredacted version of the October report. The full report from October, which was managed by the Jackson Lewis law firm, could show if anyone participated in a cover-up of the sexual assault allegations, Glass told Fox 5.

At the Feb. 8 hearing, Friedson said councilmembers will “be asking tough questions,” MoCo360 reported.

“We’ll be following up on what happened, what is happening and what will happen in response to the findings of [the OIG] report and the prior reports and the issues,” Friedson said. “We’ll continue to push for increased accountability and transparency. We know that that’s what our educators and our families and our staff members deserve.”

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