By MAGGIE BRADY
Farquhar Middle School principal Joel Beidleman was promoted to principal of Paint Branch High School in June of 2023, despite MCPS receiving six complaints about his behavior in the past year. In total, MCPS has received at least 18 reports of workplace abuse or harassment against Beidleman. These reports included a “pattern of harassment, threats, retaliation, workplace bullying and other inappropriate conduct spanning at least 12 years across three campuses,” according to an investigation by The Washington Post that brought this story to the public this summer.
According to the Post, these reports first came in 2016, but MCPS did not begin an investigation into Beidleman until 2020, which is when the school district found that he did not violate their sexual misconduct policy. Prior to his promotion, Beidleman worked as an assistant principal at Roberto Clemente, Lakelands Park, and as principal at Farquhar Middle School, where most of the reports stem from.
Teachers and parents have made claims that Beidleman made inappropriate comments towards them and their children. “During two Jan. 31, 2018, assemblies for seventh- and eighth-grade students and staff, Beidleman lamented that Farquhar girls were dressing and acting ‘like hos and thots,’’ according to The Post. Multiple staff members left their jobs because “he berated, humiliated or yelled at staff frequently.”
Despite numerous reports accumulating over several years, MCPS did not officially put him on a leave of absence until June of 2023, after The Post began asking questions about the allegations due to Beidleman’s promotion.
Since then, MCPS has hired attorneys to conduct independent internal investigations, in which investigators interviewed nearly 60 current and former employees and collected more than 30,000 documents. The Board of Education had investigators look into “whether senior MCPS personnel received or were aware of complaints prior to the promotion; whether any such complaints were appropriately investigated; what, if any, actions MCPS took in response to those complaints; and whether those complaints affected the promotion process.”
A summary of the report stated that multiple members of the administration, who were part of the promotion process, did not “inquire about the specific nature of the allegations against Beidleman including their disposition.” The report summary also stated that those same administrators “failed to take any remedial action or promptly notify the Board once they knew specific details about the allegations.”
Key members of the school system’s leadership learned details about the investigation by July 19 but did not share that information with the Board until August 4. There is no evidence that the Board was aware of the pending investigation, the disposition of the investigation, or any other allegations relating to Beidleman before his promotion on June 23.
The report also found that “although the district received many informal complaints against Beidleman, it investigated only the claims of misconduct filed to the central office on a specific form and ignored the rest,” said The Post. The school district ignored multiple anonymous complaints because they weren’t “formal complaints” submitted on the proper paperwork.
These findings “detail significant and troubling failures by senior management in MCPS,” said Karla Silvestre, president of the Montgomery County Board of Education.
The failures by senior management “fits with the pattern that a lot of people believe this is not the first time that this has happened,” said County Executive Marc Elrich in an interview with WTOP News.
As for what’s next, MCPS Superintendent Monifa McKnight said in a statement to WTOP: “In the coming days, I’ll be announcing a series of swift and immediate actions I’ll be prepared to take to ensure accountability. I will also be working closely with my team to develop a comprehensive corrective action plan, as directed by the Board.”
October 2023
The Prowler 