Maryland State School Superintendent Karen Salmon stepping down in June amid widespread Public Corruption.

State Superintendent of Maryland Schools Dr. Karen B. Salmon is not seeking another four-year contract, the state school board chair announced Tuesday afternoon.

Baltimore, Md. (Reform Sasscer) – Maryland State Schools Superintendent Karen Salmon, who oversaw the introduction of a complex new school accountability system and helped cover up misconduct in Prince George’s County, will step down in June. The state school board chair, (rt. Air Force Brig. Gen. Warner I. Sumpter) announced her resignation, Tuesday afternoon.

Baltimore sun was among the first newspapers to report.  However, details on public corruption in Prince George’s county linked to the Maryland state Board of Education were missing.

Salmon had until Dec. 1 to inform the board whether she would seek another four-year contract when she informed Sumpter that she would leave.

“She did contact me before that date, just decided that she preferred to move on. As far as I know, if she had shown an interest, the board would have voted for her to remain. “She has done a tremendous job,” Sumpter said according to Baltimore sun.

Former state board member Andy Smarick, who served as chair during her tenure, agreed.

“Dr. Salmon is a top-flight administrator — one of the most able public-sector managers I’ve seen,” said Smarick. “She is also a lifelong educator who cares a great deal about kids and public schools.”

However, Smarick’s statement was contradicted by an email cc’d to Dr. Salmon on June 27th, 2019 by Josephat Mua. This email highlighted various aspects of ongoing public corruption involving Dr. Godson and problems in Prince George’s County Public Schools in which the state Superintendent Salmon failed to act. (See attachment email at the bottom).

Maryland Superintendent Karen Salmon, Montpelier Elementary School Principal Carla Furlow and Prince George’s County school CEO Monica Goldson mark the first day of school.(WTOP/Kate Ryan)

Inadequate Monitoring

Corruption thrives where principals (the rank and file) cannot effectively control their agents (union officers) or hold them accountable. External monitoring of union officers is weak as seen in Prince George’s County. Past reports concerning union corruption have pointed out that “it is all too easy for racketeers to control and exploit, in part because there is no effective mechanism for policing internal union affairs. The Landrum-Griffin Act was passed in an attempt to assure that workers would be represented by democratic unions” (Goldstock et al. 1990, 49).

In the 1980s, congressional hearings surfaced sharp criticism of the Department of Labor’s failure to monitor unions and their pension and welfare funds effectively (Jacobs and Mullin 2003). Because the Department of Labor’s “primary mission is to resolve labor-management problems [,] this necessarily requires good working relations with high-ranking labor officials and makes investigating and enforcing the complaints . . . against top labor officials at best awkward and, at worst, a conflict of interest” (Goldstock et al. 1990, 181).

Career of over 40 years of work in public education

Salmon did not say whether she is retiring, but a statement released from the Maryland State Department of Education said, “This culminates a distinguished career of over 40 years of work in public education.”

The search for a replacement will begin almost immediately with the hiring of a search firm, Sumpter said.

“This is usually the time of the year when most school systems are looking for their superintendents,” he said, “so the quicker you move the better off you are to bring in the largest pool of candidates.”

Salmon, whose job involves helping set education policy for the state, brought some stability to a bureaucracy that had had four superintendents in five years when she arrived in 2016. Before that leadership turnover, Nancy Grasmick held the job for two decades.

Salmon will leave on June 30, 2020, when her contract expires. By state regulations, superintendents in Maryland are all appointed for four-year terms that begin July 1.

When she was hired in 2016, the state was designing a new accountability system that would assign stars to schools. She oversaw the release of the second set of data on Tuesday, hours before the announcement that she would be leaving.

The school board voted unanimously in public to hire the former Talbot County superintendent more than three years ago, however, behind closed doors some board members had reservations. She had years of experience in education on the Eastern Shore before taking a job briefly in New York State. Salmon was an interim deputy state superintendent in Maryland before becoming superintendent. She continued to live in Talbot County, commuting to either Baltimore or a state office in Annapolis for work. In the early stages of her tenure, she worked closely under corrupt previous State Superintendent Dr. Lilian Lowery, who resigned under a cloud of corruption.

One of Salmon’s more controversial decisions came in May 2018 when Salmon blocked the Baltimore County school board’s appointment of Verletta White, a long-time educator in the county as the school’s superintendent. The move was unusual because state superintendents have rarely intervened in a local school board hiring process.

In this case, Salmon said the county had not completed an audit of contracts following the conviction of former superintendent Dallas Dance. White had worked for Dance.

Dr. William Hite Jr fiasco with Monica

However, there appears to have been a double standard when it came to PGCPS CEO Dr. Monica Goldson. Goldson engaged in well-known misconduct with Dr. William Hite Jr. during Dr. William Hite’s tenure in PGCPS. Goldson left her husband and filed for divorce due to an affair. Confirmed reports say that Dr. Monica Goldson was dating Dr. William Hite Jr when she initiated her divorce proceedings from her husband Mr. Lyndell Goldson on or around 11/03/2008. ( See Case # CAD08-32088 GOLDSON VS GOLDSON). For those who are not familiar with Dr. William Hite Jr, the corruption in Prince George’s County was fueled by him, and this blog initiated a vote of “No confidence.” Consequently, he left the county ASAP due to serious issues he was engaged in. (See Some leaders in PGCPS – Heart of the problems in Schools) Before transferring to Philly, local investigations were partially done on Dr. William Hite and issues covered up. Dr. William Hite promoted Monica Goldson before he left and was pulling the strings from afar in PGCPS for many years and still does. Dr. Hite then jumped ship out of fear of being fired and prosecuted for money laundering, willful neglect of duty inter alia. There was a $10 million bribe scheme tied to Prince George’s County Community College’s President, Dr. Charlene Dukes. Dukes was bribed by Dr. William Hite in order to advance corruption and interfere with the judgment of Josephat Mua.  

Once established in  Philadelphia School District, he has been misusing the district to advance his own personal interest at the expense of the public. Here he has been calling the shots in PGCPS from afar. This kind of willful misconduct does not advance goodwill for the people of Maryland. Prince George’s County citizenry must reject this kind of arrangement and demand proper investigations. In addition, Dr. Monica Goldson should resign as a CEO for Prince George’s County Schools.

Ever since Dr. Monica Goldson was appointed PGCPS CEO, there has been widespread interference of Federal and State laws to suit her illegal agenda. However, Dr. Salmon has largely looked the other way despite clear and convincing evidence of willful neglect of duty. The union’s executives currently in Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS), Theresa Dudley of Prince George’s County Education Association (PGCEA), Doris Reed of Association of Supervisory and Administrative School Personnel (ASASP), and Mr. James Spears of ACE-AFSCME Local 2250 have been compromised. This interference might be having an impact on parents, teachers, students and other staff in Prince George’s County. Personnel well connected to the executives are well received and covered up by the unions, while others who try to report wrongdoing within the county organization are victimized and fired.

In other words, the role of the Unions in Prince George’s County has become meaningless due to personal greed, as reported earlier. It’s a timely reminder that in Monica Goldson’s vision, public service is an amorphous concept. What matters, from the CEO’s perspective, is service to her. Loyalty to the county, state, nation and the rule of law are nice ideas, but CEO Monica Goldson expects and demands fealty to her and her own interests – above all other considerations. The entire Prince George’s County school district is a very hostile work environment due to all cover ups. Many teachers and administrators are gearing for mass transfers in addition to some taking legal actions to protect themselves due to the effect of the corrupt unions.

Furthermore, the union corruption, which is well known in this county and facilitated by senior administrators such as President Charlene Dukes of Prince George’s County Community college and others connected to her at the Maryland State Board of Education, is not helping with matters. In addition, not surprisingly corrupt union officials, whether or not connected to organized crime figures, engage in “ordinary” organizational corruption, such as misappropriation of funds. The most distinctive form of corruption by union officials is taking employers’ bribes to ignore violations of the collective bargaining contract as happens in PGCPS in many cases, or even to allow employers to operate nonunion. This must end ASAP and the racist management of the Maryland State Education Association (MSEA) must be reformed to include minorities in Maryland.

Political Corruption legalized by the Maryland State Institutions.

When discussing corruption in the Governor Larry Hogan era, it’s easy to focus on the most flagrant examples such as the real estate fiasco in Prince George’s County. In his statement yesterday, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan stated he has been leading the fight for more accountability, pushing to raise academic standards and to root out mismanagement and corruption in local school systems. However, his statement is contradicted by his own administration in which the Maryland Court system is being used to punish teachers, parents, and other staff members who have spoken out against public corruption prevailing in Maryland. Easier to miss is the more innocuous and pedestrian ways that money—especially large sums of it—shapes American political corruption.

The State of Maryland working in conspiracy with Prince George’s County public schools and the county government is involved in a shameful display of shenanigans in which PGCPS and Unions executives have engaged in willful misconduct which is currently being covered up by the state. For example, court judgment orders are being used to shield nominal parties starting with Dr. Monica Goldson, (CEO) Prince George’s County Public Schools, Dr. William R. Hite Jr, Pirre D. Dickson, Synthia J Shillings, Roger Thomas, ACE-AFSCME Local 2250, American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, (AFSCME). They ought to by law and in equity to be fully bound and obligated to answer charges and crimes in which they committed without being protected through the court by judges whom they are said to be bribing. For example, the order issued by the Maryland Court of Special Appeals in the case brought by Josephat Mua against PGCPS, Dr. Monica Goldson, Dr. William Hite Jr, et al, lists the wrong case No. CAL11369952 instead of CAL1136992. The order issued by the Maryland Court of Special Appeals lists the Board of Education for Prince George’s County as Appellee and not Appellees. The Judgment dated and entered in the above-entitled action on 9th, July 2019 should be amended to include Dr. Monica Goldson and Dr. William Hite Jr. as additional parties who engaged in willful misconduct as Defendants.

This is public corruption driven by the state and Prince George’s County citizens must stand up and demand answers because institutional racism is involved in various agencies within the state.

Willful miscon­duct occurs when a person intentionally acts or fails to act knowing that (his, her) conduct will probably result in injury or damage. Willful misconduct can also occur when “a person acts in so reckless a manner or fails to act in circumstances where an act is clearly required, so as to indicate disregard of (his, her) action or inaction. A party claiming willful misconduct must show an “intentional act of unreasonable character performed in disregard of a known or obvious risk so great as to make it highly probable that harm would result.” The willful misconduct standard is similar to the gross negligence standard; however, it focuses more on the harm that a party’s action or inaction caused.

In addition, the parents and Prince George’s County employees must demand action due to the Union shenanigans currently at play in Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) and illegal interference of the Maryland court system. At the moment, local court systems are hijacked by the cartels and tied to union corruption due to a lack of external monitoring of union officers in Maryland.

The American legal court system is supposed to address various grievances without fear or favor and it’s supposed to interpret the laws of the land to reduce the reality or appearance of corruption in American political, social, economic frameworks. In recent years, however, this regulatory regime has lent corruption a legal structure in which to flourish.

The announcement of Salmon’s departure was made at the state school board meeting in Baltimore. Sumpter said he would like to hire a replacement by April, if possible.

Call your local elected representatives and state officials. Demand answers ASAP on PGCPS shenanigans led by PGCEA, MSEA, AFSCME International and ASASP Union corruption currently in progress in Prince George’s County! Demand corrective actions immediately. #Resist #DrMonicaGoldsonResign 

(More on this developing story later)

• Read more>>> Fiasco after PGCPS Bowie High School teacher charged with sexual abuse of former student
• Read more >>>PGCPS Largo High Sch teacher arrested after major fight 
• Read more >>> Update: PGCPS Largo Teacher Charged with Assaulting Student
• Read more >>> Prince George’s County special ed teacher among 27 charged in federal drug bust in DC area
• Read more >>> ‘Corruption in Plain Sight’- Prince George’s County Cannot Afford the Kirwan Plan – Or Much Else

Welcome back, Maryland! Dr. Salmon paid @pgcps a visit on the official first day of school! Dr. Salmon spent time at Montpelier Elementary School and Largo High School along with Dr. Monica Goldson, Chief Executive Officer. Thanks for your hospitality! #BackToSchoolMD pic.twitter.com/zyYNP3IHRo

— Maryland State Department of Education (@MdPublicSchools) September 7, 2019

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