Dwight D Eisenhower Middle School

By Reform Sasscer Staff:

Some teachers at Dwight D Eisenhower Middle School, claim the district is trying to find the sources of information to our blog in order to oust them for speaking out against unfair practices. Teachers who did not want to be identified for fear of retaliation called the claims against them “nonsense” and said the district is trying to oust anyone for speaking out against deceptive practices. However, one teacher who wanted to remain anonymous said, the teachers at Dwight D Eisenhower Middle School were happy the truth was finally out.

Some of the teachers who did not want to be identified said they repeatedly raised internal concerns about teachers allegedly advancing racists tendencies on school grounds and the district leaders reportedly violating students’ civil rights by placing them into disciplinary action in some cases without proper due process.

However, Mr. Ronald Dortch who is the PTA President at Dwight D Eisenhower Middle School appears to be out of touch with reality. He was said to be unhappy when the story broke out. There are reports he engages external parties to raise money or other items and was afraid the school was looking bad. He was said to be upset with the exposure concerning racism at the school hence the reasons to make up wild allegations against the student whistle blower. While PTA members are not school employees, they are part of the school community. The alleged misconduct of pointing fingers by Mr. Dortch is deeply disappointing and betrays the trust the Dwight D Eisenhower Middle School community placed in him. Mr. Dortch must learn not to take public issues personally as victims of various shenanigans tied to racism have families too and deserve justice. Across the country, there have been many PTA Presidents or members of PTA with ties to the unions who have been arrested and charged for violating trust involving money and other issues tied to schools improvement.

Conflict of interest

At Dwight D Eisenhower Middle School, there are concerns that, Mr. Jonathan Mayhew who is a husband to Mrs. Laura Garon Mayhew, who also works as a Technology teacher at the school might have conflicts of interests. Situations involving conflicts of interest within the school system in Prince George’s County and the entire Maryland system are widespread. Allegations of cronyism, wasteful spending and other misconduct are roiling the entire school district including single source contracts which was reported widely in the media to be more than $78 million dollars.

“I believe that there are several factors which have contributed to the administration’s desire to retaliate against a student who blew the whistle in the first place and find sources of information in order to discipline teachers who have spoken out,” said a teachers who wanted to remain anonymous. “In my opinion, none of these factors are legitimate or reasonable. The fact remains that, there many issues which are being swept under the rug to the detriment of the entire system,” she added.

District’s claims

According to Mr. Dortch, he truly believes that we are damaging people’s lives without all of the facts. He stated in part that, “ALL of your stories appear to be one sided. You and the parent should be sued after these people are cleared of all charges. Did this parent tell you that her so called innocent daughter is accused of bullying students at DDEMS? But I guess since she is a black student bullying other students its ok. Are we now saying that a White Teacher can’t teach Black History? Are we now saying that a Black Teacher can’t teach students about Cinco de Mayo? If people would also educate their children and STOP thinking that education is only done at school, then students would be able to tell the difference between someone teaching them and someone trying to embarrass them. Parents need to stop treating school like it is a daycare. As long as their child is out of the house so they don’t have to deal with them. I challenge any adult to visit a school and just try to make an open announcement to the students and see just how disrespected they will be treated. I am in no way defending anyone that is a racist, but I have know Mrs. Mayhew and the staff at DDEMS and LHS for seven years and I know that what you said about both of these schools are NOT true……..” statement stated in part.

Widespread Fraud involves the Unions and Laurel Area Schools

On or around June 2011, Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) in conspiracy with Association of Supervisory & Administrative School Personnel (ASASP) headed by Dwayne Jones Principal of Laurel High School engaged in a scheme. The scheme involved Dr. Monica Goldson and other external parties led by O’Neal Law Firm of Ardra O’Neal engaged in a wide ranging scheme and bribery to defeat justice for employees.

The Fraudulent scheme and conspiracy involved Office of the legal counsel and Thatcher Law Firm in which a transcriber company was hired to sabotage the hearings of employees at the systems Headquarters at Sasscer.  Transcripts for the hearings involving employees where changed or omitted major facts to advance the shenanigans and protect Dwayne Jones. Some of the omitted facts even though acknowledged involved extra marital affairs involving Mr. Dwayne Jones and Debrah Toppins. Shortly after the hearings, any lawyer who tried to represent these employees was bribed after the Thatcher Law Firm was given a “no bid contract” for more than $5 million dollars. Many local employees are not getting the justice they deserve due to public corruption in Prince George’s County with ties to racism. The public corruption starts on an administrative level and is connected to local politicians which has been an ongoing concern for many years.

Employees’ protection

Employees enjoy protection from retaliation under the law for a host of actions in the workplace. State and federal laws protect employees from retaliation for complaints of unlawful discrimination, for seeking reasonable accommodations for disabilities, for taking protected family and medical leave, and from whistleblowing or refusing to engage in illegal activities. The web of legal protections from retaliation is comprehensive and fact-specific, and you should contact a qualified employment attorney if you believe you are being retaliated because of your legally protected activity at work.

You Have Rights to Protect You from Workplace Retaliation

Workplace protections from retaliation can be very broad. Not only do laws against retaliation protect employees from termination, but usually also provide protection from an employer taking an adverse action that would “dissuade a reasonable employee” from complaining about their legal rights. As a result, adverse actions can include termination, refusal to hire, denial of promotion, unjustified negative performance evaluations, or other threats or harassment.

Under civil rights laws, an employee engages in protected activity by opposing unlawful discrimination or harassment, or participating in an employment discrimination proceeding. An employee opposes discrimination when they complain about unlawful discrimination or harassment, threaten to file a complaint, or refuse to obey an order they reasonably believe is discriminatory. An employee participates in a proceeding when they file a complaint of unlawful discrimination or harassment, cooperate with an internal or external investigation of discrimination or harassment, or serve as a witness in an investigation or litigation. Each of these can amount to “protected activity” for the purposes of retaliation under county, state, and federal anti-discrimination laws, such as the District of Columbia Human Rights Act, Montgomery and Prince Georges County Human Rights Acts, Maryland State law, The Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”), the Civil Rights Act of 1866 (“Section 1981”), and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.

In the disability setting, employees can engage in “protected activity” by seeking accommodations for disabilities. Similarly, employees can gain protection from retaliation under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) by seeking or taking protected FMLA leave.

The number of laws protecting against retaliation for protected “whistleblowing” is very extensive. Those laws include the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989, the False Claims Act, the Sarbanes–Oxley Act, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and a host of other laws. State laws in the District of Columbia and Maryland also protect against retaliation in a variety of settings. Employees are protected from retaliation for collectively complaining about the terms of conditions of employment under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Importantly, public employees may not be retaliated against for exercising their rights to free speech under the United States Constitution. Employees are also protected from retaliation related to asserting their rights for health insurance or benefits provided under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2009.

Theresa Mitchell Dudley, president of the Prince George’s County Educator Association (PGCEA), who was recently elected as the first African American branch director from Prince George’s County of the National Educators Association (NEA) should show proper leadership and help address the local issues affecting staff at the area Laurel Schools. If there was any place to show proper leadership at the union level, it is here.

More to come!

Read more >>> PGCPS Teacher Under Fire Over Slavery Lesson – Administration is accused of cover ups.

Read more >>> Complaint From a Former PGCPS Employee

PTSA president Ronald Dortch for Dwight D Eisenhower Middle School (Shown here) has no idea on hostile environment currently in progress at Laurel schools. The community should be concerned he acting like a Principal while protecting illegal behavior currently in progress in the many PGCPS Schools. There are also worries that, he has been making wild allegations concerning a student without proper review of the issues affecting staff and students on rolling basis at Dwight D Eisenhower Middle School and at Laurel High School. Picture Courtesy Doug Kapustin / For Baltimore Sun Media Group

Dr. Monica Goldson is the current interim CEO and she is an unexperienced administrator in matters which involve hostile environment in a large school district. There are confirmed allegations of cover ups of many issues in progress in PGCPS.

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By Michael Quander

RIVERDALE, Md. — A Prince George’s County teacher exposed what appears to be decaying conditions at Parkdale High School.

Monica Brokenborough supplied photos that appear to show crumbling ceiling tiles, evidence of a rodent problem, and doors missing from bathroom stalls.

“I was absolutely shocked,” Brokenborough said. “The students have brought to my attention that a lot of their bathrooms actually resemble something that’s kind of comparable to a jail cell.”

Brokenborough told WUSA9 her students at Parkdale High School snapped pictures from inside of the boy’s and girl’s bathrooms.

The images showed doors missing from stalls, and one photo exhibited a partition that appeared to be ripped from the wall.

“There’s just a toilet sitting out in the open for the whole world to see,” Brokenborough described.

Brokenborough explained that the problems extended past the bathrooms and into the classrooms.

The music teacher supplied WUSA9 with pictures of holes in the walls, missing or broken ceiling tiles, and spots in her classroom where she put duct tape over mouse holes.

“There’s been a couple of times where my classes had to evacuate because of the presence of a rodent,” Brokenborough said.

Findings in a school climate survey from 2017 revealed most students believed the school was not clean.

More than half of the students surveyed agreed that the bathrooms were not cleaned or maintained well.

The school does the climate survey every two years, according to the website for Prince George’s County Public Schools.

New survey results are expected to be published in Fall 2019.

Prince George’s County Schools sent us this statement regarding the issues:

Work orders were issued two to three months ago for the repairs in question (i.e., bathroom stall and classroom). Regarding the bathroom, the project was delayed pending ordering of the replacement part. Other bathrooms in the school are fully operational. We expect both the classroom ceiling tiles and bathroom partition to be replaced within 30 days. Our environmental teams confirmed today there is no rodent infestation at the school. 

Via WUSA 9

Parkdale High Sschool Principal response after the WUSA9 news story…

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A car was sandwiched between a truck and a Prince George’s County school bus. The driver of the car is dead.

A woman in a car was killed and more people, including two students, were injured in a crash in Clinton, Maryland, involving a truck and a Prince George’s County school bus, police say.

Six people, including two high school students and the bus driver, were taken to the hospital with injuries that are not considered life-threatening, Prince George’s Fire Department spokesperson Mark Brady said.

Two people refused transportation to the hospital.

A preliminary investigation shows that a tractor-trailer was traveling south on Route 5, or Branch Avenue, and all other vehicles were travelling near the intersection on Surratts Road when the crash occurred about 6:15 a.m., police say.

The school bus was headed toward Charles H. Flowers High School, Prince George’s County Public Schools says. Video shows it was struck on the side and faced serious damage to the front.

The truck was knocked onto its side, spilling its contents over the road. A Hyunday was smashed between the bus and the truck, badly mangled.

The driver of the Hyundai was killed, police said. Her body was extracted after several hours.

Witness Marvin Simpson, who caught video of the impact on his dashboard camera, said the driver of the truck quickly climbed out and went to check on the car.

The truck driver’s wife, Jeanine Guzman, said her husband is a safe driver who has driven trucks for a long time.

“He doesn’t smoke; he doesn’t drink. Nothing,” she said.

Prince George’s County Police Chief Hank Stawinski pointed out that the intersection is sloped on each side and compared it to the bottom of a bowl, making it extra dangerous.

“If you’re texting while driving, if you’re not buckled up, this is one of those places that because of the geography you can have worse outcomes,” Stawinski said.

A hazardous materials team was called to clean up fluids leaking from the vehicles, Prince George’s County Fire said.

All southbound lanes were closed during the investigation and clean up; only one northbound lane was open for a time.

Maryland State Police initially said there were no students on board the bus.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

The collision closed Maryland Route 5/Branch Avenue for much of the morning, and a hazardous materials team assisted with the cleanup.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation.

Below is dashcam video of the fatal crash, which some might find disturbing.

(Published Wednesday, April 10, 2019)

Read more  via >>> WTOP   via >>> NBC4 

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former PGCPS Executive and current Metro Schools Director Dr. Shawn Joseph

One of the former PGCPS Executive and current Metro Schools Director Dr. Shawn Joseph who helped cover up corruption through Dr. Lilian Lowery and transferred the same shenanigan in Nashville, Tennessee has been forced out of the job.

On or around June 2011, Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) in conspiracy with Association of Supervisory & Administrative School Personnel (ASASP) headed by Dwayne Jones Principal of Laurel High School engaged in a widespread scheme involving high level executives at Sasscer. The scheme involved Dr. Monica Goldson and other external parties led by O’Neal Law Firm of Ardra O’Neal affianced in a wide ranging plot and bribery to defeat justice for employees. Dr. Shawn Joseph who later joined the PGCPS District at the beckoning of Dr. Lilian Lowery was also part of the mix in the same scheme.

The fraudulent scheme and conspiracy involved Office of the legal counsel and Thatcher Law Firm in which a transcriber company was hired to sabotage the hearings of employees at the systems Headquarters at Sasscer.  Transcripts for the hearings involving employees where changed and omitted major facts to advance the shenanigans and protect Dwayne Jones. Some of the omitted facts even acknowledged extra marital affairs involving Mr. Dwayne Jones and Debrah Toppins. Shortly after the hearings, any lawyer who tried to represent these employees was bribed after the Thatcher Law Firm and was given a “no bid contract” for more than $5 million dollars. Many local employees are not getting the justice they deserve due to public corruption in Prince George’s County ties to discrimination. The public corruption in Prince George’s county public schools starts on an administrative level and is interconnected to local lawyers with ties to some local politicians, which has been an ongoing concern for many years.

In retaliation for exposing their shenanigans in this blog, the current interim CEO Dr. Monica Goldson ordered this blog to be blocked in the PGCPS network and other parts globally on or around November 2018 in order to minimize their expose of their illegal agenda.

Shawn Joseph’s departure from Tennessee, due to similar issues and public corruption fiasco connected to Maryland and Denver, Colorado is a wake up call in Maryland. While major issues are interconnected, local issues are playing out around this case. The recent indictment of Gregory B. Craig, President Obama’s first White House Counsel shows that while Robert Mueller’s investigation may be over, its effects will continue to ripple outward across the Washington DC metro area for a long time. Paul Manafort’s prosecution was a wake-up call for Washington lobbyists and Craig’s indictment is sounding the alarm for attorneys engaged in a widespread bribery using unaccountable money meant for public schools in a town full of them.

Attorney Ardra O’Neal is involved in criminal undertaking of defrauding employees while working closely with employers including PGCPS in malicious undertaking. Employees and other citizens be aware of her shenanigans. She is involved in Self-dealing and fraud. Self – Dealing may involve misappropriation or usurpation of corporate assets or opportunities.  Anyone who has been a victim of her mischief is asked to report her fraudulent schemes to the law enforcement agencies at the earliest opportunity. In addition, she needs to be reported to the bar counsel ASAP!

Monica Goldson (seen here) The culture of corruption which began in Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) under Dr. Monica Goldson as part of an organized scheme promises to be a disaster according to the reports from Tennessee. The well connected individuals saw several executives transfer to Tennessee in high level corruption. The current fiasco currently in progress in Prince George’s County in which millions disappeared has ties to Tennessee. Corruption erodes trust in government and undermines the social contract. Tennessee citizens just like Maryland citizens are demanding for Transparency,  accountability and sanctions to the corrupt executives after state and Federal laws were broken willfully in both states.

We reprint the report by newschannel-5 article below:

Metro Schools Director Dr. Shawn Joseph

By: Phil Williams

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — It’s the end of the road for Metro Schools Director Dr. Shawn Joseph — a road dotted by legal and ethical potholes.

Under the terms of his buyout deal with the school board, Friday, April 12, is his last day.

But Joseph’s journey as Nashville’s first African-American director of schools began in July 2016 amid high expectations — with the school board essentially giving him a blank check.

“I think that Dr. Joseph needs to do whatever he needs to do to make sure that we are successful,” then-chair Anna Shepherd said.

Within months, there were ethical questions.

When NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked about the qualifications of the people he brought with him from Maryland, Joseph directed staff not to answer those questions – saying the district should wait and attack the reporter’s methods.

A school maintenance worker was also directed to work on Joseph’s house.

An email showed he would be “on the clock,” working at taxpayer expense. Joseph blamed his assistant.

“I hold myself to the highest level of integrity,” the schools director told NewsChannel 5 Investigates in October 2016.

We asked, “So where did she get the idea that he would be on the clock? Did that come from you?”

“No,” he insisted, “and that’s what I corrected it in an email.”

Joseph still ordered the man’s supervisors to allow him to modify his work schedule to work at the director’s house.

That fall, our investigation caught the schools director using a bus driver to chauffeur him around town — including for personal errands — with taxpayers paying for the driver to wait and wait .

But when we tried to show him the video, he walked out of the interview.

“This is one of the few districts where I’ve ever worked where the number of vacancies goes up instead of down,” former Metro Schools administrator Mo Carrasco told NewsChannel 5 Investigates in December 2017.

“People are leaving. People are not happy. And we keep saying to people that everything is great and we’re making progress. We are not making progress.”

Those comments come just before Carrasco, one of the director’s longtime friends, resigned amid a sexual harassment investigation.

On his way out, Carrasco raised questions about how Joseph was spending the district’s money.

“I made a statement one day to some of the executive staff that we have too many contracts, too many consultants in the district,” he added.

“They are running into each other, and I don’t think that was taken very well.”

Our investigation later discovered Joseph’s team had hired consultant friends , sometimes without contracts, sometimes without getting the required board approvals .

When two school board members, Jill Speering and Amy Frogge, requested an independent audit last April, Joseph lashed out, accusing them of behaving inappropriately and risking a potential lawsuit.

“It’s a lawsuit when you are inappropriately pointing people out and making comments that are not appropriate,” he argued.

Frogge responded, “I am doing my job, and I am not inappropriate.”

Last summer, two Metro Schools employees went public with horrific sexual harassment allegations against principal Sam Braden .

The district’s own files showed there was lots of evidence.

Still, Joseph’s team did nothing until after our investigation aired and then only under pressure from school board members.

After repeated interview requests were declined, NewsChannel 5 Investigates tracked down the schools director.

“Did you drop the ball?” we asked.

“I did not drop the ball,” he answered, refusing to answer any specific questions.

To try to calm the controversy, Joseph later convinced the school board to sign a $100,000 contract with a Nashville law firm to review the district’s Human Resources Department.

Then, a secret recording caught him hinting to school bus drivers that they should vote against vice mayor candidate Sheri Weiner, potentially in violation of state law.

In September 2018, new school board member Fran Bush had questions about Joseph’s continued use of a school bus driver as a chauffeur while a bus driver shortage left kids sometimes waiting for long periods to get home from school.

Our investigation discovered that Joseph’s account of how he used the driver did not match records provided by his office.

“I clearly think, at this point, learning about this information, we need to open up an investigation,” Bush told NewsChannel 5 Investigates.

As Joseph’s relationship with a few board members continued to sour, our investigation uncovered new questions about his ties to a company that got a $1 million, no-bid contract in violation of state law.

The district bought the student assessment software, then did not require schools to actually use it.

Then, NewsChannel 5 Investigates obtained the law firm’s confidential HR report, which warned the district is facing a morale crisis that threatens its ability to attract and keep good employees.

And a group of teachers decided to go public, suggesting that Joseph’s discipline policies were making their jobs harder.

“Students are in school and they are disruptive and they are running through the halls and they are using profanity and hurting other students,” guidance counselor Constance Wade said during a Teacher Town Hall.

Through it all, the schools director never took personal responsibility for any of the controversies.

In fact, he blamed NewsChannel 5 Investigates of trying to create hysteria over the sexual harassment issue.

“Let me tell you, what I don’t respect about you, my friend, is that you like to try to create unnecessary narratives on very important topics to try to create this hysteria,” Joseph told us last year.

“You should be ashamed of yourself.”

More recently, he had suggested to support employees that they should not be airing the district’s business in public — a lesson he said his mother taught him as a child.

“I told you about my mom with her little belt thing,” Joseph said during a town hall hosted by the Service Employees International Union, Local 205.

“She said, ‘I wish you would tell somebody our business outside in the streets. We handle stuff right in this house.'”

Via NEWSNEWSCHANNEL 5