The Montgomery County Office of the Inspector General presented Publication 26-01 at the Audit Committee meeting, identifying gaps in Montgomery County Public Schools’ Background Screening Office (BSO) that left thousands of employees, contractors and some volunteers without current checks or continuous monitoring.

Inspector General Megan Lamarzee told the committee the review produced “5 findings and 8 recommendations” and found that MCPS was not monitoring criminal histories for all employees and had not ensured that required initial checks for some contractors and volunteers were completed before work began.

The finding matters because Maryland law bars schools from hiring or retaining people convicted of certain enumerated crimes and requires criminal-history and child-protective-services (CPS) screenings for people with unsupervised access to students. The inspector general’s report flagged that records and monitoring intended to meet those legal obligations had gaps and gave a set of recommendations for MCPS and its partners.

MCPS officials and county health partners briefed the committee on immediate steps and timelines. Superintendent Taylor said the district had moved to “great haste” to address the problems and described the work as fundamental: “none of us should be here today talking about this issue. That this is so fundamental to what school systems should do.”

What the audit found and MCPS’s response

Lamarzee said BSO’s announced review began after the IG office observed procurement records that required contractors who might have unsupervised access to students to have background checks. The IG reported that, as of November 2024, 12,655 active MCPS staff had not been re-fingerprinted and enrolled in the FBI Rapback continuous-monitoring program, meaning some employees had not had a Rapback or re-screening since 2019. The IG also reported that certain contractors had begun or completed work without required checks and that some volunteers who are required to have criminal-history checks were not consistently sent to BSO for those checks.

On CPS screening specifically, the IG reported a backlog figure of 4,900 paper CPS applications as of March 31, 2025. DHHS social-services staff told the committee they had completed 62.3 percent of that paper backlog (3,052 applications) as of a September 12 status update and expected the remaining paper backlog to be completed by Nov. 30, 2025.

MCPS said its own data cleaning produced a different, more granular inventory than the IG’s initial snapshots. Esi McGuire, MCPS chief of staff, said the district’s current assessment identified about 14,000 employees who need re‑screening in some form: roughly 10,000 school‑based and about 3,400 non‑school‑based employees. McGuire told the committee, “Every MCPS employee has had at least 1, if not more, in some cases, criminal history fingerprint background check.” She added the problem was that many employees hired before MCPS enrolled in Rapback in 2019 had not been re‑fingerprinted for continuous monitoring.

District progress and timelines

MCPS described a cluster-by-cluster, school‑by‑school rescreening campaign that began in June and accelerated over the summer. The district reported it had rescreened more than 1,600 employees and completed rescreening in 32 schools since June. MCPS officials said they are prioritizing school‑based staff and expect to complete rescreening of all school‑based employees before winter break and finish central‑office and other non‑school based staff in the spring. The district also rolled out a vertical, color‑coded badge system to indicate enhanced clearance status.

DHHS and state partners’ role

Oscar Mendez, a Montgomery County social‑services official, described an interagency effort with state Social Services Administration and the county DHHS. He said state staff helped by accepting batches of paper applications and by deploying personnel to assist with data entry; DHHS reported having increased staff to process short‑term needs. Mendez told the committee that, after moving to the state portal and digital submissions (effective July 2025), new applications are being processed electronically to avoid re‑creating a paper backlog. He said of the paper backlog: “We are very confident that by November 30, all of the backlog paper applications will be completed.”

Child‑protective‑services vs. criminal checks

MCPS leaders and DHHS staff explained the distinction between criminal fingerprint checks (which identify arrests and convictions, including the state’s list of 14 disqualifying offenses) and CPS “indicated” findings (administrative/state determinations that an act of abuse or neglect was supported by evidence under COMAR and Family Law rules). Kaylin Connolly, MCPS chief of talent management, summarized the difference: Maryland law specifies the disqualifying criminal offenses that bar hiring, while CPS “indicated” findings follow a separate review process. Lisa Merkin, DHHS senior administrator for child welfare services, told the committee “an indicated finding is based on the Code of Maryland regulation, COMAR, that there is sufficient evidence that an act of abuse or neglect occurred.”

Incidents identified so far

MCPS said its rescreening work had identified one current employee with a state‑disqualifying criminal offense and two current employees with CPS indicated findings; those cases are being handled through MCPS’s Department of Compliance and Investigations and the district’s due‑process procedures. The district stressed it would follow contractual and disciplinary processes for existing employees and would not summarize personnel investigations beyond what is allowed under personnel rules.

Policy, oversight and next steps

MCPS told the committee it will codify background‑screening procedures in policy and regulation and bring a policy package to the Board of Education in December. The Office of Inspector General will perform a 90‑day follow‑up check (the IG noted a status report due Nov. 3) and continue monitoring the implementation of recommendations. DHHS said it will continue biweekly coordination meetings with the district and state partners.

Volunteers and contractors

MCPS said it uses a tiered approach for volunteers and contractors: brief or supervised volunteers (e.g., one‑time event helpers) are handled at school level; ongoing but supervised volunteers must complete child abuse and neglect (CAN) training; volunteers or contractors with unsupervised access must complete CAN training and submit fingerprint and CPS screenings. MCPS said it has trained volunteer liaisons in 136 of 211 schools to track completions and that the district is centralizing volunteer guidance and training materials.

Budget and staffing

MCPS said the rescreening surge has required temporary and contractual staffing and additional fingerprinting capacity. The district said it would seek to reallocate existing budget lines for the current fiscal year rather than request a supplemental appropriation but will review permanent staffing needs and the FY27 budget submission to consider whether to expand the Background Screening Office’s permanent capacity.

What to watch next

The committee requested follow‑up information including: (1) MCPS’s December policy/regulation package for background screening; (2) a timeline for Rapback removals and full FBI compliance; (3) a breakdown of remaining CPS clearances by school cluster and a regular update on completion progress; and (4) results from the district’s third‑party personnel review when it concludes.

The inspector general, MCPS and DHHS said they will return to the Audit Committee for progress updates as the district completes school‑based rescreening and the county and state partners finish the CPS backlog.

Ending

No formal votes were taken at the hearing; the session was an informational review, followed by requests for follow‑up reporting and scheduled check‑ins. The committee adjourned after instructing the inspector general, MCPS and DHHS to continue coordinated implementation and to report progress to the council and the public.