OFFICE OF
INTEGRITY AND COMPLIANCE
PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM
ADVISORY SUMMARY &
INVESTIGATIVE FINDINGS
ON MISSING PGCPS BOARD MEMBER
Issued on: November 4, 2024
FRANK TURNER II
INTEGRITY AND COMPLIANCE OFFICER
The Prince George’s County Public School (PGCPS) Office of Integrity and Compliance (OIC) conducted the investigation referenced in this report pursuant to its authority under the Education Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland.[1] The investigation focused on allegations of a former PGCPS Board of Education (Board) member who was performing his PGCPS Board duties while residing and working out of state. The results of this investigation revealed the Board leadership: 1) failed to promptly address Board attendance violations to hold the former Board member accountable; 2) failed to pursue a timely and actionable procedural remedy to request his removal from the PGCPS Board action or elevation to the Maryland State Board of Education on the basis of willful neglect of duty; and 3) demonstrated a lack of knowledge and/or understanding of their own internal policies and applicable law. The Board’s omission to take prompt action on this matter created the right set of circumstances for fraudulent receipt of PGCPS funds and/or property by an absent BOE member. This type of behavior is contrary to the Board’s core values and leads the PGCPS community to lose trust in this oversight body, causing a detriment to the school system’s reputation. The Board needs to ensure to follow policies, procedures and applicable law in all aspects to ensure the accountability of the members as public servants and the Board itself.
[1] Md. Code Ann., Educ., § 4-404, as amended.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.................................................................... 1
1. BACKGROUND................................................................................ 3
2. ADVISORY ALERTS AND INVESTIGATION................................ 4
2.2. Residency Requirement for PGCPS Board Membership................ 8
3. CONCLUSION................................................................................ 10
On July 16, 2024, Mr. David Murray (Murray) officially resigned from his duties as a Prince George’s County Public School (PGCPS) Board member for District 1. On July 22, 2024, the PGCPS Board of Education (Board) became aware that Murray allegedly started working as a full-time Chief Academic Officer for the Ferguson-Florissant School District in St. Louis, Missouri in January 2024 through a news article published, while still maintaining his seat as a PGCPS Board member.[2] On July 23, 2024, the Board referred this matter to the PGCPS Office of Integrity and Compliance (OIC) for investigation “in alignment with Maryland law and the Prince George’s County Board of Education’s role to ensure fiscal oversight, policy governance, and adherence to Maryland state law.”
The Integrity and Compliance Officer (ICO) promptly initiated a formal investigation based on the Board referral along with the news article. The initial investigative steps included examining and reviewing ICO internal advisory communications to the Board starting in March 2024. The ICO also began reviewing documents, records, applicable legislation, and applicable PGCPS Board policies. The ICO and his staff performed open-source research in support of this investigation. Additionally, Murray was contacted through numerous communication channels (via phone call, text message, and email) for an interview regarding the allegations, but no response was received from Murray. The OIC also reached out to the Ferguson-Florissant School District in Missouri seeking an interview via phone and email; however the school district leadership responded to the OIC inquiry in writing stating they declined to answer the OIC interview questions.
Based on the allegations included in the Board’s referral and other internal observations by the ICO, the investigation focused on the following:
● If the Board properly enforced the attendance policy pursuant to PGCPS Board Policy 0108 (Code of Conduct), based on Murray’s attendance record to Board meetings.
● Murray potentially violated the statutory residency requirement for Board membership by working out of state on a full-time job, while maintaining his seat as a Board member.
[2] John Domen, EXCLUSIVE: Prince George’s Co. school board member has been working in Missouri for months, wtop.com (published on July 22, 2024), https://wtop.com/prince-georges-county/2024/07/exclusive-prince-georges-co-school-board-member-has-been-working-in-missouri-for-months/
2. ADVISORY ALERTS AND INVESTIGATION
Based on the most recent attendance record furnished by the Board to the OIC, as of July 8, 2024, Mr. Murray “missed more than 8 consecutive meetings in Quarter 4 and 58% of the meetings in the previous 12 months.”
Per PGCPS Board Policy (BP) 0108 (Code of Conduct),[3] each member of the Board is required to attend all regularly scheduled Board meetings insofar as possible, as part of their duty. In addition to missing regular scheduled Board meetings, this policy addresses recurrent absences by Board members to other types of meetings, by stating any Board member “who misses three or more consecutive regularly scheduled Board meeting work sessions, emergency meetings, public hearings, appeals, and/or executive sessions or fails to attend 25% of the Boards regular meetings during any twelve (12) consecutive month period” will be subject to being charged with willful neglect of duty by the Board upon a Board vote. In order to monitor and implement this attendance policy, BP 0108 grants the responsibility to the Board Chair to notify each Board member individually - in writing and on a quarterly basis - of their attendance and absence record during the quarter.[4] As a result of any violation by a Board member to the attendance policy, the Board Chair shall schedule an executive session within 30 days to take Board action consistent with BP 0108.
[3] PGCPS Board Policy 0108, Code of Conduct, last amended on March 23, 2023.
[4] Per PGCPS Board Policy 0108, this notice is due on a quarterly basis (January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1).
Following the notification process set by BP 0108, starting on April 4, 2024, the Board notified Murray twice on a quarterly basis of his recurrent absences during the second half of school year (SY) 2024. During this time, after only around six weeks on the job,[5] the new ICO started having several communications with former Board Chair Judy Mickens-Murray and the Board’s staff office raising concerns about noticeable absences of a Board member and requesting an enforcement action plan from the Board.
Following is a timeline of events of the Board addressing Murray’s attendance record and the ICO requesting action and providing recommendations to the Board to enforce the attendance policy:
● March 18, 2024: ICO requested an understanding on how the Board Chair and Vice Chair are enforcing the attendance policy. No response was provided on the actions taken by the Board to ensure compliance to the attendance policy.
● March 21, 2024: ICO recommended for BP 0108 to be updated to require publishing of the Board's attendance record on the Board’s website. Recommendation has not been considered to date.
● March 21, 2024: District 3 Board member Pamela Boozer-Strother requested former Board Chair Judy Mickens-Murray to send correspondence to the Maryland State Board of Education (State Board) by April 1st to report Murray missed three consecutive meetings in 2024.
● March 26, 2024: Former Board Chair Judy Mickens-Murray requested the Board’s staff office to review BP 0108 and share guidance regarding the request for removal of a Board member to the State Board. The Board’s staff office provided the requested information and emphasized that the Chair of the Board shall schedule an executive session within 30 days to take Board action consistent with the policy.
● March 27, 2024: Former Board Chair Judy Mickens-Murray acknowledged she failed to provide the quarterly notification to Board members of their attendance and absence record for the previous quarter, which was due on January 1st.
● April 2, 2024: ICO requested from the Board’s staff office the current status of enforcement regarding David Murray’s repeated violations of the attendance policy and in the absence of any enforcement, to provide in writing to the ICO the plan and timeline for action. No response provided. ICO provided an excerpt of the law to the Board’s former legal counsel regarding the removal process of a Board member.
[5] The Integrity and Compliance Officer was appointed on January 16, 2024 and his first day at the job was on January 29, 2024.
● April 4, 2024: Former Board Chair Judy Mickens-Murray provided notice to Murray that to date he missed more than three (3) consecutive meetings and more than 25% of the meetings in the previous 12 months. The email also notified Murray this matter will be considered by the Board on April 25, 2024 for referral to the State Board for his removal.
● April 25, 2024: Due to the Board not discussing the Board member attendance violations in their Closed Meeting session, the matter was not discussed by the Board on this scheduled date. Per Board Chair Lolita Walker, this matter was considered at subsequent Board meetings held on May 9, 2024, June 13, 2024, and June 27, 2024.
● May 6, 2024: ICO requested former Chair Judy Mickens-Murray an update on the Board’s enforcement or strategy to address the “attendance policy” regarding Murray (and possibly others). No response was received from the former Board Chair.
● May 23, 2024: ICO attended a virtual Board Appeal’s meeting and observed appellants with their respective hired legal counsel waiting beyond their scheduled presentation times due to the Board Chair contacting Board members to join the scheduled virtual meeting. The meeting started without a member quorum. In one instance, an appellant (with hired legal counsel) who was scheduled to present his case appealing a PGCPS prior adverse personnel action against him was attending the Board’s appeal session for the fourth time since November 2022, due to the Board’s continuous inability to obtain quorums.
● May 29, 2024: Due to additional Board member meeting attendance issues, the ICO issued a recommendation to the Board via email to create a policy as soon as possible granting appeals in favor of the appellant (due to PGCPS caused hardships), if the Board fails to have a quorum on a set number (e.g., two or three) of occasions. This recommendation has not been considered to date by the Board.
● July 5, 2024: On July 1, 2024 (the beginning of PGCPS fiscal year 2025), Maryland law required the PGCPS Board of Education transition from a blended Board of appointed and elected officials to an elected Board. Based on the establishment of a newly structured all elected Board, all appointed Board seats were eliminated so the ICO issued a Management Advisory to the new Board noting recurrent absences of Board members at meetings advising Board members need to follow and comply with the attendance requirements set forth by BP 0108.6
● July 8, 2024: The new Board Chair Lolita Walker sent another quarterly notice with a memorandum to Murray. The communication stated he missed 8 consecutive meetings in Quarter 4 (SY2024) and 58% of the meetings in the previous 12 months. In addition, the communication informed him that this matter will be considered at the Board meeting scheduled for August 29, 2024, for referral to the State Board for Murray’s removal.
[6] OIC Management Advisory, Attendance to Board Meetings and Other Required Engagements, issued July 5, 2024.
Finding: The Board failed to promptly and effectively address Murray’s continuous attendance violations pursuant to BP 0108.
The attendance record of Murray evidenced a pattern of absences to Board meetings from January 2024 through his resignation on July 16, 2024, resulting in a violation of the attendance policy set forth by BP 0108. During this period, Murray was already working full time as a Chief Academic Officer for the Ferguson-Florissant School District in St. Louis, Missouri.[8] After first notifying Murray of his attendance violations on April 4, 2024, the Board failed to take action on Murray’s non-compliant behavior at their scheduled executive session on April 25, 2024. As confirmed by the Board, this was due to the “expiration of the allotted time before this matter could be considered” as stated in the Board’s referral letter to the OIC. Murray’s pattern of absences were first considered by the Board in a meeting on May 9, 2024, outside of the 30 day period set forth by BP 0108 for a Board Chair to take action on violations to the attendance policy.
As a consequence, the former Board Chair did not file a timely and actionable complaint with the State Board requesting the removal of Murray on the basis of willful neglect of duty. Murray was given another notice on July 8, 2024, for his continuous violations to the attendance policy during the fourth quarter of SY 2024, showing a continuous disregard of his responsibilities as a Board member. This second notice provided another opportunity for the Board to take action on this matter. However, Murray resigned from his Board member duties on July 16, 2024 and consequently the State Board issued an order stating that the request for removal of Murray was moot and any further matters related to Murray’s board membership should be addressed by the PGCPS Board. The State Board’s order to dismiss the request for removal further supports the fact the Board failed to take necessary action when the first notice was issued to Murray in April 2024 for his violation to the attendance policy. The lack of timely action from the Board enabled salary payments from January 1, 2024 to July 16, 2024, totaling $9,792.32 (per official 8 Mr. Murray’s employment was confirmed by a spokesperson of the Ferguson-Florissant School District to WTOP and the Washington Post. The District declined to respond to the inquiries of the OIC. Mr. Murray did not respond to the calls, email, or text messages of the OIC.
[7] Maryland State Board of Education, Order No. OR24-17, issued on July 23, 2024.
[8] Mr. Murray’s employment was confirmed by a spokesperson of the Ferguson-Florissant School District to WTOP and the Washington Post. The District declined to respond to the inquiries of the OIC. Mr. Murray did not respond to the calls, email, or text messages of the OIC.
PGCPS payroll system) to an absence without leave (AWOL) board member while ignoring their obligation to policy compliance.
ICO’s Advisory Alerts: ICO’s made recurrent observations and recommendations related to Board members’ attendance violations and enforcement action.
Pursuant to his statutory authority, 9 in several instances the ICO consistently provided strong and repeated recommendations to the Board to effectively follow, implement, and enforce the attendance policy set forth in BP 0108. In March 2024, the ICO started having several internal communications with former Board Chair Judy Mickens-Murray and the Board’s staff office raising concerns about the lack of adherence to and enforcement of the attendance policy. None of the observations, requests, or recommendations raised by the ICO were acknowledged or considered by the Board’s leadership, showing an apparent indifference to adhering to their own policies. After noticing a continuous failure to effectively enforce BP 0108, on July 5, 2024, the OIC issued a formal Management Advisory to the Board reiterating its obligation to comply with BP 0108 and emphasizing the statutory consequences applicable to a Board member, as a result of violating this policy. The lack of responsiveness from the Board’s leadership team to the ICO’s requests and recommendations further denotes the Board’s resistance to the OIC’s existence, authority to evaluate, and provide recommendations to improve the implementation and effectiveness of policies within PGCPS.10
2.2. Residency Requirement for PGCPS Board Membership
Per a statement given to Washington Top News (WTOP news), Mr. Murray claims he still has a domicile in District 1 and that his secondary residence is now out of state.11
According to a spokesperson for Ferguson-Florissant School District in St. Louis, Missouri, Murray started his new job with the school system on January 4th, 2024, with a requirement to live near the St. Louis district full-time. The spokesperson further confirmed to the media that he has been “100% here” in terms of attendance at meetings and events in Missouri.12
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9 Md. Code Ann., Educ., § 4-404(e)(1), as amended.
10 Md. Code Ann., Educ., § 4-404, as amended.
11 John Domen, EXCLUSIVE: Prince George’s Co. school board member has been working in Missouri for months, wtopnews (published on July 22, 2024), https://wtop.com/prince-georges-county/2024/07/exclusive-prince-georges-co-school-board-member-has-been-working-in-missouri-for-months/12 Ibid.
Section 3-1002(C)(2) of the Education Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland (hereinafter the “Code”) established: “From the time of filing as a candidate for election, each candidate shall be a registered voter of the county and a resident of the school board district the candidate seeks to represent”. 13 Furthermore, the Code provides that a member who fails to reside in the school board district from which the member was elected must forfeit his/her membership from the Board of Education. 14 However, the Code fails to define what is a “Resident” for purposes of the Board membership.
Due to this omission by the Code, the OIC referred to the Maryland Income Tax Administrative Release No. 37 for specific guidance on the definition of “Resident” for purposes of Maryland income tax law. 15 Per this administrative guidance, an individual is a resident of Maryland if:
● The individual is domiciled in Maryland on the last day of the taxable year; or
● The individual maintains a place of abode in Maryland for more than six (6) months of the taxable year and is physically present in the State for 183 days or more during the taxable year.
The administrative release defines “Domicile” as the place at which an individual maintains his/her true, fixed, permanent home, habitation and principal establishment to which he/she intends to return whenever absent. An individual may only have one domicile at a time. It further emphasizes “Domicile” is a question of intent and is based on the total facts and circumstances of each case. The two most important criteria in determining an individual’s domicile are: where the person lives and where the person is registered to vote. Additional criteria, includes home, time, items near and dear, active business involvement, and family connections.
According to a statement made by the spokesperson of Ferguson-Florissant School District to the Washington Post, Murray started his new job in St. Louis, Missouri on January 4, 2024, with an in person requirement. Furthermore, a third party aggregator associates Murray with a residential address in Missouri. 16 Per public records, Murray still owns a real estate property in Maryland and has an active Maryland driver’s license. To date, there is no evidence a Missouri driver’s license has been issued to Murray. In addition, a third party aggregator indicates he is likely the owner of a vehicle registered in Maryland, but the OIC was unable to verify this information with official public records
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13 Since the investigation is focused on the time period starting when Mr. Murray became a full-time employee of Ferguson-Florissant School
District in St. Louis Missouri, until his resignation from the PGCPS Board on July 16, 2024, this report references the prior version of §
3-1002(C)(2), which was effective until July 1, 2024.
14 Md. Code Ann., Educ, §3-1002(c)(2)-(3) (effective until July 1, 2024).
15 Maryland Income Tax Administrative Release No. 37, Domicile and Residency, effective September 2009.
16 Nicole Asbury, Pr. George’s school board member who resigned had been working in Missouri, Washington Post (July 25, 2024),
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2024/07/25/prince-georges-county-school-board-missouri-job/.
3. CONCLUSION
In summary, Murray could not be reached for an interview to obtain further details of his intentions to make Missouri his permanent place of abode or to confirm how many days in the current year he has been physically present so far this year in Maryland. Also, the OIC reached out to Ferguson-Florissant School District in St. Louis, Missouri (Murray’s new employer) seeking an interview. The school system responded to the OIC inquiry in writing stating they declined to answer the PGCPS OIC interview questions. Consequently, limited evidence is available to properly evaluate the total facts and circumstances to determine if Murray’s Maryland residency status changed as a result of either establishing a new domicile in Missouri or by physically spending less than 183 days in Maryland. This investigative report by the PGCPS OIC focused on allegations against a former PGCPS Board of Education member, David Murray, concerning his abilities to perform his duties while residing and working out of state.
Key findings of the investigation reveal that the Board leadership:
1. Failed to promptly address Board attendance violations and hold the former Board member
accountable, despite multiple notices and recommendations from the ICO.
2. Failed to pursue a timely procedural remedy with the Maryland State Board of Education to
request his removal based on willful neglect of duty.
3. Demonstrated a lack of knowledge and/or understanding of their own internal policies and
applicable law.
These failures created circumstances for potential fraudulent receipt of PGCPS funds and/or property. The Board's inaction led to an increase of risk of loss of trust within the PGCPS community as well as damage to the school system's reputation. The report highlights the need for the Board to adhere strictly to policies, procedures, and applicable laws to ensure the integrity of its members and the Board itself.
