SUN INVESTIGATES White report remains private

School board member mentions use of ‘prestige of office’ by superintendent

In the middle of a debate this month about who will be Baltimore County’s next school superintendent, county school board member Ann Miller revealed something about Interim Superintendent Verletta White that hadn’t been made public before.

Miller said one of the two violations for which the board’s ethics panel cited White involved using the “prestige of [her] office.”

The school system had not previously used those words to describe White’s violations.

In a statement in February, the board said White’s first violation was for not reporting consulting work on her financial disclosure forms, and the second was for accepting compensation for the consulting work. White later corrected the forms and said she would not do consulting work again while serving as superintendent.

The issue of White’s ethics violations has arisen because the school board could vote as early as Tuesday on whether White should be named the district’s permanent superintendent beginning July 1. Her interim contract ends on June 30.

The board has voted to spend $75,000 to hire a firm to conduct a national search.

Miller believes White’s ethics violations should preclude her from getting the job of superintendent.

According to the school system’s ethics code, “a school official may not intentionally use the prestige of office or public position for private gain of that official or the private gain of another.”

White has acknowledged receiving money from Educational Research and Development Institute, a company that represents educational technology firms seeking to get contracts from school districts including Baltimore County. She said she didn’t fill out the forms correctly because they were confusing.

The disclosure followed questions about former Superintendent Dallas Dance’s work as a consultant for the same company and others. Dance pleaded guilty in federal court last month to four counts of perjury for failing to disclose nearly $147,000 he earned from consulting jobs.

The Baltimore Sun filed a Maryland Public Information Act request for a copy of White’s ethics panel report. But the school system denied the request, saying the report is confidential and privileged.

The Sun also requested the information directly from Edward Gilliss, the school board chair, as well as White. Mychael Dickerson, the school system’s chief of staff, referred to the press release that was sent out in February that said there were two violations.

In the release, the board said that White had agreed to amend her disclosure forms and to not take any future consulting work.

Dickerson said that was “more detail than the superintendent had to allow to be released.”