“ONFIDENTIAL 3/5/18 County Executive Baker, It has come to our attention that several members in central office were given massive unauthorized pay increases. These unauthorized pay increases violate collective bargaining agreements, and could only happened under the direction of a member of Dr. Maxwell's executive cabinet or Dr. Maxwell himself. The unauthorized central office salary increases ranged from 2 steps to 3 steps, or 10%-12% (at minimum). Board leadership (Chair Eubanks and Vice-Chair Boston) were formally notified of this and have yet to provide the full board with this information. Additionally, at the beginning of February 2018, we received an anonymous letter alleging that “Deputy Superintendent Monique Davis elected to give certain employees that report to her individual pay increases outside of the negotiated agreements.” We have forwarded the letter to internal audit and are waiting for the results of that investigation. There are also reports that individuals in CEO Maxwell’s executive cabinet have received arbitrary pay raises without any explanation or notification provided to the board. Although executive cabinet raises are under the purview of CEO Maxwell - per the law change you spearheaded in 2013 that gave yourself and CEO Maxwell more power over education than any other County Executive and Superintendent in the state - we are concerned about the message this sends to other hard-working employees in our system especially our teachers, who are 3 steps behind on their pay scale. What makes the unauthorized pay increases even more egregious is that at the February, 22, 2018 school board meeting, we (Edward Burroughs, David Murray, Raaheela Ahmed) offered an amendment to the budget for employee compensation that would have equated to a 4% pay increase for teachers. None of your appointed members supported our motion, and it did not pass. A simple, well-deserved pay increase for teachers was rejected while at the same time, there are members in central office receiving unauthorized 3 step increases ina 3 month time period. In our view, there is a serious lack of basic oversight and accountability at the highest levels of the school system. The board has bare governance authority to address the issues at hand. Favoritism, cronyism, and nepotism continue to decimate employee morale and adversely impacts our ability to retain our best employees. Because of the aforementioned letter and reports, we are fearful that this unauthorized pay increase issue could be more pervasive throughout central office. As the main authority over our school system, we are writing to request your immediate intervention regarding this serious matter in Prince George's County Public Schools. We stand ready to assist you in dealing with this issue. Please step up and help correct this wrong. Respectfully, The Accountability and Solutions Caucus Edward Burroughs Ill, Board of Education, District 8 David Murray, Board of Education, District 1 Raaheela Ahmed, Board of Education, District 5