Baltimore City Schools employees accused of abusing students, stealing money, and receiving kickbacks – those are just a few of the allegations the school system has investigated in recent years concerning its own employees.

From a public records request, 79 internal investigations were obtained where the allegations were substantiated. Since October, City Schools has slowly been releasing the reports. The following is what was found in the final two batches, which raises some serious questions.

The article begins with internal investigations involving City Schools employees abusing students. Between December 2018 and November 2019, City Schools investigated at least three employees. One was accused of “choking a student”, another was investigated for hitting a student “in his head with a book.” The third employee “punched a student in the face”, and that student was “nine years old”. All three allegations were substantiated. The question was raised: “If these employees were found to have abused students, were assault charges pursued – specifically against the employee who punched a nine-year-old in the face?”

Another internal investigation includes allegations of grade fixing. In May of 2022, a report was issued explaining how a student was “absent from school” “However, his report card reflected that he received grades.” The results of this internal report are heavily redacted. The school or person who issued the falsified grades cannot be seen. The question was raised: “Was the person who gave the student falsified grades held accountable – if so, how? Does that employee still work for the district?”

The article mentions that over the years, reports have covered City Schools students receiving grades they did not earn. In 2022, the year City Schools conducted its investigation, it was reported that five students with disabilities missed a significant amount of school, yet all five received falsified grades on their report cards. One parent, Ebony Frisby, expressed frustration: “It’s honestly, it’s a horrible thing to say and even do. They just don’t care. They’re well aware of what they’re doing.”

Also within the internal investigations, it was found that employees stole money from the “School Activity Fund” multiple times. In a 2019 report, an employee stole $1,700 in cash raised by students at a “book fair”. In Maryland, stealing items valued over $1,000 is a felony. The question was raised: “After it was determined an employee stole $1,700 from the school activity fund, did the school system pursue criminal charges?”

Baltimore City Schools receives around $1.7 billion annually from taxpayers, yet is one of the lowest-performing large school systems in America. These reports detail how some of that money was misspent.

In another internal report, the school and administrator involved are redacted, but the allegations are serious. City Schools found the administrator had “Inappropriately accepted gifts of shoes,” “Inappropriately changed a failing grade to a passing one without justification,” and “Inappropriately accepted money in the nature of ‘kickbacks’”. The report explains the administrator “promoted” an employee, “approved a raise for him, and then received most or all of his increase salary paid back by (redacted) through cash initially and then through Cash App.”

The total amount was over $16,000. The administrator also took $4,000 from school funds for “painting of lockers”, of which $2,000 was returned in cash. In July 2022, the administrator was terminated following a vote by the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners.

The question was raised: “At any point during this investigation, which potentially involved numerous felonies, did the school system contact prosecutors?”