Legislator Targets Tech Perks in Baltimore County District<br />“Evidence offered in the recent articles indicates digital education companies having unrestricted access to key decision makers in Baltimore County Public Schools<br />and, in turn, the awarding of contracts to those companies,” Senator Brochin, a Baltimore County Democrat, said in a letter sent to state officials.<br />“This has created the illusion of impropriety, thereby eroding public trust.”<br />In response to questions about the audit request and potential conflict-of-interest issues regarding tech vendors, Mychael Dickerson,<br />a school district spokesman, said the district had “answered all the questions we intend to answer on this matter.”<br />This past spring, the district’s superintendent resigned without citing a reason.<br />A Maryland legislator has called for a state audit of Baltimore County Public Schools, the 25th-largest<br />public school system in the United States, in connection with the district’s technology initiative.<br />Last week, an article in examined Baltimore County, the nation’s 25th-largest public school<br />district, as a case study in how tech companies court and cultivate school leaders.<br />The Times found that tech vendors or industry-funded groups paid for meals<br />and rooms at fancy hotels for school leaders, as well as travel to conferences to promote the district’s tech initiative.<br />And in February, the district’s former superintendent participated in confidential meetings<br />with school tech vendors — companies whose contracts were later increased.
