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The Prince George鈥檚 County school board will hold a special meeting Dec. 15 to possibly choose new leadership.
Embattled Board of Education Chair Juanita Miller read a statement during a board session Thursday saying she may not hold the title much longer. She summarized her remarks based on the popular R&B song 鈥淛oy and Pain鈥� by Maze featuring Frankie Beverly.
In a more than three-minute speech, Miller summarized 鈥渢he joy鈥� of working with public schools CEO Monica Goldson, and boasted about the school system garnering national recognition for its language immersion program, and the Class of 2022 earning $200 million in scholarship awards and acceptances to colleges and universities and other programs.
鈥淗owever鈥imes of joy are interspersed with times of pain,鈥� said Miller, who added how 鈥渕isinformation and negative press often overshadow district success stories.鈥�
鈥淚 look forward to hearing of the many future successes of this school district. I know it鈥檚 heading in the right direction and thank you for the opportunity to serve as the chair,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 not going anywhere, yet.鈥�
聽approved this year notes the school board 鈥渟hall elect鈥� a new chair and vice chair, a vote the board was supposed to conduct Monday. For several years, the county executive appointed members to both positions. Miller was appointed in January 2021 by County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D).
But Miller has been a source of internal controversy on the board almost from the minute she took over.
Miller鈥檚 remarks Thursday also come as a legal battle continues before a聽聽judge because current and former school board colleagues have accused her of misconduct in office, willful neglect of duty and incompetence.
One of those alleged incidents was discussed Thursday about $32,000 in legal fees accrued by Miller, who鈥檚 represented by the firm of MarcusBonsib, LLC of Greenbelt.
The school board鈥檚 legal counsel, Bradley Farrar with Shipley & Horne of Largo, said the state education code allows a body to decide on whether 鈥渢o pay all or part of legal fees for the defense of a county board member involved in litigation because of his or her official capacity鈥� serving on a board.
Farrar said Miller鈥檚 being sued due to her work as board chair.
鈥淢y opinion is that, if these fees aren鈥檛 paid, then Dr. Miller will probably have grounds to sue this board for payment of those fees. I think the cost of that litigation will exceed what you would end up paying,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 do it, then you set a precedent that it makes you peril less to serve on this board.鈥�
Shalya Adams-Stafford, one of the board members who filed a complaint against Miller, said Miller isn鈥檛 being sued and is mounting a defense based on a聽聽to move forward with the process to remove Miller from the board.
Miller requested a hearing before the Maryland Office of Administrative Hearings. The virtual hearing took place the week of Nov. 28 and will resume Dec. 19.
Adams-Stafford said the legal fees payment 鈥渨as made unbeknownst to us as a board and it really was fraudulent. We did not as a board agree to pay this and we鈥檙e talking about doing some retroactively. I鈥檓 worried that we will set a legal precedent within the board that essentially gives someone a blank check鈥nd we have no idea what the fees will be in the future.鈥�
As chair, Miller said Thursday she can sign some invoices that don鈥檛 always come before the full board for approval. As for the legal fees accumulated, she said former board vice chair Sonya Williams, who didn鈥檛 seek reelection this year, signed paperwork to authorize payment of her legal fees earlier this year.
Because the case involves Miller, she said Williams, as second-in-command, could sign and approve the payment. During that time, she said the board didn鈥檛 have legal counsel and a parliamentarian.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no fraud involved in this,鈥� Miller said. 鈥淚 could not sign [the invoice] because it was about me and that would have been unethical. The vice chair took it through the procurement process. That miscommunication really brings [a] question to this whole board and its integrity and how we operate. I can鈥檛 discuss and won鈥檛 discuss any more about the case.鈥�
Last month鈥檚 election brought three new board members 鈥斅燡onathan Briggs, Brandon D. Jackson and Lolita Walker 鈥� and they voted with four other colleagues to request more information on Miller鈥檚 legal fees. Adams-Stafford and Kenneth Harris II, also part of the legal case to remove Miller, abstained.
It wasn鈥檛 mentioned when the board would make a final decision on the legal fees matter.
