Angelica Ramos
Contributing Writer
MONTGOMERY COUNTY- Community tensions run high regarding rumors Lindsey Rich was removed from MCPS personnel list.
During the Oct. 22, 2024 school board meeting, citizens spoke to the Montgomery County School Board again asking for an explanation as to why Lindsey Rich was denied hiring as a substitute teacher for MCPS. This issue was previously brought up during the Oct. 1, 2024 school board meeting with many residents questioning potential reasons why Rich was denied.
Daniel Rich, Lindey Rich’s husband, spoke to the board stating that there’s been discrimination against his wife and that he had a physical copy of the personnel report from the closed meeting session where community members suspect his wife’s name had been removed from that list. Rich stated that he was able to obtain that personnel report after issuing a FOIA request. Rich spoke to the School Board asking for transparency and stated the Code of Virginia that the school board reads during their open meetings does not support a vote during closed meetings.
“I totally understand,” Rich said, “the need to go into closed session to discuss personnel matters and that you may even be required to do so. I totally understand that you can’t speak with the public at large about the discussions that take place in the closed session, but the Code of Virginia, the same code that you cite that allows you to enter into closed session to have those discussion, specifically states that you’re not allowed to make a motion or pass a resolution except in open session. The same code that you cite to certify your closed sessions states that ‘In no event may any public body take action on matters discussed in any closed meeting except in open session’.”
Lindey Rich, herself, spoke to the school board stating that she still has no answers for being denied for a substitute teacher position. Rich claims that she sees the lack of answers as deceptive and disrespectful.
Multiple other Montgomery County community members told the board that they were shocked by the decision to deny Rich for hire, are upset or also see this choice as discrimination.