Montgomery County Council's Audit Committee heard a 90-day update on background‑screening work at Montgomery County Public Schools on a report from the Office of the Inspector General.

Inspector General Ms. LaMarzia told the committee the IG is keeping all recommendations "open in progress" while it verifies the district's corrective steps and the implementation details that remain outstanding. She reviewed five findings that prompted the original audit: continuous criminal history monitoring (RAPBACK), a paper backlog of Child Protective Services (CPS) clearances, lack of a formal suitability determination procedure for non‑disqualifying offenses, inconsistent removal of separated employees from RAPBACK, and incomplete volunteer CAN (child abuse and neglect) training coverage.

MCPS officials described a large, school‑by‑school effort to rescreen employees and report progress. MCPS said 14,000 employees required some form of rescreening; its November 7 snapshot showed "just over 6,400" individuals screened and roughly 7,500 remaining, with rescreening completed at 139 of 211 schools. MCPS said it is prioritizing student‑facing staff and transportation employees and expects to finish the first pass of school‑based rescreening before the winter break, with central office rescreening to follow in January and a target to complete districtwide re‑screening by spring.

Oscar Mesa, a social services officer representing the Maryland Department of Human Services and the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services, told the committee DHHS met its commitment to clear the paper backlog by Nov. 30: "we do not have any backlog paper applications left," he said, describing adoption of a digital submission process through the Maryland benefits portal and temporary staffing that sped processing.

MCPS said it has finalized a comprehensive background‑screening regulation (published on Nov. 13) that will take effect Jan. 1 and that it will present a draft policy to the Board of Education Policy Management Committee on Dec. 3. The district also said it has developed internal suitability review procedures and a cross‑office working group to apply consistent reviews for non‑disqualifying offenses.

On findings from rescreening, MCPS reported one fingerprint return that initially appeared disqualifying but that, after investigation, showed charges had been cleared. MCPS also reported 13 CPS findings; staff said seven have been cleared, five remain under review and one employee has been separated. MCPS said decisions about existing employees follow contractual and personnel protections and that notification processes exist for high‑severity cases.

Council members pressed MCPS on details including who is represented by the outstanding CPS checks, timing for RAPBACK removals when employees separate, the timeline and content of the Morgan Lewis review, and the status of a unified dashboard for tracking volunteer and contractor clearances. MCPS said it is working with its human capital vendor to automate timely reports for RAPBACK removal and aims to begin implementing that process in mid‑December; it said it will provide summaries from the Morgan Lewis review but will not commit to full public release where personnel records are legally protected.

On volunteer costs, MCPS said the standard fingerprint fee is $62.50 but that people with financial hardship are reduced to $25 and that the district waived the charge for volunteers at 11 middle schools for outdoor education programs to increase participation; MCPS also said a financial waiver process exists for parents regardless of Title I status.

Next steps: MCPS will provide another status update in 90 days (the Inspector General noted the next required follow‑up is due Feb. 2), MCPS will present its policy draft to the Board of Education on Dec. 3, and the district said it will continue daily rescreening operations until the first pass of school‑based staff and transportation employees is complete before the winter break.

The Audit Committee adjourned after the update.