Dear Dr. Sirgo,

As former and current members of the Kensington-Parkwood Elementary School (KPES) community, we have several ethical and professional concerns and questions regarding the Principal and the Principal’s leadership at KPES. As the Montgomery County Public School (MCPS) Director of School Support and Improvement of Elementary Schools in the Churchill, Magruder, and Walter Johnson Clusters, including KPES, we would like to bring your attention to our questions and concerns.

Our ethical concerns include the impact of the Principal’s outside employment as a realtor, questions regarding use of school resources for outside employment, questions regarding use of professional time or paid leave for outside employment, and questions related to the adherence to MCPS policies and procedures concerning outside employment. These valid and relevant questions and concerns are directly related to expectations for employee conduct presented in the MCPS Employee Code of Conduct.

These concerns are compounded because we believe they impact the leadership and effectiveness of our principal.

We have professional concerns regarding communication, collaboration, participation, visibility, transparency, responsiveness, community engagement, and information sharing. These professional concerns are directly related to the leadership standards, criteria, and descriptive examples for principals as outlined in the MCPS Administrative & Supervisory Professional Growth System Handbook.

Regretfully, we do not believe that it is possible to have these questions answered or concerns addressed at the school level. Additionally, several of our concerns rise to a level that necessitates they be brought to your attention and the attention of the MCPS Board of Education.

We believe our questions and concerns need to be taken seriously, and if they are founded, then efforts need to be made to address any impact they are having on our children's ability to realize their full potential as students, on our KP teacher's and staff's ability to realize their full potential and be empowered to be the best educators they can be, and on our entire KP school community from moving KP forward to be the best elementary school we could possibly be.

Therefore, we seek answers to our questions, a response to our concerns, and a path forward to address our concerns.

We look forward to your prompt attention to our community’s questions and concerns.

Signed: