Episode 30: The Demanding Voice for Accountability in Harford County Education

Bold statements incoming: Harford County Public Schools Superintendent, Sean Bulson, marched away with the Maryland "Superintendent of the Year" title, but not without some discordant notes. A proposed energy conservation program, tagged at an eye-watering 7.3 million dollars, has twisted a few eyebrows and understandably so. We take a deep, hard look at this contentious policy, and explore why some of the taxpayers might not be ready to foot the bill yet. We're also laying out an open invite for you, dear listener, to join us at the Board of Education meeting on November 6th, where we'll be digging deeper into this issue.

But wait, that's not all. Bulson's critics have a few more bones to pick with him. A demand for greater accountability from the Board of Education is on the cards, and we're adding our voice to the chorus. With discrepancies in access to resources and privileges between the Superintendent and the families he serves, it's time to scrutinize Bulson's place in Harford County Education. So, get ready to pull on the gloves and join us in this candid conversation about the state of education in Harford County. Buckle up, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

We are, we, the People of Maryland. Our mission is to advocate for your right to control your livelihood, your property, your family and your destiny. Our vision is to provide an organized outlet for Americans who are frustrated by government overreach. Thank you for listening to the Live Free Die Last podcast.

Speaker 2: 0:40

Good evening Harford County Patriots broadcasting from the we the People Studios high above Harford County in the Freedom Pod, you might hear a little bit of background noise. Tonight the Freedom Pod is hosting a little party. We were time traveling. We picked up a bunch of cool people throughout time and they're going to have some fun. We're going to listen to them, but not on the podcast tonight.

Speaker 3: 1:02

Partying like it's 1776.

Speaker 2: 1:04

Partying like it's 1776, baby, we got to my right. The Josh Good evening and once again, thomas Jefferson. Hello Patriots, we can't keep him off the mic now, baby, how's it going? Tj, you didn't have these.

Speaker 4: 1:20

It's good. I love this new equipment. It's amazing stuff. It's awesome stuff.

Speaker 2: 1:23

He's put the quill down now and everything. Man, I think we've created a monster, all right, so this is a kind of a quick, quick hitter, not going to spend a lot of time on this tonight. But Sean Bolson, you've heard the name, sean Bolson. They like to call him doctor, doctor, what I don't know, but he is the Hartford County Public Schools Superintendent, well loved by politicians everywhere, hated by moms and dads everywhere. So he's still up to the same old nonsense. But they gave him an award for it now. So, for being a good little Marxist, he got an award. What was the award?

Speaker 3: 2:02

Josh, I think it's superintendent of the year for the state of Maryland.

Speaker 2: 2:05

Yeah, because he's doing exactly what they want. He's taken a conservative county and he's shoving their ridiculous leftist agenda right down our throat and nobody I mean nobody's doing anything about it. I have he's still here. We've got supposedly, you know, a board that's ready to stand up for conservative values, but we haven't seen it yet. So, yeah, I'm not going to be nice to the board anymore. They had their chance. They're done.

Speaker 3: 2:30

I love how you bring that up, because they have the votes, they have the time to bring up a discussion and start exposing what's. You know, the bad things that are happening in our schools. Yeah, there's good things that are happening and that's they need to promote that too. But it's not all sunshine and rainbows.

Speaker 2: 2:45

No well, unicorns and rainbows yeah, it's Marxist ideology. Harvard County's racist. I wonder if he's fixed that problem yet.

Speaker 3: 2:54

I'm just amazed that he was given this award. You know, I was it for low scores. What was it for the middle of the road scores? But of low scores Again. I don't understand. For the past three plus years, again, he was brought in 2018, 2019. He hasn't been here that long and everything that he has done, or our entire school system, has gone down and down and down.

Speaker 2: 3:14

Is it for litter boxes in the bathroom, or who knows what? So it just seems to be all that tonight.

Speaker 3: 3:20

You know, keep keeping it short, keeping it sweet, as you know. A special report, you know, because there is called action. That's one of the things that we've constantly said is we need the community to continue to stand up. We need the community to understand what's going on. So here's an action item for Monday, november the 6th, 6.30 pm at the Board of Education is their next meeting and I want to talk about a topic that's going to be up on the agenda. It was on last month's agenda, they tabled it, they had some discussion, a very long presentation about a very specific topic, and it's the energy conservation program that HCPS wants to implement.

Speaker 2: 3:58

And just smells fishy. Darrell Bock. Yeah, yeah, well, they used to do some money saving things through energy. It's usually rebates from BGE stuff like that for doing certain things, so I don't know why they didn't pay attention to it for a very long time. And now it's back, darrell.

Speaker 3: 4:16

Bock, I think looking at some of the back story again not getting into the weeds, but this is what people need to understand. There's a company called Centragistics. They're up for a contract right now with HCPS to conserve energy Not to get too deep into this, but they're gonna look at you know the light sources, all the different, you know the things and try to save some electricity, save some money. It's not just electricity, but again, what they're doing is a shared savings program, basically with HCPS. That's what they're proposing. So basically, I save you 100 bucks, you get 50, I get 50. Well, the taxpayers are gonna be owing the Centragistics company to pay out this contract 7.3 million dollars the way that it's pre-posed. That's a lot of tax paying money.

Speaker 3: 5:05

So, taking us back a couple years back to what you were mentioning, this was first brought up in, I think, 2008 and the original company, the parent company of Centragistics, came in front of the board of education and proposed a similar contract. They were turned away and basically HCPS and the board said that we can handle this internally and they pursued that. The very first thing that they did was they went and hired a new position and look for the budget or look for putting funding a new position in the budget, and that was in 2008 as well, and they did End up having a energy program coordinator position, and this was specifically created to provide the services to avoid the cost of the third-party energy conservation company. So, again, they're taking care of it internally. We've talked about this before. You know. Again, we don't want Dr Bolson to be continuing be the superintendent of Hartford County, but when they do remove him, don't go to the state to ask for help of who. Should we replace me? Take care of this internally, correct.

Speaker 2: 6:11

Absolutely. The state is just gonna bring you another good little mark system. Yep, that's what they do.

Speaker 3: 6:18

So, again, they approved this position and started a pilot program. The pilot program was implemented and this led them to create the Hartford Environmental Leadership Program. It within HCPS, to evaluate, you know, the current state of our school systems, sustainability and analyzing the effectiveness of the energy management plan. That's what this was based around, and in June of 2008, the board of education, you know, reaffirmed this commitment to becoming a more environmentally friendly and sustainable organization.

Speaker 3: 6:49

Now I'm not talking about when I, when I talk about this stuff, this is common sense stuff to me. This is why I have issues with Exploiting, you know, this conservation and this Environmental stuff. These are things that we should be doing on a regular basis. You know, these things that they were talking about, they're a little. They're now allowing, you know, the, the Marxism, to kind of come in and again that's getting out into the weeds a little bit in this kind of discussion, and I want to stay focused on knowing what this 7.3 million dollars of our tax paying dollars are going to go for, and and what company is it going to?

Speaker 2: 7:24

because often these are rewards. Exactly. It's a way to launder money for themselves.

Speaker 3: 7:30

So this program from 2008, 2009 up into 2018, it was a good program. But then in 2018 I believe it was 2018 this position was vacated Again, right when Dr Bolson was coming into play as the superintendent of HCPS. He was looking for a program manager for the North Star program, which is a system that they use and also helping to implement the Kerwin blueprint program, knowing that this stuff was kind of coming down. So Dr Bolson had this energy manager position transferred over to this North Star project management position. So for about four or five years that energy conservation program management in the program was vacated. It was nonexistent. So we go from 2018 now to 2023, and why are they worried about it again now?

Speaker 2: 8:32

Well, because it costs a whole lot more money and the money's going to a company that will probably scratch his back.

Speaker 3: 8:38

Yep, you know. So now they're reengaging this program and again, it's very interesting that it's a top priority, why and during the proposed budget process of FY24, you know, this is when the request was shown to reinstate this program but to hire two managers not just one. We had one that was working before, and now they went to plus a contract of $7.3 million to a third party.

Speaker 2: 9:13

And during budget season they were crying. They couldn't pay the teachers.

Speaker 4: 9:16

Yep, yeah, and Barry Glassman gave them $31 million more than they even asked for that one year.

Speaker 3: 9:21

Yeah, a year prior. Yeah, so this budget was approved and the interesting thing is they started transitioning into replacing these positions. You know the two FTEs that I mentioned and, from my understanding, the former supervisor of purchasing has transitioned to take over the position of the energy resource conservation manager. I don't see again, I don't have all the credentials, but where's the energy conservation? You know, where's the track record? What are they gonna be implementing? Are they just gonna be managing a contract for the outsourced company?

Speaker 2: 10:01

That's what it sounds like.

Speaker 3: 10:06

So kind of keep going. You know, here comes this synergistic company. You know not gonna own the door again here. Recently they presented, as I said last month, in October of 2023, to the board of education asking for a contract for behavior-based energy conservation program services.

Speaker 2: 10:25

Behavior-based. Yeah, what the hell is that?

Speaker 3: 10:28

Training people, I guess.

Speaker 2: 10:30

To turn off the lights.

Speaker 3: 10:31

Yeah, the interesting thing and again, not to get into the weeds with this contract this would give this company the ability to kind of take over control of all the management systems within our school buildings as well. You know that's how they were presenting it last meeting. So you know, that's kind of interesting, but also kind of getting into here locally and why I wanna bring this up as well. So, thank you. What seems to be happening with this company, center of Justice and you can search anywhere on the interwebs and basically what you'll find is they'll be working with a school system, get a contract signed and then soon after that superintendent or somebody high up in that school system will now become a vice president of sales or marketing or something within that territory. It's a very interesting kind of way to do business, like MES. Yes, you know, it's just bad for the people, bad for the students and bad for business. There's a gentleman from who remembers where Dr Bolson came from.

Speaker 2: 11:49

Oh, I do Wilson County's in North Carolina.

Speaker 3: 11:53

Yep, so he was the superintendent down in Wilson County, north Carolina. That's what happened right before Dr Bolson became the superintendent down there.

Speaker 2: 12:07

Oh, I don't know, tell us.

Speaker 3: 12:10

Well, the contract was signed with Center of Justice, with the previous superintendent, and that superintendent left and became the vice president of marketing for that territory. Oh, how about that? You know you keep diving in a little bit and again I want to reach out and make sure I make this comment.

Speaker 1: 12:32

So info at.

Speaker 3: 12:32

WeThePeopleorg is ways you can contact us. Po Box 13 is ways you can contact us. Getting information from people is a great source of information for not only us, but also for our listeners. So you know we talk about, you know providing information. But the simple things you can do make a phone call, send an email. Well, making a phone call previously, what we were able to find is that the former and retired in 2021, the Maryland State Superintendent of Schools, dr Karen Salmon you know she quote-unquote partners with CenterGistik Couldn't get much more information about it. But you know, there is again a quick, simple email or a phone call asking questions. Hey, wow, this is blowing, getting a little too close for us. So why did they get pushed away in 2008? Hard to say. Why are they invited right back in after a retired local superintendent at the state level? Now Dr Bolson is getting an award at the state level Like this is.

Speaker 2: 13:33

Yeah, he's not getting an award from the parents, don't worry, he's getting an award from the state Right, like I said, they give you an award when you're a good Marxist.

Speaker 3: 13:45

Yeah. So, as we mentioned before, the former superintendent of Wilson County School System resigned to take a regional vice president position of marketing with his company, centragistics. This is the same system in which Dr Bolson was the superintendent prior to. We know that, but keep looking down, while all of a sudden we said is the HCPS energy program now a priority for Dr Bolson after leaving it sit for more than four years? There's so many different questions. You know to why is the former state superintendent? Did they make a current pitch to Dr Sean Bolson? Or prop the door open for a Centragistic salesman, salesman, pay to play kind of position? You know, is this, is this what's happening?

Speaker 2: 14:30

These are just questions Sounds like they're funneling our racist money to his next gig.

Speaker 4: 14:35

Well, it's like the musical chairs that Washington DC plays, where heads of CDC and FDA move into positions with big pharma, where major military contractors hire five star generals. I mean, it's just. It's just a changing of the guard just switching around musical chairs, and it looks like it's happening on a local level.

Speaker 3: 14:57

Oh yeah, so they're gonna be paying two six figure salaries plus a $7.3 million contract to handle something that they left vacant for four years.

Speaker 2: 15:06

But wait, he won't do that. He lives here in Hartford County. This is his home, oh really yes. He lives in some apartments over there Right.

Speaker 4: 15:16

During the week.

Speaker 3: 15:17

Yeah, All his family lives down near DC Well he lives with his boyfriend or something.

Speaker 2: 15:20

No, that's what I heard.

Speaker 4: 15:27

No, comment no comment. Yes, I do not know that, but I do know this is the same Dr Bolson whose whose children went to private school all during the time that he closed down schools for our Hartford County students. You don't want them to suffer, do you?

Speaker 3: 15:43

They got to play sports when our kids didn't, yeah. So again, just looking at this ancestral kind of sewer that we've, we have identified throughout our county and you know, throughout the state and you know federally, here's some ties and major questions that need to need to be asked. That's why I invite everybody to go to the board of education on Monday, November the 6th, and ask these questions. They're going to be there again giving a presentation. We're going to have a chance to give public input, and what you brought up, John, at the very beginning, is we need this board of education to start acting. Yes, sir.

Speaker 3: 16:19

Here's an action item Call these questions out, call these scenarios out and get this on record of if, if this is really what's going on. This is why you should vote no when a contract like this and start questioning if this is what it takes. Start questioning Dr Bolson's presence here in Hartford County, because that superintendent of the year award is just smoke and mirrors, just like everything else that we're kind of seeing with the apartments and all these other types of things in our county.

Speaker 4: 16:48

Like you said, it's not the wishes of the people, no, the parents, absolutely not. In fact, we've we've clamored for Dr Sean Bolson to be fired as the superintendent. He's an employee of the board of education. He's not over the board of education, but at some meetings he acts like he is and like closes the meeting, runs the meeting, usurps authority. That is just totally not his.

Speaker 2: 17:10

Amen, but politicians love him. There's a reason to pay attention folks. People hate him, politicians love him. Remember that. Does anyone want the last word? Like TJ says no, no, no, no.

Speaker 3: 17:28

I mean, I'm just real quick sentence or two. I'm just proud of the parents, I'm proud of our community. This is just another example of you know us coming together. You know, let's keep. Let's keep doubling down.

Speaker 2: 17:39

Let's do it. Every crooked move you make, every corrupt breath you take will be watching.