A Baltimore County grand jury handed down a four-count indictment Tuesday charging former Baltimore County Superintendent of Schools S Dallas Dance with perjury, alleging that he failed to report income from a consulting business on financial disclosure forms filed with the school system.
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Each count of the indictment carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail, the Baltimore Sun reports. He stands accused of negotiating a no-bid contract between Baltimore County Public Schools and the now-defunct SUPES Academy, which was based in Chicago and provided training for school administrators in several school districts, when he was also earning $90,000 a year from SUPES without telling the school district about that deal.
“Parents of Baltimore County Public School students should be able to trust that their superintendent of schools is carrying out his duties honestly, with transparency, and in the best interest of the students and the schools,” the Sun quoted Maryland State Prosecutor Emmet C Davitt as saying. “Any violation of that trust is intolerable.”
Mr Dance served as the superintendent for Baltimore County Public Schools, the state’s third-largest district, from 2012 through June 30, 2017, when he abruptly resigned.
Dance was not qualified to lead Baltimore County Public Schools, but the fact that he was hired shows how politics matter more than professionalism in public education. Dance had almost no experience as a teacher (2 years) and very little administrative experience as well. What’s more, his degrees are not from rigorous schools. What qualified him to get hired in the first place? Was it his looks? Did he look the part that some on the BCPS board wanted him to play? Shame on the BCPS board for hiring him. Shame on BCPS Human Resources for looking the other way as Dance was put into a role for which he was not qualified. Is there any accountability at the district office? Obviously not.