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How did Montgomery County Public Schools respond to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/08/11/joel-beidleman-montgomery-county-principal/" target=_blank>18 reports</a> of misconduct by principal Joel Beidleman? Not by firing him, or even by disciplining him, but by promoting him. Revelations in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/08/11/joel-beidleman-montgomery-county-principal/" target=_blank>a Post investigation</a> into the district’s inadequate response to an abusive educator demand a full accounting.

The Post’s Alexandra Robbins and Nicole Asbury laid out a pattern of sexual harassment, threats, retaliation and more by Mr. Beidleman in his time as assistant principal at Roberto Clemente Middle School in Germantown and Lakelands Park Middle School in Gaithersburg and as principal at Farquhar Middle School in Olney. Many of the episodes were reported verbally or in writing to MCPS, including in a complaint by a social studies teacher whom Mr. Beidlemen allegedly told, “You should just f--- me” and “Shave your p---y and sell the hair.” Mr. Beidleman denies many of the accounts in the investigation.

This educator, according to accounts <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/08/11/joel-beidleman-montgomery-county-principal/" target=_blank>reported by The Post</a>, was far from the only one Mr. Beidleman targeted. Thirty-nine current and former staffers said during interviews that he harassed or bullied them. Parents complained, too: He allegedly called girls into his office for what one parent described as “interrogation,” and at two assemblies, he complained that female students were dressing “like hos and thots.”

A former Farquhar PTA president requested a transfer for her children in 2017 after, she said, Mr. Beidleman told her eighth-grade daughter, “Don’t be like [your friend]. She’s a whore.” Her transfer request was hand-delivered in a letter to the central office, but nothing happened.

Earlier, in 2016, a worried teacher told two central office officials during their visit to the school, “We need help. Something’s not right here.” They promised to set up a meeting. They never did. Years later, in 2020, after the complaint by the social studies teacher, MCPS began <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/08/11/joel-beidleman-montgomery-county-principal/" target=_blank>an investigation</a>. But despite the assigned investigator judging that five intimidating phone calls over three days qualified as harassment, the school district concluded there was no violation of policy.

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Attorneys for Donald Trump have pleaded guilty in the racketeering case led by Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani T. Willis. Even those lawyers related to the deals focused on equipment-tampering in rural Coffee County are relevant to the former president — they help to establish the “criminal enterprise” of which prosecutors hope to prove Mr. Trump was the head. The news is a sign that the courts might be the place where 2020 election lies finally crash upon the rocks of reality. The <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/08/15/trump-georgia-indictment-rico/" target=_blank>Editorial Board wrote</a> about the wide range of the indictment in August.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced more than $103 million in funding to address the maternal health crisis. The money will boost access to mental health services, help states train more maternal health providers and bolster nurse midwifery programs. These initiatives are an encouraging step toward tackling major gaps in maternal health and well-being. In August, the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/08/18/maternal-mortality-united-states-policy-solutions/" target=_blank>Editorial Board wrote</a> about how the United States can address its maternal mortality crisis.

Wisconsin state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) announced Tuesday that Republicans would allow the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau to draw legislative maps, <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2023/09/12/vos-pushes-for-new-electoral-maps-to-bypass-liberal-court/70835377007/" target=_blank>a dramatic reversal after years of opposing such an approach to redistricting</a>. A new liberal majority on the state Supreme Court is expected to throw out the current maps, which make Wisconsin the most gerrymandered state in America. Mr. Vos has been threatening to impeach Justice Janet Protasiewicz, whose election this spring flipped control of the court, in a bid to keep those maps. This led to understandable outcry. Now it seems Mr. Vos is backing off his impeachment threat and his efforts to keep the state gerrymandered. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/03/29/wisconsin-supreme-court-judge-election/" target=_blank>Read our editorial on the Protasiewicz election here</a>.

Prisoners are <a href="https://apnews.com/article/bahrain-hunger-strike-prisoners-crown-prince-visit-d32bca16ff3da2b985d75e38c174c0f8" target=_blank>eating again in Bahrain</a> after the government agreed to let them spend more hours outside and expanded their access to visitors, a welcome development ahead of the crown prince’s visit to Washington this week. Activists say the monthlong hunger strike will resume on Sept. 30 if these promises aren’t kept. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/09/10/bahrain-hunger-strike-crown-prince/" target=_blank>Read our editorial calling for the compassionate release of Abdulhadi al-Khawaja</a>, a political prisoner since 2011 who participated in the strike.

A retired teacher in Saudi Arabia, Muhammad al-Ghamdi, has been sentenced to death by the country’s Specialized Criminal Court solely based on his tweets, retweets and YouTube activity, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/08/29/saudi-arabia-man-sentenced-death-tweets" target=_blank>according to Human Rights Watch</a>. The court’s verdict, July 10, was based on two accounts on X, formerly Twitter, which had only a handful of followers. The posts criticized the royal family. The sentence is the latest example of dictatorships imposing harsh sentences on people who use social media for free expression, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/interactive/2023/political-protest-new-generation-faces/?itid=sf_opinions_habit-bar_p003_f001" target=_blank>highlighted in our February editorial</a>.

It wasn’t until Mr. Beidleman was tapped in June to run Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville (despite six reports about his behavior this year) and The Post started asking questions that MCPS acted — placing him on a leave of absence. The move would have  raised his salary by $32,000, to $191,000. Now, MCPS has hired attorneys to conduct an independent external investigation, on what it says is as fast a basis as possible.

Among the many questions officials must answer: Who knew about Mr. Beidleman’s conduct, and when did they know it? How does the district track reports about misconduct? Is anyone else with this kind of record still out there, rising through the ranks? Spokespeople for MCPS said the district is encouraging community members to reach out to anonymous tip lines — and they are.

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