School board broke with Weast on illegal immigrants vs child safety

The school board, in one of its few breaks with Superintendent Weast, unanimously voted for Maryland House Bill 531.

According to the March 2-8 Sentinel, Weast "said he didn't want to get caught up in the issue of deporting illegal immigrants and added that it might put an unnecessary strain on certain companies that MCPS does business with."

Board member Patricia O'Neill didn't buy Weast's put-business-and-illegal-immigrants-ahead-of-the-children approach.

"Our first obligation is to ensure the safety of our students," O'Neill said in the Sentinel. "I think that we have an obligation to protect anyone who comes into the school."