Weast's latest phony excuse

Our superintendent says he decided to spend $125,000 to prevent high schools from holding graduations in churches, in part because he wants to avoid a lawsuit from fringe groups.

School board member and Weast loyalist Sharon Cox says the money - enough to pay two or three MCPS teachers for a year - is a good deal because it's cheaper than defending against a lawsuit.

"I absolutely believe that there would have been a lawsuit -- not if, it would have been when -- and we would have spent a lot more money on litigation than this $125,000," Cox says in the Washington Post.

That's a phony argument, and they know it.

Weast and Cox have no problem with suing people they don't like (which is why this blog has always been anonymous), or defending their politically correct policies.

When he was superintendent in Guilford, North Carolina, Weast threatened to sue a local newspaper that criticized him.

Weast reportedly budgeted $1,000,000 in 2005 just for litigation against parents of handicapped children.

School board candidates last year criticized MCPS for free-spending on litigation, and called for a "culture change" in the school system.

More recently, MCPS disregarded potential litigation about its new "sexual variations" curriculum. Gay activists praised Sharon Cox earlier this month when she defended the program. "I believe that regardless of what we put forward, we will be sued," Cox said in the Washington Blade. "That's fine. Bring it on."

“That was a good sign,” a gay education advocate said about Cox's comment. “The board is willing to stand up to these litigious whiners.”

Weast isn't trying to save MCPS any money with this move. He's trying to assert his authority over the Board of Education, which had countermanded his decision to bar public high schools from using church facilities for graduation ceremonies. The board ought to show him who's boss.