Rushern Baker says he stands by PGCPS Schools CEO Dr. Kevin Maxwell

MITCHELLVILLE, Md. - One day after the Prince George's County NAACP sent a letter to County Executive Rushern Baker demanding that Prince George's County Public Schools CEO Dr. Kevin Maxwell's new contract be put on hold as an investigation on allegations of grade fixing and fraud within the school system will be conducted, Baker said that he is standing by Maxwell.

Baker spoke to FOX 5 after holding his first campaign event for his run for Maryland governor.

"I made the decision that he was doing a good job for the county and when I reappointed him and sent him to the school board, I have all the confidence in the world that he is moving the school system in the direction it should be," Baker said. "I have not changed that. My mind has not changed on that. I stand by him and I stand by the work that he has done."

We asked if Baker would recommend the termination of Dr. Maxwell's contract if the upcoming investigation finds the allegations are true. He said, "If it turns out that happened, there are a lot of things we will have to deal with. Not just Dr. Maxwell's contract. There will be a lot of things, including the school board's role in all of this."

The investigation of Prince George's County Public Schools comes on the heels of a FOX 5 investigation where teachers and parents were interviewed making the alarming assertions.

Baker does not believe the grades were changed.

"In order for what they are alleging to happen, that means thousands of teachers would have had to participate in this," said Baker.

The county executive for Prince George's County also released a statement earlier on Thursday saying:

I applaud Dr. Maxwell and the majority of the Board for asking the State Board of Education to conduct another investigation into the allegations of grade changing. Clearly they understand that these allegations are overshadowing the tremendous improvements our schools have made over the last 4 years. We have expanded all day Pre-K, provided more language arts and specialty programs, enrollment has steadily increased, 2 of our 29 high schools have made U.S. News and World Report's Top High School list for two years straight, philanthropic support in our schools has increased and just this year, our graduates received $151,000,000 in college scholarships and our student's college readiness for community college is now 3% less than the state average among first year community college entrants. Thanks to the hard work of our teachers, principals, parents and students we have made significant progress.

At the heart of the NAACP's letter is their concern about these allegations and resolving whether they are true. Now that the MSDE will be investigating this matter, I am confident Dr. Maxwell and his staff will fully cooperate with the investigators as they look into this matter and resolve this matter once and for all.