MCPS leaders face questions over AI weapons screening contract

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. - Questions are mounting against Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) leadership over a paper trail revealing that the superintendent quietly signed a contract for a pilot program to test AI weapons screening in high schools.

What we know:

Concerns were raised after the school system took roughly eight months from when the superintendent signed the agreement with the company Vault AI on Nov. 4 of 2025, to release a copy of the contract.

The 33-page document was finally provided on July 23 after a Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA) request was submitted by Janice Sartucci, an advocate with the Parents Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland.

According to Sartucci, her initial MPIA request in February was met with a response from MCPS Deputy Chief of Communications Chris Cram stating there were "no responsive documents," contracts, invoices, or purchase orders regarding Vault AI, adding that the 30-day pilot was a "no-cost agreement."

After Sartucci turned to a Maryland Public Information Act ombudsman in April, the school system eventually fulfilled the request months later, with Cram acknowledging in a note that the earlier information provided was incorrect and expressing regret for the error.

What they're saying:

When questioned after a school ribbon-cutting event on Friday morning, MCPS Superintendent Dr. Thomas Taylor said he was not familiar with the MPIA request but noted that the district is evaluating various technologies and looks forward to disclosing its findings once evaluations are complete.

Dr. Taylor also addressed concerns over student privacy and whether parents were properly informed before the pilot program.

"Yes, we had a parent meeting and we sent correspondence to parents, absolutely. We have cameras in all of our schools." He added, "I believe that we've fulfilled every MPIA request to our fullest extent and we look forward to disclosing more information when we have it."

Meanwhile, the school board president indicated the board has not yet looked into the matter, noting that it has not officially come before them yet but is expected to be addressed next Thursday.

Dr. Taylor later said that the topic could be discussed further in a sit-down interview, which FOX 5  is following up on with an official request.

In a written statement, Cram told FOX 5 that transparency is important to MCPS and that it would be inaccurate to suggest that MCPS simply withheld the agreement until an Ombudsman compelled them to act.

Cram’s full statement reads:

"Transparency is important to MCPS and is fundamental to the MPIA process. In this instance, our initial response was based on information provided by the office responsible for searching for the records. That information was incorrect. When we conducted an additional review and identified that error, we acknowledged it plainly, located the responsive records and moved to provide them. We did not attempt to hide the mistake or pretend it had not occurred. In fact we made that acknowledgment in the response letter which I have shared with you.

Ms. Sartucci subsequently chose to take the matter to the Maryland Public Access Ombudsman, as was her right. That additional process, however, added time to the resolution of the request. It would therefore be inaccurate to suggest that MCPS simply withheld the agreement for several months until an Ombudsman compelled us to act.

We take our responsibilities under the MPIA seriously. Does that mean every response involving thousands of requests and searches across a very large school system will be error-free? No. When an error occurs, the measure of transparency is whether an organization acknowledges it, corrects it and provides the responsive public records. That is what MCPS did here.

So, respectfully, characterizing this as evidence of a "serious transparency issue" ignores an important part of the story: MCPS identified and admitted the error, corrected it and provided the records. I would expect that context to be included fully and accurately in any reporting on this matter."