A probe found Maryland’s top education officials swapped encrypted messages. Should they have?

Maryland’s education watchdog says former Superintendent of Schools Mohammed Choudhury and members of his administration used an encrypted messaging app to discuss state business, raising questions about transparency in state government.

The Office of the Inspector General for Education found the state’s top education officials were discussing both work-related and personal matters on Signal, an encrypted messaging app that gives users the option of automatically deleting messages after a certain amount of time.

Neither state statute nor education department policies explicitly prohibit the use of encrypted or ephemeral messaging apps for governmental communications, investigators said. However, the probe revives a perennial question about transparency in Maryland government at a time when technology is rapidly advancing.

State law says correspondence, including electronic communications such as text messages or emails made or received by a unit of state government, are generally subject to public inspection. Applications such as Signal make it much easier and faster to delete messages, so they are unlikely to appear in responses to records requests — effectively shielding them from scrutiny.

Choudhury stepped down as the state’s top education chief last fall and shifted into a senior advisory role for the state’s board of education before quietly resigning in May. He later landed a job in Texas working for the Fort Worth school district. Choudhury did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday afternoon.

Inspector General for Education Richard Henry and his team have been investigating the use of Signal within the education department for more than a year following an allegation that Choudhury and his team were discussing government policy and vendor contract decisions on the app.

Choudhury told investigators he used Signal to communicate with members of his executive team and that “occasionally, work-related matters got ‘mixed in’ with personal issues,” the report states. Choudhury said he was never given training on the state’s communication policy when he assumed the role of superintendent for Maryland schools in 2021.

Choudhury said he considered the messages to be miscellaneous records that could be discarded as he saw fit. He believed the state should develop policies regarding encrypted messaging applications, the report states.

The report hinted that at least one unnamed former member of Choudhury’s executive team had expressed concern about the optics and implications of using the app, but the practice continued.

At a news conference in August 2023, Choudhury denied using the app for his job. However, screenshots reviewed by The Banner at the time appear to show Choudhury discussing state matters through the app. Some Republican politicians subsequently called for the superintendent to resign.

The Office of the Inspector General for Education has since closed the investigation and is recommending the state education department develop an internal policy to address the use of encrypted messages and develop retention requirements for all new and existing messaging data employees generate to conduct work-related business.

The State Board of Education and the Office of the State Superintendent are actively working to update the department’s record retention procedures, said spokesperson Raven Hill in an email Tuesday.

This isn’t the first time Maryland has grappled with such questions. Former Gov. Larry Hogan came under fire during his time in office for using a similar app called Wickr to communicate.