Will Thomas Taylor Survive the Massive Changes He is Introducing?

[Anonymous]

He doesn't seem like much of a listener, and is not making adjustments with program assignments based on community input.

Taylor doesn't seem to have learned from his mistakes in Stafford County, VA, having introduced regional programming in that school district's four high schools. Stafford County's school district's transportation was completely overwhelmed by the changes and suffered a massive fail the first year of implementation. Thomas Taylor was long gone, having pushed through the changes and then left town.

https://www.fox5dc.com/video/1501700

Transportation in MCPS has not been consistently consulted on how implementation of bus transportation for our new regional programming will work with our much larger, more complex system in a heavily urbanized environment.

Taylor is heavy into being a change agent, but the logistics and administration of these changes don't seem to register. He can't even ensure that summer staff are paid on time and or ensure that routine security processing takes place on a timely basis.

How long will Montgomery County want him around? Maybe we need someone with experience operating a large school system.

[Anonymous]

The first year of regional model begins in fall 2028 (application starts in fall 2027), by which time his first term is done. So just like what he did for Stafford County, he can perfectly ducking away without getting any impact for his next job. Even better, he can again use MCPS regional model as highlight in his resume to apply the next job as effects haven't been kicking in when he leaves.

[Anonymous]

Why do we have a superintendent with no experience with stellar school districts in moco anyways??

Implementing regional programs should be done slowly, one or two programs at a time before completely disbanding otherwise extremely successful county wide programs. Hire the county wide program teachers to teach curriculum over the summers to other teachers to implement in new regional programs. This is going to be a disaster for moco.

[Anonymous]

How many threads do we need about this same topic?

[Anonymous]

Thank you for posting, OP. Yes, I don't mind regional programming but the transport question is the most important piece of the puzzle, and I haven't seen it addressed to my satisfaction. My kids are young adults and teens, started in MCPS in K/1st grade, and all the time we've been here, busing has always been a topic of debate. We turned down magnets for one kid because the commute would have been too onerous for our family, but did accept a special placement for our kid with special needs because it wasn't too far, and his little bus drove the route quickly since it didn't have a lot of passengers.

Bus issues is why we have the start times we have, staggered the way they are for elementary, middle and high school. Some high schoolers, who shouldn't be getting up before the crack of dawn anyway because of their different circadian rhythms, are forced to wait for their bus much earlier than they should be, so their bus can drop them off 30 minutes before the bell rings, so that they can make their middle school pick-up on time. When you're in high school, those are really precious 30 minutes you could have used for sleep! And some middle schoolers arrive late to their middle school anyway, due to traffic.

So the bus question is a key factor in the success of the regional program and parents need to pressure MCPS to answer questions in detail about it. While we're at it, since we're reworking the entire program, we should ask for later high school start times. Elementary kids wake up early. They should start first.

[Anonymous]

He will survive as he's the yes man or no man to the BEO and does exactly what they want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The first year of regional model begins in fall 2028 (application starts in fall 2027), by which time his first term is done. So just like what he did for Stafford County, he can perfectly ducking away without getting any impact for his next job. Even better, he can again use MCPS regional model as highlight in his resume to apply the next job as effects haven't been kicking in when he leaves.

Actually, the first year of applications will be 2026, programs start 2027. The whole process is super rushed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for posting, OP. Yes, I don't mind regional programming but the transport question is the most important piece of the puzzle, and I haven't seen it addressed to my satisfaction. My kids are young adults and teens, started in MCPS in K/1st grade, and all the time we've been here, busing has always been a topic of debate. We turned down magnets for one kid because the commute would have been too onerous for our family, but did accept a special placement for our kid with special needs because it wasn't too far, and his little bus drove the route quickly since it didn't have a lot of passengers.

Bus issues is why we have the start times we have, staggered the way they are for elementary, middle and high school. Some high schoolers, who shouldn't be getting up before the crack of dawn anyway because of their different circadian rhythms, are forced to wait for their bus much earlier than they should be, so their bus can drop them off 30 minutes before the bell rings, so that they can make their middle school pick-up on time. When you're in high school, those are really precious 30 minutes you could have used for sleep! And some middle schoolers arrive late to their middle school anyway, due to traffic.

So the bus question is a key factor in the success of the regional program and parents need to pressure MCPS to answer questions in detail about it. While we're at it, since we're reworking the entire program, we should ask for later high school start times. Elementary kids wake up early. They should start first.

Some kids going to their local school still have an hour bus commute. You could always drive your kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He doesn't seem like much of a listener, and is not making adjustments with program assignments based on community input.

Taylor doesn't seem to have learned from his mistakes in Stafford County, VA, having introduced regional programming in that school district's four high schools. Stafford County's school district's transportation was completely overwhelmed by the changes and suffered a massive fail the first year of implementation. Thomas Taylor was long gone, having pushed through the changes and then left town.

https://www.fox5dc.com/video/1501700

Transportation in MCPS has not been consistently consulted on how implementation of bus transportation for our new regional programming will work with our much larger, more complex system in a heavily urbanized environment.

Taylor is heavy into being a change agent, but the logistics and administration of these changes don't seem to register. He can't even ensure that summer staff are paid on time and or ensure that routine security processing takes place on a timely basis.

How long will Montgomery County want him around? Maybe we need someone with experience operating a large school system.

You know kids under 18 can use public busses for free. Not sure why these young adults can't manage this.

[Anonymous]

No MCPS superintendent is going to last more than a couple years anymore. Pretty soon I expect we won't be able to get qualified candidates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No MCPS superintendent is going to last more than a couple years anymore. Pretty soon I expect we won't be able to get qualified candidates.

"Pretty soon" began about ten years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do we have a superintendent with no experience with stellar school districts in moco anyways??

Implementing regional programs should be done slowly, one or two programs at a time before completely disbanding otherwise extremely successful county wide programs. Hire the county wide program teachers to teach curriculum over the summers to other teachers to implement in new regional programs. This is going to be a disaster for moco.

You suggest that there should have been instructional leadership teams melding experienced countywide program staff with other high schools' faculty. This should have been step #1. Why do we have staff in charge of these program changes who didn't immediately organize such instructional leadership teams to help ensure that new programs are formed with fidelity and high quality?

The fact that this didn't occur tells me that the program changes that central office is promising the community will not occur. The quality will not be there. Central office staff are bureaucrats, not curriculum experts. They don't know how to lead curriculum change, especially on this massive scale.

And Taylor has made no changes to the flawed process; apparently, he doesn't understand the problem and/or he doesn't have time to pay attention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He doesn't seem like much of a listener, and is not making adjustments with program assignments based on community input.

Taylor doesn't seem to have learned from his mistakes in Stafford County, VA, having introduced regional programming in that school district's four high schools. Stafford County's school district's transportation was completely overwhelmed by the changes and suffered a massive fail the first year of implementation. Thomas Taylor was long gone, having pushed through the changes and then left town.

https://www.fox5dc.com/video/1501700

Transportation in MCPS has not been consistently consulted on how implementation of bus transportation for our new regional programming will work with our much larger, more complex system in a heavily urbanized environment.

Taylor is heavy into being a change agent, but the logistics and administration of these changes don't seem to register. He can't even ensure that summer staff are paid on time and or ensure that routine security processing takes place on a timely basis.

How long will Montgomery County want him around? Maybe we need someone with experience operating a large school system.

You know kids under 18 can use public busses for free. Not sure why these young adults can't manage this.

Yes they can. But will public misses travel the school routes needed? Historically, MCPS doesn't consult with Metro when planning school transportation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He will survive as he's the yes man or no man to the BEO and does exactly what they want.

Actually, I don't see Taylor bending his thinking in response to BOE members who are questioning the planning. Some of them, I'm thinking Zimmerman and Montoya, are people that Taylor can't brush off quickly enough in meetings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He doesn't seem like much of a listener, and is not making adjustments with program assignments based on community input.

Taylor doesn't seem to have learned from his mistakes in Stafford County, VA, having introduced regional programming in that school district's four high schools. Stafford County's school district's transportation was completely overwhelmed by the changes and suffered a massive fail the first year of implementation. Thomas Taylor was long gone, having pushed through the changes and then left town.

https://www.fox5dc.com/video/1501700

Transportation in MCPS has not been consistently consulted on how implementation of bus transportation for our new regional programming will work with our much larger, more complex system in a heavily urbanized environment.

Taylor is heavy into being a change agent, but the logistics and administration of these changes don't seem to register. He can't even ensure that summer staff are paid on time and or ensure that routine security processing takes place on a timely basis.

How long will Montgomery County want him around? Maybe we need someone with experience operating a large school system.

I don’t think he wants to. I think he’ll get this Potemkin education village propped up, then go look for a job at a university teaching future superintendents. He sees MCPS as a stepping stone. But what he’s stepping on is our kids.