New Superintendent to be named on February 8th

[Anonymous]

I. know she's done an amazing job in light of the mess she was handed. She's got my vote!

Wait. Wasn't she the Deputy Sup before? it's a nice spin though - try to make it look like it wasn't her issue.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/superintendent/bio.aspx

This WAS her own mess to clean up. Plus, all the really bad stuff happened on HER watch, so she can't blame anyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting take on the search process: https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/02/03/montgomery-county-schools-superintendent/

Paywall - Summary?

The summary is basically a regurgitation of what you read here. Lots of people have criticized McKnight for being incompetent. Her defenders say those criticisms of her incompetence is racist and a group of Black pastors, who probably were organized to write a letter in her support, sent a letter alleging there was a grand conspiracy being organized against McKnight.

It’s a pretty basic summary of the situation, but also objectively pretty crazy.

Sweet Mary and Joseph! A group of Black pastors have sent their support of Dr. McKnight?

Was their all important letter before a young man was gunned down in a high school bathroom? Or before another young man was found murdered after MCPS denied his COSA for severe bullying? Or before the loaded gun on a student who smelled like pot at school? Or before the votes of no confidence by two unions in MCPS? Or before students didn’t have buses to get to schools or students didn’t have teachers when they got to school?

Yep. They pegged me. I must be a racist because I think these issues matter and Dr. McKnight doesn’t have the leadership skills to fix the problems.

What "leadership skills" will fix those problems?

You seriously don't think that kids have suffered because there's so much chaos in the system and inconsistency and teachers quitting because of poor morale (principals too), and the failure to hire adequate mental health counselors, plus removing security personnel/having unclear disciplinary processes and strange prioritizing of funds that put PR before mental health? That's all related to leadership skills.

I wish people would speak on actual facts and not their version of reality. Show us where PR was put before mental health of students? Show us a large or heck even midsize school district where teacher morale isn’t low(bonus points if it has parents with the same crazy expectations as MCPS and same population diversity). SRO’s were removed by the county council, so why McKnight and the board keep getting blamed for this is anyone’s guess, even if they support it. Show us how McKnight and the BOE are responsible for any kid bringing a gun to school and clearly don’t value safety despite reviewing safety in the January BOE meeting before any of the above mentioned incidents occured. Or should we talk about the Teacher Union no confidence vote that wasn’t even voted on by half the members. Or maybe we take them down for keeping schools open in January when PLENTY of families wanted that exact course and have all year. Not to mention its the same course of action that most school districts in the nation took. Like you don’t have to like Mcknight or the BOE, but geez.

Not sure if McKnight is getting the job, but whoever does should negotiate a salary MUCH higher than what McKnight makes now or what Smith made when retiring.

+10000 - I would just add staffing priorities. Teaching positions remained vacant while MCPS focused on filling Central Office positions leading to even more vacancies at key in school positions. The reshuffle has left some schools without a principal for the FY22 school year.

Where is the person who is supposed to be bringing in teachers including reaching out to increase minority hires? She moved and is working from Georgia. How well is that working out as far as doing the job required?

What is Dr. McKnight doing to get teaching vacancies filled? Nothing. Not her priority.

Why would anyone believe she did an amazing job?

Was it amazing to turn Magnet into lottery? Remember the Asian discrimination lawsuit that led to that?

She should have focused on staffing and trying to expand programs instead of making Love Me videos.

+1 The lottery is just a bogus way to discriminate. Here’s a thought, have an appropriate program for all students. If everyone in the lottery bowl meets the criteria for the program, why isn’t MCPS expanding the number of slots in the program? Add classes to home schools?

[Anonymous]

Here's a novel idea. All qualified kids get into the program?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I. know she's done an amazing job in light of the mess she was handed. She's got my vote!

Wait. Wasn't she the Deputy Sup before? it's a nice spin though - try to make it look like it wasn't her issue.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/superintendent/bio.aspx

This WAS her own mess to clean up. Plus, all the really bad stuff happened on HER watch, so she can't blame anyone else.

+1 Delaying a press conference for the first school shooting in MCPS history to get her matching pink coat and mask shows her messed up self serving priorities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting take on the search process: https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/02/03/montgomery-county-schools-superintendent/

Paywall - Summary?

The summary is basically a regurgitation of what you read here. Lots of people have criticized McKnight for being incompetent. Her defenders say those criticisms of her incompetence is racist and a group of Black pastors, who probably were organized to write a letter in her support, sent a letter alleging there was a grand conspiracy being organized against McKnight.

It’s a pretty basic summary of the situation, but also objectively pretty crazy.

Sweet Mary and Joseph! A group of Black pastors have sent their support of Dr. McKnight?

Was their all important letter before a young man was gunned down in a high school bathroom? Or before another young man was found murdered after MCPS denied his COSA for severe bullying? Or before the loaded gun on a student who smelled like pot at school? Or before the votes of no confidence by two unions in MCPS? Or before students didn’t have buses to get to schools or students didn’t have teachers when they got to school?

Yep. They pegged me. I must be a racist because I think these issues matter and Dr. McKnight doesn’t have the leadership skills to fix the problems.

What "leadership skills" will fix those problems?

You seriously don't think that kids have suffered because there's so much chaos in the system and inconsistency and teachers quitting because of poor morale (principals too), and the failure to hire adequate mental health counselors, plus removing security personnel/having unclear disciplinary processes and strange prioritizing of funds that put PR before mental health? That's all related to leadership skills.

I wish people would speak on actual facts and not their version of reality. Show us where PR was put before mental health of students? Show us a large or heck even midsize school district where teacher morale isn’t low(bonus points if it has parents with the same crazy expectations as MCPS and same population diversity). SRO’s were removed by the county council, so why McKnight and the board keep getting blamed for this is anyone’s guess, even if they support it. Show us how McKnight and the BOE are responsible for any kid bringing a gun to school and clearly don’t value safety despite reviewing safety in the January BOE meeting before any of the above mentioned incidents occured. Or should we talk about the Teacher Union no confidence vote that wasn’t even voted on by half the members. Or maybe we take them down for keeping schools open in January when PLENTY of families wanted that exact course and have all year. Not to mention its the same course of action that most school districts in the nation took. Like you don’t have to like Mcknight or the BOE, but geez.

Not sure if McKnight is getting the job, but whoever does should negotiate a salary MUCH higher than what McKnight makes now or what Smith made when retiring.

+10000 - I would just add staffing priorities. Teaching positions remained vacant while MCPS focused on filling Central Office positions leading to even more vacancies at key in school positions. The reshuffle has left some schools without a principal for the FY22 school year.

Where is the person who is supposed to be bringing in teachers including reaching out to increase minority hires? She moved and is working from Georgia. How well is that working out as far as doing the job required?

What is Dr. McKnight doing to get teaching vacancies filled? Nothing. Not her priority.

McKnight has an HR department working on this, just like any other large organization. And oh, btw in case you missed it, they are doing so while a national teaching shortage continues, as teachers are leaving the workforce via retirement or quitting after covid and having to deal with the public for the last two decades, and at a time when teachers themselves are telling young people NOT to go into teaching (understandably). But hey, if you’ve got some magical strategy to recruit teachers any faster, I’m sure we’d all love to hear it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting take on the search process: https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/02/03/montgomery-county-schools-superintendent/

Paywall - Summary?

The summary is basically a regurgitation of what you read here. Lots of people have criticized McKnight for being incompetent. Her defenders say those criticisms of her incompetence is racist and a group of Black pastors, who probably were organized to write a letter in her support, sent a letter alleging there was a grand conspiracy being organized against McKnight.

It’s a pretty basic summary of the situation, but also objectively pretty crazy.

Sweet Mary and Joseph! A group of Black pastors have sent their support of Dr. McKnight?

Was their all important letter before a young man was gunned down in a high school bathroom? Or before another young man was found murdered after MCPS denied his COSA for severe bullying? Or before the loaded gun on a student who smelled like pot at school? Or before the votes of no confidence by two unions in MCPS? Or before students didn’t have buses to get to schools or students didn’t have teachers when they got to school?

Yep. They pegged me. I must be a racist because I think these issues matter and Dr. McKnight doesn’t have the leadership skills to fix the problems.

The skill where someone snaps their fingers and all problems are immediately fixed over night.
What "leadership skills" will fix those problems?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting take on the search process: https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/02/03/montgomery-county-schools-superintendent/

Paywall - Summary?

The summary is basically a regurgitation of what you read here. Lots of people have criticized McKnight for being incompetent. Her defenders say those criticisms of her incompetence is racist and a group of Black pastors, who probably were organized to write a letter in her support, sent a letter alleging there was a grand conspiracy being organized against McKnight.

It’s a pretty basic summary of the situation, but also objectively pretty crazy.

Sweet Mary and Joseph! A group of Black pastors have sent their support of Dr. McKnight?

Was their all important letter before a young man was gunned down in a high school bathroom? Or before another young man was found murdered after MCPS denied his COSA for severe bullying? Or before the loaded gun on a student who smelled like pot at school? Or before the votes of no confidence by two unions in MCPS? Or before students didn’t have buses to get to schools or students didn’t have teachers when they got to school?

Yep. They pegged me. I must be a racist because I think these issues matter and Dr. McKnight doesn’t have the leadership skills to fix the problems.

The skill where someone snaps their fingers and all problems are immediately fixed over night.
What "leadership skills" will fix those problems?

There's a reason so many school systems are looking for supers.
https://www.google.com/search?q=school+superintendent+vacancies&source=lnms&tbm=nws&sa=X

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting take on the search process: https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/02/03/montgomery-county-schools-superintendent/

Paywall - Summary?

The summary is basically a regurgitation of what you read here. Lots of people have criticized McKnight for being incompetent. Her defenders say those criticisms of her incompetence is racist and a group of Black pastors, who probably were organized to write a letter in her support, sent a letter alleging there was a grand conspiracy being organized against McKnight.

It’s a pretty basic summary of the situation, but also objectively pretty crazy.

Sweet Mary and Joseph! A group of Black pastors have sent their support of Dr. McKnight?

Was their all important letter before a young man was gunned down in a high school bathroom? Or before another young man was found murdered after MCPS denied his COSA for severe bullying? Or before the loaded gun on a student who smelled like pot at school? Or before the votes of no confidence by two unions in MCPS? Or before students didn’t have buses to get to schools or students didn’t have teachers when they got to school?

Yep. They pegged me. I must be a racist because I think these issues matter and Dr. McKnight doesn’t have the leadership skills to fix the problems.

What "leadership skills" will fix those problems?

You seriously don't think that kids have suffered because there's so much chaos in the system and inconsistency and teachers quitting because of poor morale (principals too), and the failure to hire adequate mental health counselors, plus removing security personnel/having unclear disciplinary processes and strange prioritizing of funds that put PR before mental health? That's all related to leadership skills.

I wish people would speak on actual facts and not their version of reality. Show us where PR was put before mental health of students? Show us a large or heck even midsize school district where teacher morale isn’t low(bonus points if it has parents with the same crazy expectations as MCPS and same population diversity). SRO’s were removed by the county council, so why McKnight and the board keep getting blamed for this is anyone’s guess, even if they support it. Show us how McKnight and the BOE are responsible for any kid bringing a gun to school and clearly don’t value safety despite reviewing safety in the January BOE meeting before any of the above mentioned incidents occured. Or should we talk about the Teacher Union no confidence vote that wasn’t even voted on by half the members. Or maybe we take them down for keeping schools open in January when PLENTY of families wanted that exact course and have all year. Not to mention its the same course of action that most school districts in the nation took. Like you don’t have to like Mcknight or the BOE, but geez.

Not sure if McKnight is getting the job, but whoever does should negotiate a salary MUCH higher than what McKnight makes now or what Smith made when retiring.

+10000 - I would just add staffing priorities. Teaching positions remained vacant while MCPS focused on filling Central Office positions leading to even more vacancies at key in school positions. The reshuffle has left some schools without a principal for the FY22 school year.

Where is the person who is supposed to be bringing in teachers including reaching out to increase minority hires? She moved and is working from Georgia. How well is that working out as far as doing the job required?

What is Dr. McKnight doing to get teaching vacancies filled? Nothing. Not her priority.

McKnight has an HR department working on this, just like any other large organization. And oh, btw in case you missed it, they are doing so while a national teaching shortage continues, as teachers are leaving the workforce via retirement or quitting after covid and having to deal with the public for the last two decades, and at a time when teachers themselves are telling young people NOT to go into teaching (understandably). But hey, if you’ve got some magical strategy to recruit teachers any faster, I’m sure we’d all love to hear it.

There are some basic HR strategies:

1) Have exit interviews with teachers to collect data on their reasons for leaving MCPS. Are they leaving the profession or are they going to another school system? Why?

2) Listen to feedback through the unions. How is the workplace environment? What would improve the environment?

3) Compare the salary and benefits with other school systems in the context of cost of living in Montgomery County. Increasing pay and benefits are factors to consider if you are having difficulties filling positions.

4) Consider offering a benefit that sets you apart from other school systems. Pay off student loans? Signing bonuses? More days of annual and sick leave than other school systems?

5) Consider working with the County Council and Maryland on initiatives that would attract educators to Montgomery County. For example - a property tax exemption for county employees including MCPS employees. Just using that as an example of a benefit my dad received in another state. Other states offer income tax exemptions.

Point being, the marketplace is definitely telling MCPS something if they have vacancies that can’t be filled and people are quitting mid-year. Could be school climate. Could be a lack of pay. MCPS needs to adjust for the new reality in the job market.

[Anonymous]

Dr. McKnight is ultimately responsible for not getting better results from her HR Department.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I. know she's done an amazing job in light of the mess she was handed. She's got my vote!

Wait. Wasn't she the Deputy Sup before? it's a nice spin though - try to make it look like it wasn't her issue.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/superintendent/bio.aspx

This WAS her own mess to clean up. Plus, all the really bad stuff happened on HER watch, so she can't blame anyone else.

+1 Delaying a press conference for the first school shooting in MCPS history to get her matching pink coat and mask shows her messed up self serving priorities.

The matching outfit was a night touch but it should have been in a dark conservative color and save that outfit for another day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting take on the search process: https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/02/03/montgomery-county-schools-superintendent/

Paywall - Summary?

The summary is basically a regurgitation of what you read here. Lots of people have criticized McKnight for being incompetent. Her defenders say those criticisms of her incompetence is racist and a group of Black pastors, who probably were organized to write a letter in her support, sent a letter alleging there was a grand conspiracy being organized against McKnight.

It’s a pretty basic summary of the situation, but also objectively pretty crazy.

Sweet Mary and Joseph! A group of Black pastors have sent their support of Dr. McKnight?

Was their all important letter before a young man was gunned down in a high school bathroom? Or before another young man was found murdered after MCPS denied his COSA for severe bullying? Or before the loaded gun on a student who smelled like pot at school? Or before the votes of no confidence by two unions in MCPS? Or before students didn’t have buses to get to schools or students didn’t have teachers when they got to school?

Yep. They pegged me. I must be a racist because I think these issues matter and Dr. McKnight doesn’t have the leadership skills to fix the problems.

What "leadership skills" will fix those problems?

You seriously don't think that kids have suffered because there's so much chaos in the system and inconsistency and teachers quitting because of poor morale (principals too), and the failure to hire adequate mental health counselors, plus removing security personnel/having unclear disciplinary processes and strange prioritizing of funds that put PR before mental health? That's all related to leadership skills.

I wish people would speak on actual facts and not their version of reality. Show us where PR was put before mental health of students? Show us a large or heck even midsize school district where teacher morale isn’t low(bonus points if it has parents with the same crazy expectations as MCPS and same population diversity). SRO’s were removed by the county council, so why McKnight and the board keep getting blamed for this is anyone’s guess, even if they support it. Show us how McKnight and the BOE are responsible for any kid bringing a gun to school and clearly don’t value safety despite reviewing safety in the January BOE meeting before any of the above mentioned incidents occured. Or should we talk about the Teacher Union no confidence vote that wasn’t even voted on by half the members. Or maybe we take them down for keeping schools open in January when PLENTY of families wanted that exact course and have all year. Not to mention its the same course of action that most school districts in the nation took. Like you don’t have to like Mcknight or the BOE, but geez.

Not sure if McKnight is getting the job, but whoever does should negotiate a salary MUCH higher than what McKnight makes now or what Smith made when retiring.

+10000 - I would just add staffing priorities. Teaching positions remained vacant while MCPS focused on filling Central Office positions leading to even more vacancies at key in school positions. The reshuffle has left some schools without a principal for the FY22 school year.

Where is the person who is supposed to be bringing in teachers including reaching out to increase minority hires? She moved and is working from Georgia. How well is that working out as far as doing the job required?

What is Dr. McKnight doing to get teaching vacancies filled? Nothing. Not her priority.

McKnight has an HR department working on this, just like any other large organization. And oh, btw in case you missed it, they are doing so while a national teaching shortage continues, as teachers are leaving the workforce via retirement or quitting after covid and having to deal with the public for the last two decades, and at a time when teachers themselves are telling young people NOT to go into teaching (understandably). But hey, if you’ve got some magical strategy to recruit teachers any faster, I’m sure we’d all love to hear it.

There are some basic HR strategies:

1) Have exit interviews with teachers to collect data on their reasons for leaving MCPS. Are they leaving the profession or are they going to another school system? Why?

2) Listen to feedback through the unions. How is the workplace environment? What would improve the environment?

3) Compare the salary and benefits with other school systems in the context of cost of living in Montgomery County. Increasing pay and benefits are factors to consider if you are having difficulties filling positions.

4) Consider offering a benefit that sets you apart from other school systems. Pay off student loans? Signing bonuses? More days of annual and sick leave than other school systems?

5) Consider working with the County Council and Maryland on initiatives that would attract educators to Montgomery County. For example - a property tax exemption for county employees including MCPS employees. Just using that as an example of a benefit my dad received in another state. Other states offer income tax exemptions.

Point being, the marketplace is definitely telling MCPS something if they have vacancies that can’t be filled and people are quitting mid-year. Could be school climate. Could be a lack of pay. MCPS needs to adjust for the new reality in the job market.

I encourage you to watch the Strategic Recruitment and Development presentation from the November BOE meeting and the update planned for February.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting take on the search process: https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/02/03/montgomery-county-schools-superintendent/

Paywall - Summary?

The summary is basically a regurgitation of what you read here. Lots of people have criticized McKnight for being incompetent. Her defenders say those criticisms of her incompetence is racist and a group of Black pastors, who probably were organized to write a letter in her support, sent a letter alleging there was a grand conspiracy being organized against McKnight.

It’s a pretty basic summary of the situation, but also objectively pretty crazy.

Sweet Mary and Joseph! A group of Black pastors have sent their support of Dr. McKnight?

Was their all important letter before a young man was gunned down in a high school bathroom? Or before another young man was found murdered after MCPS denied his COSA for severe bullying? Or before the loaded gun on a student who smelled like pot at school? Or before the votes of no confidence by two unions in MCPS? Or before students didn’t have buses to get to schools or students didn’t have teachers when they got to school?

Yep. They pegged me. I must be a racist because I think these issues matter and Dr. McKnight doesn’t have the leadership skills to fix the problems.

What "leadership skills" will fix those problems?

You seriously don't think that kids have suffered because there's so much chaos in the system and inconsistency and teachers quitting because of poor morale (principals too), and the failure to hire adequate mental health counselors, plus removing security personnel/having unclear disciplinary processes and strange prioritizing of funds that put PR before mental health? That's all related to leadership skills.

I wish people would speak on actual facts and not their version of reality. Show us where PR was put before mental health of students? Show us a large or heck even midsize school district where teacher morale isn’t low(bonus points if it has parents with the same crazy expectations as MCPS and same population diversity). SRO’s were removed by the county council, so why McKnight and the board keep getting blamed for this is anyone’s guess, even if they support it. Show us how McKnight and the BOE are responsible for any kid bringing a gun to school and clearly don’t value safety despite reviewing safety in the January BOE meeting before any of the above mentioned incidents occured. Or should we talk about the Teacher Union no confidence vote that wasn’t even voted on by half the members. Or maybe we take them down for keeping schools open in January when PLENTY of families wanted that exact course and have all year. Not to mention its the same course of action that most school districts in the nation took. Like you don’t have to like Mcknight or the BOE, but geez.

Not sure if McKnight is getting the job, but whoever does should negotiate a salary MUCH higher than what McKnight makes now or what Smith made when retiring.

+10000 - I would just add staffing priorities. Teaching positions remained vacant while MCPS focused on filling Central Office positions leading to even more vacancies at key in school positions. The reshuffle has left some schools without a principal for the FY22 school year.

Where is the person who is supposed to be bringing in teachers including reaching out to increase minority hires? She moved and is working from Georgia. How well is that working out as far as doing the job required?

What is Dr. McKnight doing to get teaching vacancies filled? Nothing. Not her priority.

McKnight has an HR department working on this, just like any other large organization. And oh, btw in case you missed it, they are doing so while a national teaching shortage continues, as teachers are leaving the workforce via retirement or quitting after covid and having to deal with the public for the last two decades, and at a time when teachers themselves are telling young people NOT to go into teaching (understandably). But hey, if you’ve got some magical strategy to recruit teachers any faster, I’m sure we’d all love to hear it.

There are some basic HR strategies:

1) Have exit interviews with teachers to collect data on their reasons for leaving MCPS. Are they leaving the profession or are they going to another school system? Why?

2) Listen to feedback through the unions. How is the workplace environment? What would improve the environment?

3) Compare the salary and benefits with other school systems in the context of cost of living in Montgomery County. Increasing pay and benefits are factors to consider if you are having difficulties filling positions.

4) Consider offering a benefit that sets you apart from other school systems. Pay off student loans? Signing bonuses? More days of annual and sick leave than other school systems?

5) Consider working with the County Council and Maryland on initiatives that would attract educators to Montgomery County. For example - a property tax exemption for county employees including MCPS employees. Just using that as an example of a benefit my dad received in another state. Other states offer income tax exemptions.

Point being, the marketplace is definitely telling MCPS something if they have vacancies that can’t be filled and people are quitting mid-year. Could be school climate. Could be a lack of pay. MCPS needs to adjust for the new reality in the job market.

I encourage you to watch the Strategic Recruitment and Development presentation from the November BOE meeting and the update planned for February.

I encourage Dr. McKnight to fill the vacancies and not just talk about filling vacancies. I also encourage her to actually step foot in a school to see how staff are struggling to cover the shortages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting take on the search process: https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/02/03/montgomery-county-schools-superintendent/

Paywall - Summary?

The summary is basically a regurgitation of what you read here. Lots of people have criticized McKnight for being incompetent. Her defenders say those criticisms of her incompetence is racist and a group of Black pastors, who probably were organized to write a letter in her support, sent a letter alleging there was a grand conspiracy being organized against McKnight.

It’s a pretty basic summary of the situation, but also objectively pretty crazy.

Sweet Mary and Joseph! A group of Black pastors have sent their support of Dr. McKnight?

Was their all important letter before a young man was gunned down in a high school bathroom? Or before another young man was found murdered after MCPS denied his COSA for severe bullying? Or before the loaded gun on a student who smelled like pot at school? Or before the votes of no confidence by two unions in MCPS? Or before students didn’t have buses to get to schools or students didn’t have teachers when they got to school?

Yep. They pegged me. I must be a racist because I think these issues matter and Dr. McKnight doesn’t have the leadership skills to fix the problems.

What "leadership skills" will fix those problems?

You seriously don't think that kids have suffered because there's so much chaos in the system and inconsistency and teachers quitting because of poor morale (principals too), and the failure to hire adequate mental health counselors, plus removing security personnel/having unclear disciplinary processes and strange prioritizing of funds that put PR before mental health? That's all related to leadership skills.

I wish people would speak on actual facts and not their version of reality. Show us where PR was put before mental health of students? Show us a large or heck even midsize school district where teacher morale isn’t low(bonus points if it has parents with the same crazy expectations as MCPS and same population diversity). SRO’s were removed by the county council, so why McKnight and the board keep getting blamed for this is anyone’s guess, even if they support it. Show us how McKnight and the BOE are responsible for any kid bringing a gun to school and clearly don’t value safety despite reviewing safety in the January BOE meeting before any of the above mentioned incidents occured. Or should we talk about the Teacher Union no confidence vote that wasn’t even voted on by half the members. Or maybe we take them down for keeping schools open in January when PLENTY of families wanted that exact course and have all year. Not to mention its the same course of action that most school districts in the nation took. Like you don’t have to like Mcknight or the BOE, but geez.

Not sure if McKnight is getting the job, but whoever does should negotiate a salary MUCH higher than what McKnight makes now or what Smith made when retiring.

+10000 - I would just add staffing priorities. Teaching positions remained vacant while MCPS focused on filling Central Office positions leading to even more vacancies at key in school positions. The reshuffle has left some schools without a principal for the FY22 school year.

Where is the person who is supposed to be bringing in teachers including reaching out to increase minority hires? She moved and is working from Georgia. How well is that working out as far as doing the job required?

What is Dr. McKnight doing to get teaching vacancies filled? Nothing. Not her priority.

McKnight has an HR department working on this, just like any other large organization. And oh, btw in case you missed it, they are doing so while a national teaching shortage continues, as teachers are leaving the workforce via retirement or quitting after covid and having to deal with the public for the last two decades, and at a time when teachers themselves are telling young people NOT to go into teaching (understandably). But hey, if you’ve got some magical strategy to recruit teachers any faster, I’m sure we’d all love to hear it.

There are some basic HR strategies:

1) Have exit interviews with teachers to collect data on their reasons for leaving MCPS. Are they leaving the profession or are they going to another school system? Why?

2) Listen to feedback through the unions. How is the workplace environment? What would improve the environment?

3) Compare the salary and benefits with other school systems in the context of cost of living in Montgomery County. Increasing pay and benefits are factors to consider if you are having difficulties filling positions.

4) Consider offering a benefit that sets you apart from other school systems. Pay off student loans? Signing bonuses? More days of annual and sick leave than other school systems?

5) Consider working with the County Council and Maryland on initiatives that would attract educators to Montgomery County. For example - a property tax exemption for county employees including MCPS employees. Just using that as an example of a benefit my dad received in another state. Other states offer income tax exemptions.

Point being, the marketplace is definitely telling MCPS something if they have vacancies that can’t be filled and people are quitting mid-year. Could be school climate. Could be a lack of pay. MCPS needs to adjust for the new reality in the job market.

I encourage you to watch the Strategic Recruitment and Development presentation from the November BOE meeting and the update planned for February.

I encourage Dr. McKnight to fill the vacancies and not just talk about filling vacancies. I also encourage her to actually step foot in a school to see how staff are struggling to cover the shortages.

Can you get her a police escort to a MCPS school and maybe she will show up?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's a novel idea. All qualified kids get into the program?

Thank you!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I. know she's done an amazing job in light of the mess she was handed. She's got my vote!

Wait. Wasn't she the Deputy Sup before? it's a nice spin though - try to make it look like it wasn't her issue.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/superintendent/bio.aspx

This WAS her own mess to clean up. Plus, all the really bad stuff happened on HER watch, so she can't blame anyone else.

Let’s be clear.

McKnight is not responsible for anything that happened while she was deputy.
McKnight is not responsible for anything that happened while she was interim.
McKnight will not be responsible for anything that will happen when she is the superintendent.