Dr. Felder told not to apply for permanent superintendent role according to sources

[Anonymous]

Dr. Felder is held in high regard with all of the unions because she earned our respect. She doing a great job as interim and we are losing a partner who truly collaborates and cares.

- A longtime mcea member

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dr. Felder is held in high regard with all of the unions because she earned our respect. She doing a great job as interim and we are losing a partner who truly collaborates and cares.

- A longtime mcea member

I see nothing to applaud about her tenure. MCPS was a mess when she stepped into the role and it’s remained one since she assumed the interim position.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dr. Felder is held in high regard with all of the unions because she earned our respect. She doing a great job as interim and we are losing a partner who truly collaborates and cares.

- A longtime mcea member

I see nothing to applaud about her tenure. MCPS was a mess when she stepped into the role and it’s remained one since she assumed the interim position.

Exactly what did you expect a 4 month interim Super to do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dr. Felder is held in high regard with all of the unions because she earned our respect. She doing a great job as interim and we are losing a partner who truly collaborates and cares.

- A longtime mcea member

Thank you. I agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dr. Felder is held in high regard with all of the unions because she earned our respect. She doing a great job as interim and we are losing a partner who truly collaborates and cares.

- A longtime mcea member

I see nothing to applaud about her tenure. MCPS was a mess when she stepped into the role and it’s remained one since she assumed the interim position.

Exactly what did you expect a 4 month interim Super to do?

Clean up shop, set priorities and hold people accountable for their failures and mistakes. Also be transparent and communicate better than her predecessor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dr. Felder is held in high regard with all of the unions because she earned our respect. She doing a great job as interim and we are losing a partner who truly collaborates and cares.

- A longtime mcea member

she doesn't care and she was forced to collaborate at the direction of the board, she didn't want to. She's a classic example of someone who tells people what they want to hear to get their support and then talks bad about them behind closed doors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dr. Felder is held in high regard with all of the unions because she earned our respect. She doing a great job as interim and we are losing a partner who truly collaborates and cares.

- A longtime mcea member

FYI - Felder and Key were the ones that wanted to RIF teachers. Don't think for one second that she cares about anything except herself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dr. Felder is held in high regard with all of the unions because she earned our respect. She doing a great job as interim and we are losing a partner who truly collaborates and cares.

- A longtime mcea member

I see nothing to applaud about her tenure. MCPS was a mess when she stepped into the role and it’s remained one since she assumed the interim position.

Exactly what did you expect a 4 month interim Super to do?

Her job?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dr. Felder is held in high regard with all of the unions because she earned our respect. She doing a great job as interim and we are losing a partner who truly collaborates and cares.

- A longtime mcea member

I see nothing to applaud about her tenure. MCPS was a mess when she stepped into the role and it’s remained one since she assumed the interim position.

She is just a figure head. The BOE didn't give her real power during these 4 months. She was told to just play nice amd not make any waves. She is playing her part as instructed. As a result, Dr. Felder will be asked to serve as interim in other districts when needed. The permanent superintendent will be expected to clean up the mess to earn his/her pay plus bonuses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dr. Felder is held in high regard with all of the unions because she earned our respect. She doing a great job as interim and we are losing a partner who truly collaborates and cares.

- A longtime mcea member

I see nothing to applaud about her tenure. MCPS was a mess when she stepped into the role and it’s remained one since she assumed the interim position.

Exactly what did you expect a 4 month interim Super to do?

Clean up shop, set priorities and hold people accountable for their failures and mistakes. Also be transparent and communicate better than her predecessor.

Felder is a short term Super. Her job is to calm things following McKnights departure, attend to the Beidleman situation as it continues to play out, get through budget in a difficult year, and steer things until the end of the school year (or an official Super is named), while setting transition plans for the official Super. And that alone was immense considering she was coming from outside of CO so drinking from a fire hose and having to play catchup.

Just because you had unrealistic expectations is not anyone’ else’s fault.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dr. Felder is held in high regard with all of the unions because she earned our respect. She doing a great job as interim and we are losing a partner who truly collaborates and cares.

- A longtime mcea member

she doesn't care and she was forced to collaborate at the direction of the board, she didn't want to. She's a classic example of someone who tells people what they want to hear to get their support and then talks bad about them behind closed doors.

You've been behind the closed doors with her? Wow!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dr. Felder is held in high regard with all of the unions because she earned our respect. She doing a great job as interim and we are losing a partner who truly collaborates and cares.

- A longtime mcea member

she doesn't care and she was forced to collaborate at the direction of the board, she didn't want to. She's a classic example of someone who tells people what they want to hear to get their support and then talks bad about them behind closed doors.

You've been behind the closed doors with her? Wow!

(Didn't Beidleman get in trouble for that?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dr. Felder is held in high regard with all of the unions because she earned our respect. She doing a great job as interim and we are losing a partner who truly collaborates and cares.

- A longtime mcea member

I see nothing to applaud about her tenure. MCPS was a mess when she stepped into the role and it’s remained one since she assumed the interim position.

Exactly what did you expect a 4 month interim Super to do?

Clean up shop, set priorities and hold people accountable for their failures and mistakes. Also be transparent and communicate better than her predecessor.

Felder is a short term Super. Her job is to calm things following McKnights departure, attend to the Beidleman situation as it continues to play out, get through budget in a difficult year, and steer things until the end of the school year (or an official Super is named), while setting transition plans for the official Super. And that alone was immense considering she was coming from outside of CO so drinking from a fire hose and having to play catchup.

Just because you had unrealistic expectations is not anyone’ else’s fault.

Do you think Felder has succeeded in "calming things" in MCPS? I don't think so and can't see how you do by any visible measure.

Part of the "calming things" you're talking about that people expected was her getting rid of McKnight's corrupt cronies and known MCPS abusers and bullies. That WAS part of her mandate as interim super.

As for your assertion that improved communications was an unrealistic expectation for an interim superintendent, we'll just have to agree to disagree, as I think being a strong, effective communicator is a must for anyone who occupies the superintendent role, interim, acting or permanent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dr. Felder is held in high regard with all of the unions because she earned our respect. She doing a great job as interim and we are losing a partner who truly collaborates and cares.

- A longtime mcea member

I see nothing to applaud about her tenure. MCPS was a mess when she stepped into the role and it’s remained one since she assumed the interim position.

Exactly what did you expect a 4 month interim Super to do?

Clean up shop, set priorities and hold people accountable for their failures and mistakes. Also be transparent and communicate better than her predecessor.

Felder is a short term Super. Her job is to calm things following McKnights departure, attend to the Beidleman situation as it continues to play out, get through budget in a difficult year, and steer things until the end of the school year (or an official Super is named), while setting transition plans for the official Super. And that alone was immense considering she was coming from outside of CO so drinking from a fire hose and having to play catchup.

Just because you had unrealistic expectations is not anyone’ else’s fault.

Do you think Felder has succeeded in "calming things" in MCPS? I don't think so and can't see how you do by any visible measure.

Part of the "calming things" you're talking about that people expected was her getting rid of McKnight's corrupt cronies and known MCPS abusers and bullies. That WAS part of her mandate as interim super.

As for your assertion that improved communications was an unrealistic expectation for an interim superintendent, we'll just have to agree to disagree, as I think being a strong, effective communicator is a must for anyone who occupies the superintendent role, interim, acting or permanent.

We’d first have to define what strong communication is because MCPS communicates all the time and folks don’t read, listen, or attend. Want examples? 1)Someone on the board this week asked why MCPS didn’t announce a survey that they sent 4 emails about, told schools to remind about, and even included in their weekly news. 2)We have a County Council claiming they didn’t know teachers could be impacted by the budget when we’ve been talking about it here since March and CO has been saying for a year how difficult this budget was going to be. 3)People are complaining about a budget for which every chapter was discussed in a BOE meeting, has been readily available for review online, CO held several community sessions to discuss and hear feedback, there is an entire webpage dedicated to asking questions or providing feedback.

What do you want them to do, tap you on the shoulder and say, “oh by the way there may be problems on the horizon?”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dr. Felder is held in high regard with all of the unions because she earned our respect. She doing a great job as interim and we are losing a partner who truly collaborates and cares.

- A longtime mcea member

I see nothing to applaud about her tenure. MCPS was a mess when she stepped into the role and it’s remained one since she assumed the interim position.

Exactly what did you expect a 4 month interim Super to do?

Clean up shop, set priorities and hold people accountable for their failures and mistakes. Also be transparent and communicate better than her predecessor.

Felder is a short term Super. Her job is to calm things following McKnights departure, attend to the Beidleman situation as it continues to play out, get through budget in a difficult year, and steer things until the end of the school year (or an official Super is named), while setting transition plans for the official Super. And that alone was immense considering she was coming from outside of CO so drinking from a fire hose and having to play catchup.

Just because you had unrealistic expectations is not anyone’ else’s fault.

Do you think Felder has succeeded in "calming things" in MCPS? I don't think so and can't see how you do by any visible measure.

Part of the "calming things" you're talking about that people expected was her getting rid of McKnight's corrupt cronies and known MCPS abusers and bullies. That WAS part of her mandate as interim super.

As for your assertion that improved communications was an unrealistic expectation for an interim superintendent, we'll just have to agree to disagree, as I think being a strong, effective communicator is a must for anyone who occupies the superintendent role, interim, acting or permanent.

We’d first have to define what strong communication is because MCPS communicates all the time and folks don’t read, listen, or attend. Want examples? 1)Someone on the board this week asked why MCPS didn’t announce a survey that they sent 4 emails about, told schools to remind about, and even included in their weekly news. 2)We have a County Council claiming they didn’t know teachers could be impacted by the budget when we’ve been talking about it here since March and CO has been saying for a year how difficult this budget was going to be. 3)People are complaining about a budget for which every chapter was discussed in a BOE meeting, has been readily available for review online, CO held several community sessions to discuss and hear feedback, there is an entire webpage dedicated to asking questions or providing feedback.

What do you want them to do, tap you on the shoulder and say, “oh by the way there may be problems on the horizon?”

You're doing a lot of unnecessary and unsolicited work to defend MCPS and it's not clear what your motive is, other than you're a central office employee and ally of Dr. Felder who feels maligned by criticisms of MCPS.

Strong communication means:
- Communication that builds consensus and provides clarity across MCPS's stakeholder groups
- Communication that is clear, not misleading and easy to understand
- Communication that is connected to meaningful action and next steps
BONUS: Communication that inspires and moves people to invest in our school system

The last one is a bonus because it would be nice if an interim supe could inspire people with their words, but that is more of a fair expectation of a permanent supe. The first three bullets, however, are within the realm of fair expectations for an interim who needs to hold the fort.

You trying to blame the council for the visceral and negative response to teacher cuts is pathetic. MCEA AND the Council both said they were caught off guard at the last minute with the threat of teacher cuts by Felder and MCPS. And it's clear that the threat of the cuts was a political tactic on the part of MCPS to attempt to extort more money from the council, since magically, cuts are no longer needed and MCPS is AGGRESSIVELY walking back the +1 student per classroom messaging, going to pains that it won't happen in every school and every class.

The blame for the budget fiasco rests with Felder, MCPS and the BOE. Felder is only partially responsible since she stepped in midway through the process. But nonetheless, as the leader in charge at the time, she has to shoulder some of it.