Can we bring back Jack R Smith please?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, for all the mistakes that Dr. McKnight has made, she has still been light years better than Smith.

For 2 years, when the community needed him most, he just didn't seem to care. At all. Almost like he just couldn't be bothered.

I would give McKnight a C-. Lots to improve on, but she's working.

Smith got a failing grade: F

Really? They seem about the same to me. In fact, McKnight is maybe a bit more playable by the entitled parents. She did cancel the COVID policy despite the advice of experts to placate that vocal minority of parents.

[Anonymous]

Op what are you unhappy about?

Is it that schools are open, or not enough virtual options, or you think it should have been fully virtual? What would you have done in her shoes or what do you think smith would have done differently?

Not just done abstract “leadership” but what specifically different outcome would he have achieved?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, for all the mistakes that Dr. McKnight has made, she has still been light years better than Smith.

For 2 years, when the community needed him most, he just didn't seem to care. At all. Almost like he just couldn't be bothered.

I would give McKnight a C-. Lots to improve on, but she's working.

Smith got a failing grade: F

She also effectively stood up to Elrich on behalf of the students after her self-imposed color coding mistake. Course-correcting on that mistake in the first place was impressive leadership. Many leaders would arrogantly carry on. We saw that phenomenon last year with MCPS and DHHS leadership.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, for all the mistakes that Dr. McKnight has made, she has still been light years better than Smith.

For 2 years, when the community needed him most, he just didn't seem to care. At all. Almost like he just couldn't be bothered.

I would give McKnight a C-. Lots to improve on, but she's working.

Smith got a failing grade: F

Really? They seem about the same to me. In fact, McKnight is maybe a bit more playable by the entitled parents. She did cancel the COVID policy despite the advice of experts to placate that vocal minority of parents.

What experts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, for all the mistakes that Dr. McKnight has made, she has still been light years better than Smith.

For 2 years, when the community needed him most, he just didn't seem to care. At all. Almost like he just couldn't be bothered.

I would give McKnight a C-. Lots to improve on, but she's working.

Smith got a failing grade: F

She also effectively stood up to Elrich on behalf of the students after her self-imposed color coding mistake. Course-correcting on that mistake in the first place was impressive leadership. Many leaders would arrogantly carry on. We saw that phenomenon last year with MCPS and DHHS leadership.

I agree.

First, I appreciated, at the start of the year, making it clear that in-person school was the standard. No hemming or hawing or trying to be vague in order to please both sides.

The change in policy wasn't necessarily bad. The initial bad policy was a mistake, but addressing it and changing it quickly was fine with me. Doubling down on a problem isn't good leadership. Acknowledging mistakes and correcting (which is what she did) is the problem.

I think, she could quickly move that grade up to a B if she improved the communication arm of MCPS, which might involve being more firm with her staff (which I'm not sure the culture of MCPS supports).

But she has made her position clear. Tried to execute to that goal. Failed at times, but succeeded at other.

With Smith, he just seemed like he always had some place better to be and was fine with the status quo for as long as possible. And he got defensive and angry whenever the board (or anyone, for that matter) questioned him. His retirement was one of the best things that ever happened to MCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, for all the mistakes that Dr. McKnight has made, she has still been light years better than Smith.

For 2 years, when the community needed him most, he just didn't seem to care. At all. Almost like he just couldn't be bothered.

I would give McKnight a C-. Lots to improve on, but she's working.

Smith got a failing grade: F

Really? They seem about the same to me. In fact, McKnight is maybe a bit more playable by the entitled parents. She did cancel the COVID policy despite the advice of experts to placate that vocal minority of parents.

Changing the color coding policy wasn't the mistake.

The mistake was: coming up with a system yourself and then claiming that the system was imposed on MCPS by the state. The state very clearly said "no, we never said that" and McKnight had backed herself into a corner.

So, she gets positive marks for changing a bad policy. And demerits for trying to scapegoat the state (or for having a team that failed to understand the actual state requirements)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She's made plenty of mistakes, but keeping schools open isn't one of them. I say this as a teacher. I still don't think she should get the job, as she's a horrible communicator and lost the confidence of nearly every principal and teacher in the system. Happy parents seem to be few and far between as well. I would be happy if they brought back Dr. Starr, but the board would never do that because they parted ways so acrimoniously. I do wonder if the principals who vocally opposed Dr. Starr bac in the day would rather have him than Dr. McKnight right now. Certainly his desire to focus on mental health might mean kids would have more support. Either way, let's learn from the past several years of mistakes and hire someone who has a proven record as a super and is a good communicator. I fear that few have applied for the job though. I mean, who would want it?

The short-sighted treatment of Starr has proven to have serious downstream consequences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, for all the mistakes that Dr. McKnight has made, she has still been light years better than Smith.

For 2 years, when the community needed him most, he just didn't seem to care. At all. Almost like he just couldn't be bothered.

I would give McKnight a C-. Lots to improve on, but she's working.

Smith got a failing grade: F

She also effectively stood up to Elrich on behalf of the students after her self-imposed color coding mistake. Course-correcting on that mistake in the first place was impressive leadership. Many leaders would arrogantly carry on. We saw that phenomenon last year with MCPS and DHHS leadership.

She what now? I’m going to need a link or some proof. What did Elrich have to do with that dumb system?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She's made plenty of mistakes, but keeping schools open isn't one of them. I say this as a teacher. I still don't think she should get the job, as she's a horrible communicator and lost the confidence of nearly every principal and teacher in the system. Happy parents seem to be few and far between as well. I would be happy if they brought back Dr. Starr, but the board would never do that because they parted ways so acrimoniously. I do wonder if the principals who vocally opposed Dr. Starr bac in the day would rather have him than Dr. McKnight right now. Certainly his desire to focus on mental health might mean kids would have more support. Either way, let's learn from the past several years of mistakes and hire someone who has a proven record as a super and is a good communicator. I fear that few have applied for the job though. I mean, who would want it?

How so? Would he materialize Counselors, Social Workers, and Psychologist out of thin air right now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, for all the mistakes that Dr. McKnight has made, she has still been light years better than Smith.

For 2 years, when the community needed him most, he just didn't seem to care. At all. Almost like he just couldn't be bothered.

I would give McKnight a C-. Lots to improve on, but she's working.

Smith got a failing grade: F

She also effectively stood up to Elrich on behalf of the students after her self-imposed color coding mistake. Course-correcting on that mistake in the first place was impressive leadership. Many leaders would arrogantly carry on. We saw that phenomenon last year with MCPS and DHHS leadership.

She what now? I’m going to need a link or some proof. What did Elrich have to do with that dumb system?

The missteps, miscommunication, and backtracking around the color-coding system are big reasons why Elrich said things were chaotic and the district needed to take a pause. But she/MCPS didn't buckle and kept nearly the entire district in-person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, for all the mistakes that Dr. McKnight has made, she has still been light years better than Smith.

For 2 years, when the community needed him most, he just didn't seem to care. At all. Almost like he just couldn't be bothered.

I would give McKnight a C-. Lots to improve on, but she's working.

Smith got a failing grade: F

She also effectively stood up to Elrich on behalf of the students after her self-imposed color coding mistake. Course-correcting on that mistake in the first place was impressive leadership. Many leaders would arrogantly carry on. We saw that phenomenon last year with MCPS and DHHS leadership.

She what now? I’m going to need a link or some proof. What did Elrich have to do with that dumb system?

The missteps, miscommunication, and backtracking around the color-coding system are big reasons why Elrich said things were chaotic and the district needed to take a pause. But she/MCPS didn't buckle and kept nearly the entire district in-person.

NP, and I agree. She’s been much better than Smith. She made a mistake and moved past it—I’m not saying she’s done everything well, but what did Smith do well, exactly?

Elrich is a fool. He should have stayed the f out of the school issues, especially since he wasn’t doing a damn thing to control spread in the community. Bars and restaurants were open but he thought schools should “take a pause”? Bite me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, for all the mistakes that Dr. McKnight has made, she has still been light years better than Smith.

For 2 years, when the community needed him most, he just didn't seem to care. At all. Almost like he just couldn't be bothered.

I would give McKnight a C-. Lots to improve on, but she's working.

Smith got a failing grade: F

+1 million

Agree completely. Smith did not care AT ALL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, for all the mistakes that Dr. McKnight has made, she has still been light years better than Smith.

For 2 years, when the community needed him most, he just didn't seem to care. At all. Almost like he just couldn't be bothered.

I would give McKnight a C-. Lots to improve on, but she's working.

Smith got a failing grade: F

She also effectively stood up to Elrich on behalf of the students after her self-imposed color coding mistake. Course-correcting on that mistake in the first place was impressive leadership. Many leaders would arrogantly carry on. We saw that phenomenon last year with MCPS and DHHS leadership.

I agree.

First, I appreciated, at the start of the year, making it clear that in-person school was the standard. No hemming or hawing or trying to be vague in order to please both sides.

The change in policy wasn't necessarily bad. The initial bad policy was a mistake, but addressing it and changing it quickly was fine with me. Doubling down on a problem isn't good leadership. Acknowledging mistakes and correcting (which is what she did) is the problem.

I think, she could quickly move that grade up to a B if she improved the communication arm of MCPS, which might involve being more firm with her staff (which I'm not sure the culture of MCPS supports).

But she has made her position clear. Tried to execute to that goal. Failed at times, but succeeded at other.

With Smith, he just seemed like he always had some place better to be and was fine with the status quo for as long as possible. And he got defensive and angry whenever the board (or anyone, for that matter) questioned him. His retirement was one of the best things that ever happened to MCPS

+1 million to all of this

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, for all the mistakes that Dr. McKnight has made, she has still been light years better than Smith.

For 2 years, when the community needed him most, he just didn't seem to care. At all. Almost like he just couldn't be bothered.

I would give McKnight a C-. Lots to improve on, but she's working.

Smith got a failing grade: F

She also effectively stood up to Elrich on behalf of the students after her self-imposed color coding mistake. Course-correcting on that mistake in the first place was impressive leadership. Many leaders would arrogantly carry on. We saw that phenomenon last year with MCPS and DHHS leadership.

She what now? I’m going to need a link or some proof. What did Elrich have to do with that dumb system?

The missteps, miscommunication, and backtracking around the color-coding system are big reasons why Elrich said things were chaotic and the district needed to take a pause. But she/MCPS didn't buckle and kept nearly the entire district in-person.

NP, and I agree. She’s been much better than Smith. She made a mistake and moved past it—I’m not saying she’s done everything well, but what did Smith do well, exactly?

Elrich is a fool. He should have stayed the f out of the school issues, especially since he wasn’t doing a damn thing to control spread in the community. Bars and restaurants were open but he thought schools should “take a pause”? Bite me.

This feels like the one thing almost everyone can get behind. The man is a joke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, for all the mistakes that Dr. McKnight has made, she has still been light years better than Smith.

For 2 years, when the community needed him most, he just didn't seem to care. At all. Almost like he just couldn't be bothered.

I would give McKnight a C-. Lots to improve on, but she's working.

Smith got a failing grade: F

+1 million

Agree completely. Smith did not care AT ALL.

Agree that Smith didn't GAF. It was pretty obvious when he announced his last day would be June 1, rather than June 30 / July 1. He complained that living in the pandemic was "hard" with his wife being gone helping with the grandchild. He was mentally checked out.

I guess he thought the pandemic was easy for all the kids doing Zoom school??