Did Dr. McKnight's antiracist speech fall flat?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McKnight is a politician. Just a lot of noise and no action. Until they stop wasting money on ridiculous programs and actually fix schools, address overcrowding, and the current teacher shortage- none of it actually matters. Many administrators don’t respect her and some of the top people have left. It’s only getting worse before it gets better.

She's not any worse or better so far than her predecessors. Which tells you that they're all pretty bad At least she dresses in a more interesting way!

Her dress was pretty but it doesn't come across as a business dress vs. going out to dinner/evening dress.

[Anonymous]

Oh yeah I forgot about the part about student reeducation. Just your typical recommendations. Not much going to come of it.

[Anonymous]

We'll see when some of you are "required" to come to school and complete a list of items before your kid can return to school!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I listened to it live and thought it was a very good speech. It addressed some of the immediate concerns in the community regarding the increase in racist incidents and set the tone for forthcoming changes in policy. She hinted at a few of them such as an expectation that attendance and disciplinary problems cannot be solved by the schools alone, but must involve the parents and community as a whole. She specifically cited changes to 4th and 5th grade social studies curriculum to include specific history regarding racism and marginalization of various groups in our society. I expect that internally every policy/initiative is going to held up against this vision and if it doesn’t support this vision, it’s going nowhere.

Sorry you are bored and hoping to stir up some Dr. McKnight bashing. Find something more productive to do.

Curriculum changes take what, 5 years? Maybe? Post the actual curriculum otherwise it is just puffing. Sorry you are so gullible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I listened to it live and thought it was a very good speech. It addressed some of the immediate concerns in the community regarding the increase in racist incidents and set the tone for forthcoming changes in policy. She hinted at a few of them such as an expectation that attendance and disciplinary problems cannot be solved by the schools alone, but must involve the parents and community as a whole. She specifically cited changes to 4th and 5th grade social studies curriculum to include specific history regarding racism and marginalization of various groups in our society. I expect that internally every policy/initiative is going to held up against this vision and if it doesn’t support this vision, it’s going nowhere.

Sorry you are bored and hoping to stir up some Dr. McKnight bashing. Find something more productive to do.

What specific actions or next steps did you hear that I didn't?

What you said, at best, sounds like something might happen. But if there's no what, where, when and how, why are you impressed?

And saying attendance and disciplinary problems cannot be solved by the schools alone is groundbreaking and a compelling thought to you? What action and consequence comes from that statement? Furthermore, what is she demanding and expecting of the community or parents to combat those issues, if she thinks they're beyond the school district's influence?

So she shouldn’t note that parents and community play a part? Because kids are learning hate in school???

[Anonymous]

I liked the speech but also was listening for the action steps and was left feeling like it was a lot of talk. I think most of us, and certainly those with kids who are getting bullied, would like to hear what, specifically, the consequences are now for hate speech and behavior, and how the curriculum will be altered to address this as well. It’s not that I think she doesn’t care, it’s that I want to see the tangible changes in school policies. I think that’s what she wants too, so I want her to be brave and just enforce standards of decency. Give the words some teeth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:99% of the county did not watch and does not care, OP. And rightly so, because it's meaningless. Families want schools that aren't falling apart, with working A/C and heating, no rodents, and hustling to build more schools to alleviate overcrowding. Also, they'd love to have an adequate number of qualified teachers to fill all empty positions, and enough bus drivers.

We can all dream.

This would be great, and more teaching vs. discussions and group projects, actual homework that relates to the class topics for reinforcement, textbooks for references and to guide the class, reading actual books in English class and going back to the basics - math facts, spelling, grammar, etc.

I care that my kids are in an environment where the religion they identify with is regularly being subjected to hate crimes but sadly we/they know there isn't anything anyone is going to do about it as its not a group of MCPS interest.

This is my reaction too. DC is subject to nearly daily racism in MCPS but because they are not a group of interest to them, Dr. McKnight and others choose to ignore it. I'm glad she is stepping up to address the anti-semitic attacks, finally, but there are a lot of other groups who are being hurt and they are doing nothing. I hate the hypocrisy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My takeaways were they’re going to bring in experts, more teacher training, and engage with the community. So yeah, basically more of nothing.

I heard they need to hire dozens of experts to build a new department at the central office to address this crisis, and Elrich even agreed to raise property taxes to help fund these key initiatives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:99% of the county did not watch and does not care, OP. And rightly so, because it's meaningless. Families want schools that aren't falling apart, with working A/C and heating, no rodents, and hustling to build more schools to alleviate overcrowding. Also, they'd love to have an adequate number of qualified teachers to fill all empty positions, and enough bus drivers.

We can all dream.

This would be great, and more teaching vs. discussions and group projects, actual homework that relates to the class topics for reinforcement, textbooks for references and to guide the class, reading actual books in English class and going back to the basics - math facts, spelling, grammar, etc.

I care that my kids are in an environment where the religion they identify with is regularly being subjected to hate crimes but sadly we/they know there isn't anything anyone is going to do about it as its not a group of MCPS interest.

This is my reaction too. DC is subject to nearly daily racism in MCPS but because they are not a group of interest to them, Dr. McKnight and others choose to ignore it. I'm glad she is stepping up to address the anti-semitic attacks, finally, but there are a lot of other groups who are being hurt and they are doing nothing. I hate the hypocrisy.

That's terrible! If it's not to personal, what group is that?

[Anonymous]

*too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I liked the speech but also was listening for the action steps and was left feeling like it was a lot of talk. I think most of us, and certainly those with kids who are getting bullied, would like to hear what, specifically, the consequences are now for hate speech and behavior, and how the curriculum will be altered to address this as well. It’s not that I think she doesn’t care, it’s that I want to see the tangible changes in school policies. I think that’s what she wants too, so I want her to be brave and just enforce standards of decency. Give the words some teeth.

This is a broad problem for society that MCPS can't possibly address. The school system should focus on doing its job of educating kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I liked the speech but also was listening for the action steps and was left feeling like it was a lot of talk. I think most of us, and certainly those with kids who are getting bullied, would like to hear what, specifically, the consequences are now for hate speech and behavior, and how the curriculum will be altered to address this as well. It’s not that I think she doesn’t care, it’s that I want to see the tangible changes in school policies. I think that’s what she wants too, so I want her to be brave and just enforce standards of decency. Give the words some teeth.

This is a broad problem for society that MCPS can't possibly address. The school system should focus on doing its job of educating kids.

This. Not MCPS’ job to fix racism.

MCPS needs to focus on EDUCATION. For all kids. Smaller class sizes and a solid curriculum.

Get rid of some of the useless Central Office bloat and get rid of the useless initiatives that don’t benefit our kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I listened to it live and thought it was a very good speech. It addressed some of the immediate concerns in the community regarding the increase in racist incidents and set the tone for forthcoming changes in policy. She hinted at a few of them such as an expectation that attendance and disciplinary problems cannot be solved by the schools alone, but must involve the parents and community as a whole. She specifically cited changes to 4th and 5th grade social studies curriculum to include specific history regarding racism and marginalization of various groups in our society. I expect that internally every policy/initiative is going to held up against this vision and if it doesn’t support this vision, it’s going nowhere.

Sorry you are bored and hoping to stir up some Dr. McKnight bashing. Find something more productive to do.

What specific actions or next steps did you hear that I didn't?

What you said, at best, sounds like something might happen. But if there's no what, where, when and how, why are you impressed?

And saying attendance and disciplinary problems cannot be solved by the schools alone is groundbreaking and a compelling thought to you? What action and consequence comes from that statement? Furthermore, what is she demanding and expecting of the community or parents to combat those issues, if she thinks they're beyond the school district's influence?

So she shouldn’t note that parents and community play a part? Because kids are learning hate in school???

Where did I say she shouldn't note that parents and community play a part? I merely pointed out that it's not a new thought and it's not groundbreaking to say that, so she doesn't deserve a standing ovation for stating the obvious.

Furthermore, beyond acknowledging they have a part to play, as the leader of MCPS, what does she want or expect from parents and the community, since she's saying they're essential to solving the problem? She never spelled that out and that's bad communication on a topic she's clearly posturing to be a visionary on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I liked the speech but also was listening for the action steps and was left feeling like it was a lot of talk. I think most of us, and certainly those with kids who are getting bullied, would like to hear what, specifically, the consequences are now for hate speech and behavior, and how the curriculum will be altered to address this as well. It’s not that I think she doesn’t care, it’s that I want to see the tangible changes in school policies. I think that’s what she wants too, so I want her to be brave and just enforce standards of decency. Give the words some teeth.

This is a broad problem for society that MCPS can't possibly address. The school system should focus on doing its job of educating kids.

This. Not MCPS’ job to fix racism.

MCPS needs to focus on EDUCATION. For all kids. Smaller class sizes and a solid curriculum.

Get rid of some of the useless Central Office bloat and get rid of the useless initiatives that don’t benefit our kids.

Maybe next year she can give a speech on how MCPS will solve global warming!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I liked the speech but also was listening for the action steps and was left feeling like it was a lot of talk. I think most of us, and certainly those with kids who are getting bullied, would like to hear what, specifically, the consequences are now for hate speech and behavior, and how the curriculum will be altered to address this as well. It’s not that I think she doesn’t care, it’s that I want to see the tangible changes in school policies. I think that’s what she wants too, so I want her to be brave and just enforce standards of decency. Give the words some teeth.

This is a broad problem for society that MCPS can't possibly address. The school system should focus on doing its job of educating kids.

This. Not MCPS’ job to fix racism.

MCPS needs to focus on EDUCATION. For all kids. Smaller class sizes and a solid curriculum.

Get rid of some of the useless Central Office bloat and get rid of the useless initiatives that don’t benefit our kids.

You can't separate racism and EDUCATION, though. No matter how much some people keep insisting that you can.