Superintendent Taylor says he is responsible for what happens next

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

Political cover. He can say he’s transparent and seeking community input while knowing all too well that there’s nothing he can do to reverse the BOE’s decision. It was a way for him to make clear that the closure was the fault of others and that he should get a clean slate with this constituency and be judged on how well he listens from here on out. Not to say that he’s a bad person at all - he’s doing what any good leader would do in his position in seeking input on how he can help these families that were dealt a bad hand and got a raw deal from the prior admin.

I guess. Again, definitely would not be my first priority. And I’m not sure why the MVA families showed up knowing it wouldn’t change the outcome.

But it does solidify that Taylor’s top priority is PR and image, which is exactly what the community told the BOE we didn’t want to continue to prioritize.

Was a couple hours of his time. I’d hardly call that a first priority. But yes, he’s learning quickly that you can survive in the game if you put up a good show. Last month it was the Maryland state senator who expressed grave concern and vowed to look into it. And next month it will likely be someone else until the clock runs out completely.

I’m just surprised that MCPS lawyers let him meet with the group now that they’ve threatened lawsuits over unlawful school closure statutes.

It’s the first meet and greet he’s doing with MCPS families. I’d call that a first priority. He could’ve met with Jewish families who have blasted MCPS over antisemitism, black families who have been left behind with the antiracism action plan stalling, Ethiopian families who have felt alienated and ignored with the BOE’s abandonment of the ELA LGBT opt-out option, but no, he decided to meet first with the MVA families.

That says something about his priorities.

[Anonymous]

He showed up at our training this week for the new elementary ELA curriculum. Unlike previous supers, he didn't have an entourage following him around the halls. It was quite refreshing. He was very friendly and seems down to Earth.

Time will tell of course...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

He learned he can undo the decision.

There's no money, and even more, there's no time to "undo" the closure. School assignments for teachers have been updated. Some teachers have resigned. Attempting to reopen MVA at this point would leave a large number of students in schools and MVA without teachers.

I don't understand what the MVA families expect at this point. They lost the battle to keep MVA in place. They'd be better off refocusing on lobbying the state to create a virtual program rather than complaining about a decision that can't be undone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

He learned he can undo the decision.

There's no money, and even more, there's no time to "undo" the closure. School assignments for teachers have been updated. Some teachers have resigned. Attempting to reopen MVA at this point would leave a large number of students in schools and MVA without teachers.

I don't understand what the MVA families expect at this point. They lost the battle to keep MVA in place. They'd be better off refocusing on lobbying the state to create a virtual program rather than complaining about a decision that can't be undone.

You missed a memo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

He learned he can undo the decision.

There's no money, and even more, there's no time to "undo" the closure. School assignments for teachers have been updated. Some teachers have resigned. Attempting to reopen MVA at this point would leave a large number of students in schools and MVA without teachers.

I don't understand what the MVA families expect at this point. They lost the battle to keep MVA in place. They'd be better off refocusing on lobbying the state to create a virtual program rather than complaining about a decision that can't be undone.

It'd be easy to find enough teachers to staff. I don't care either way, but to say they can't undo it is just plain wrong. You just don't WANT them to undo it. Big difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

Political cover. He can say he’s transparent and seeking community input while knowing all too well that there’s nothing he can do to reverse the BOE’s decision. It was a way for him to make clear that the closure was the fault of others and that he should get a clean slate with this constituency and be judged on how well he listens from here on out. Not to say that he’s a bad person at all - he’s doing what any good leader would do in his position in seeking input on how he can help these families that were dealt a bad hand and got a raw deal from the prior admin.

I guess. Again, definitely would not be my first priority. And I’m not sure why the MVA families showed up knowing it wouldn’t change the outcome.

But it does solidify that Taylor’s top priority is PR and image, which is exactly what the community told the BOE we didn’t want to continue to prioritize.

Was a couple hours of his time. I’d hardly call that a first priority. But yes, he’s learning quickly that you can survive in the game if you put up a good show. Last month it was the Maryland state senator who expressed grave concern and vowed to look into it. And next month it will likely be someone else until the clock runs out completely.

I’m just surprised that MCPS lawyers let him meet with the group now that they’ve threatened lawsuits over unlawful school closure statutes.

It’s the first meet and greet he’s doing with MCPS families. I’d call that a first priority. He could’ve met with Jewish families who have blasted MCPS over antisemitism, black families who have been left behind with the antiracism action plan stalling, Ethiopian families who have felt alienated and ignored with the BOE’s abandonment of the ELA LGBT opt-out option, but no, he decided to meet first with the MVA families.

That says something about his priorities.

As a pragmatist grounded in reality, and not someone looking to complain about anything that the new Super does, I saw this merely as meeting with a group that has an imminent need for action, since their program was closed on short notice last month and they're scrambling to find alternatives or to get a final answer whether the MVA might actually be back next year.

Either way, I'm sure people would have found something to complain about if he met with one of the groups you mentioned "first". If he met with black families, he'd be labeled as a DEI stooge. If he met with those Ethiopian families you mentioned, he'd be bowing to the demands of the radical right who are looking to ban books and cancel trans kids. If he met with Jewish families, he'd be a privileged white male ignoring the plight of black and brown MCPS families.

And how do you know the new Super hasn't reached out to these groups "first"? Maybe they scheduled their meetings for later in the summer. Do you know for a fact that this was his first meeting with a coalition of MCPS families? I don't think you do know, nor could you know. This meeting just had a bunch of publicity around it because the MVA families invited the media to try to keep their fight relevant to the public. Who's to say the Super hasn't already had calls and meetings with representatives of other groups? Just because there were cameras and journalists present doesn't mean it was his first anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

He learned he can undo the decision.

There's no money, and even more, there's no time to "undo" the closure. School assignments for teachers have been updated. Some teachers have resigned. Attempting to reopen MVA at this point would leave a large number of students in schools and MVA without teachers.

I don't understand what the MVA families expect at this point. They lost the battle to keep MVA in place. They'd be better off refocusing on lobbying the state to create a virtual program rather than complaining about a decision that can't be undone.

You missed a memo.

Share the memo, please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

He learned he can undo the decision.

There's no money, and even more, there's no time to "undo" the closure. School assignments for teachers have been updated. Some teachers have resigned. Attempting to reopen MVA at this point would leave a large number of students in schools and MVA without teachers.

I don't understand what the MVA families expect at this point. They lost the battle to keep MVA in place. They'd be better off refocusing on lobbying the state to create a virtual program rather than complaining about a decision that can't be undone.

It'd be easy to find enough teachers to staff. I don't care either way, but to say they can't undo it is just plain wrong. You just don't WANT them to undo it. Big difference.

How would it be easy? MCPS has 242 teacher positions currently posted. Over 100 of them have been posted in the past seven days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

He learned he can undo the decision.

There's no money, and even more, there's no time to "undo" the closure. School assignments for teachers have been updated. Some teachers have resigned. Attempting to reopen MVA at this point would leave a large number of students in schools and MVA without teachers.

I don't understand what the MVA families expect at this point. They lost the battle to keep MVA in place. They'd be better off refocusing on lobbying the state to create a virtual program rather than complaining about a decision that can't be undone.

It'd be easy to find enough teachers to staff. I don't care either way, but to say they can't undo it is just plain wrong. You just don't WANT them to undo it. Big difference.

It would only be easy to find enough teachers for MVA if you don't care about finding teachers for the schools the former MVA teachers have been reassigned to. You might not care about that, but that's where the vast majority of MCPS students go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

Political cover. He can say he’s transparent and seeking community input while knowing all too well that there’s nothing he can do to reverse the BOE’s decision. It was a way for him to make clear that the closure was the fault of others and that he should get a clean slate with this constituency and be judged on how well he listens from here on out. Not to say that he’s a bad person at all - he’s doing what any good leader would do in his position in seeking input on how he can help these families that were dealt a bad hand and got a raw deal from the prior admin.

I guess. Again, definitely would not be my first priority. And I’m not sure why the MVA families showed up knowing it wouldn’t change the outcome.

But it does solidify that Taylor’s top priority is PR and image, which is exactly what the community told the BOE we didn’t want to continue to prioritize.

Was a couple hours of his time. I’d hardly call that a first priority. But yes, he’s learning quickly that you can survive in the game if you put up a good show. Last month it was the Maryland state senator who expressed grave concern and vowed to look into it. And next month it will likely be someone else until the clock runs out completely.

I’m just surprised that MCPS lawyers let him meet with the group now that they’ve threatened lawsuits over unlawful school closure statutes.

I'm not necessarily a fan of his (too early to tell), but I don't understand why folks are complaining about him meeting with MVA families; if he didn't meet with them you'd complain about that, too, wouldn't you?

[Anonymous]

Can we just have one MCA thread? Why do MVA boosters keep starting new ones? Having numerous MVA threads on DCUM is nit going to change the situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

He learned he can undo the decision.

There's no money, and even more, there's no time to "undo" the closure. School assignments for teachers have been updated. Some teachers have resigned. Attempting to reopen MVA at this point would leave a large number of students in schools and MVA without teachers.

I don't understand what the MVA families expect at this point. They lost the battle to keep MVA in place. They'd be better off refocusing on lobbying the state to create a virtual program rather than complaining about a decision that can't be undone.

It'd be easy to find enough teachers to staff. I don't care either way, but to say they can't undo it is just plain wrong. You just don't WANT them to undo it. Big difference.

It would only be easy to find enough teachers for MVA if you don't care about finding teachers for the schools the former MVA teachers have been reassigned to. You might not care about that, but that's where the vast majority of MCPS students go.

The MVA teachers have been reassigned already. They'd be hiring new teachers to take the MVA positions if it was reinstated. What is so difficult about this to understand?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He flip flops as he says the BOE has ultimate decision making and he cannot change the decision.

Umm, the BOE DOES have ultimate decision making…

Yep, and it's been defunded so families need to move on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly did Dr. Taylor accomplish with this meeting? As he stated, he can’t undo the decision so why was this a priority?

He learned he can undo the decision.

There's no money, and even more, there's no time to "undo" the closure. School assignments for teachers have been updated. Some teachers have resigned. Attempting to reopen MVA at this point would leave a large number of students in schools and MVA without teachers.

I don't understand what the MVA families expect at this point. They lost the battle to keep MVA in place. They'd be better off refocusing on lobbying the state to create a virtual program rather than complaining about a decision that can't be undone.

It'd be easy to find enough teachers to staff. I don't care either way, but to say they can't undo it is just plain wrong. You just don't WANT them to undo it. Big difference.

How would it be easy? MCPS has 242 teacher positions currently posted. Over 100 of them have been posted in the past seven days.

Um,most people want to work from home in the year 2024. Those positions would go pretty quick. So many have been posted because the resignation deadline just happened three days ago.

[Anonymous]

This feels like a pretty political statement, and I don't mean that in a disparaging way. He's correct that the way the decision was made was upsetting and lacked transparency or coherence in terms of how it was communicated or implemented.

With that said, it remains the right choice. The process was bad, but the outcome is what would have happened anyway.

That seems to be what he's saying, and I think it's the only thing he can say under the circumstances.