MCPS Whistleblower Details Lies, Retaliation in Sexual Harassment Case

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My prediction is that Dr. McKnight might fire Brian Hull and/or April Key over this. Depending on how much traction this story gets.

But I don't know. She fired Dr. Murphy and a bunch of associate directors involved in the Beidleman scandal, and she clearly made an agreement with her chief of staff Brian Stockton to have him bow out gracefully, but I don't think she can keep pointing the finger at everyone else. If the culture is this toxic, what does that say about her as its leader?

The BOE needs to hold her accountable.

And what if THEY are the source of the problem?

I think that depends on the BOE member. Shebra Evans and Brenda Wolff are definitely staunch McKnight defenders. I can't tell which way Silvestre and Smondroski lean. Lynne Harris is largely aligned with McKnight but willing to go even more left than McKnight when it comes to LGBT and environmental issues. And Grace Rivera-Oven and Julie Yang don't seem to be infatuated with McKnight at all. Grace is probably the most openly critical of McKnight out of all the BOE members.

Based on what I’ve seen of Smondroski, she will follow the truth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ever since McKnight came in there has been disfunction. Her comments never clarify anything.

I know a lot this predates her leadership but she has been in central office a long time before her current appointment. She has been able to make change but hasn’t.

The longer this goes on the weaker it makes her look. Fire the damn guy.

+1 Look, I wanted to see McKnight succeed for a number of reasons, but it is clear that she's just not a good fit. She lacks the vision that it would take to make a plan and see it through, and she has consistently obfuscated and engaged in PR-speak when clear answered were needed.

Here's the deal - Dr. McKnight is a long-time MCPS administrator, assistant superintendent, acting superintendent, and superintendent. If she were going to clean house, she would have done so already. This was her shot at "the big job" and she took it, and she failed. Okay, time to move on. Pretending that she's some smol bean who had no idea what was going on and no power to change things is an insult to MCPS staff and parents, and ultimately to her.

Well put.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An absolutely shocking report.

Sad to see the Post not running this, and its only local moco360. This has been amazing reporting.
Heads need to roll. Ignore the trolls, and maybe this thread won't get locked like the 5 other ones.

That should tell you something immediately about the credibility of the claim. Real newspapers don't think it's worth covering.

BS. The Post just laid off a ton of staffers, and offered buy-out packages to others. Alexandra Robbins is a serious journalist. This story will show up in People magazine before you know it - in other words, this is going national.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Guys. McKnight basically admitted she knew Biedleman was a creep when she say she did not know there was an active investigation at the time of the promotion. If she didn't know anything about the complaints, she would have said so. Not to mention that she admitted to Jackson Lewis that she knew there was something "swirling around" about him. She knew there were complaints. She probably knew she was promoting him to placate the Faruquar teachers.

Where did she say that in the Jackson Lewis report?

From the redacted report, page 6 third paragraph.

"Prior to the promotion, [REDACTED] was generally aware that there were concerns about [REDACTED] conduct "swirling around" but [REDACTED] was apparently not specifically aware of the pending investigation. [REDACTED] did not specifically remember if [REDACTED] informed [REDACTED] about the investigation prior to the promotion. [REDACTED] did not take any action to inquire about details regarding what concerns were "swirling around" [REDACTED] prior to [REDACTED] [REDACTED] to promote [REDACTED]."

This is an abdication of leadership. And combined with the other quote about needing to fire him, it sounds like they thought keeping a black man in a principal position was the most important thing. Ugh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a good look for the in house MCPS counsel who took over doctoring the report when the investigator refused. She’s at the Maryland AG’s office now but I can’t imagine they’re happy with this kind of conduct from one of their own.

Is every school district the same sh__ show that MCPS is? 88 people confirmed Beidleman's bad behavior and it took this long to get out? Counsel covers for the higher ups.

Beidleman is still getting paid, pending the completion of the investigation, but how many other people are out as a result of this mess? This is a blow out and it's not over yet. Who else has been harassing employees and not been held to account within the school district?

Many districts (and orgs) have the same challenges as MCPS. MCPS just gets more attention because of its size and the fact the area draws lots of type A people with the time and money to pursue every little thing. This can be good and bad.

Good in that things like this come to light and get community attention and pressure to be fixed. Bad in that other not so important things get attention that then draws time and resources from other things they should be doing. Also folks thing everything can be solved with the snap of a finger, while not understanding laws, finances or reality.

Tell us you never worked in the corporate world without telling us.

OMG, I love you, pp.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My prediction is that Dr. McKnight might fire Brian Hull and/or April Key over this. Depending on how much traction this story gets.

But I don't know. She fired Dr. Murphy and a bunch of associate directors involved in the Beidleman scandal, and she clearly made an agreement with her chief of staff Brian Stockton to have him bow out gracefully, but I don't think she can keep pointing the finger at everyone else. If the culture is this toxic, what does that say about her as its leader?

The BOE needs to hold her accountable.

And what if THEY are the source of the problem?

I think that depends on the BOE member. Shebra Evans and Brenda Wolff are definitely staunch McKnight defenders. I can't tell which way Silvestre and Smondroski lean. Lynne Harris is largely aligned with McKnight but willing to go even more left than McKnight when it comes to LGBT and environmental issues. And Grace Rivera-Oven and Julie Yang don't seem to be infatuated with McKnight at all. Grace is probably the most openly critical of McKnight out of all the BOE members.

Based on what I’ve seen of Smondroski, she will follow the truth.

And she knows the whole truth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone can allege anything in a lawsuit. Take it with a grain of salt until proven.

+1 As we’ve seen from the start, McKnight and her teams’s handling of this case has been above board and by the book from the start. A masterclass in effective policies being executed to the T by the administration. MCPS leadership deserves the benefit of the doubt in this until otherwise proven liable in a court.

I was hoping your post was ironic but clearly you work in head office

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Guys. McKnight basically admitted she knew Biedleman was a creep when she say she did not know there was an active investigation at the time of the promotion. If she didn't know anything about the complaints, she would have said so. Not to mention that she admitted to Jackson Lewis that she knew there was something "swirling around" about him. She knew there were complaints. She probably knew she was promoting him to placate the Faruquar teachers.

McKnight has been a long term MCPS employee as has Biedleman. Is there a connection that should be followed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An absolutely shocking report.

Sad to see the Post not running this, and its only local moco360. This has been amazing reporting.
Heads need to roll. Ignore the trolls, and maybe this thread won't get locked like the 5 other ones.

That should tell you something immediately about the credibility of the claim. Real newspapers don't think it's worth covering.

BS. The Post just laid off a ton of staffers, and offered buy-out packages to others. Alexandra Robbins is a serious journalist. This story will show up in People magazine before you know it - in other words, this is going national.

And I hope his family sues the hell out of her and anyone else involved for the mental and emotional damage she has already caused.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ever since McKnight came in there has been disfunction. Her comments never clarify anything.

I know a lot this predates her leadership but she has been in central office a long time before her current appointment. She has been able to make change but hasn’t.

The longer this goes on the weaker it makes her look. Fire the damn guy.

+1 Look, I wanted to see McKnight succeed for a number of reasons, but it is clear that she's just not a good fit. She lacks the vision that it would take to make a plan and see it through, and she has consistently obfuscated and engaged in PR-speak when clear answered were needed.

Here's the deal - Dr. McKnight is a long-time MCPS administrator, assistant superintendent, acting superintendent, and superintendent. If she were going to clean house, she would have done so already. This was her shot at "the big job" and she took it, and she failed. Okay, time to move on. Pretending that she's some smol bean who had no idea what was going on and no power to change things is an insult to MCPS staff and parents, and ultimately to her.

But all she's done from day one is clean house! There's just a lot of house to clean. Some of you are never happy with anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Guys. McKnight basically admitted she knew Biedleman was a creep when she say she did not know there was an active investigation at the time of the promotion. If she didn't know anything about the complaints, she would have said so. Not to mention that she admitted to Jackson Lewis that she knew there was something "swirling around" about him. She knew there were complaints. She probably knew she was promoting him to placate the Faruquar teachers.

McKnight has been a long term MCPS employee as has Biedleman. Is there a connection that should be followed?

You think there's something tawdry like a love child?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ever since McKnight came in there has been disfunction. Her comments never clarify anything.

I know a lot this predates her leadership but she has been in central office a long time before her current appointment. She has been able to make change but hasn’t.

The longer this goes on the weaker it makes her look. Fire the damn guy.

+1 Look, I wanted to see McKnight succeed for a number of reasons, but it is clear that she's just not a good fit. She lacks the vision that it would take to make a plan and see it through, and she has consistently obfuscated and engaged in PR-speak when clear answered were needed.

Here's the deal - Dr. McKnight is a long-time MCPS administrator, assistant superintendent, acting superintendent, and superintendent. If she were going to clean house, she would have done so already. This was her shot at "the big job" and she took it, and she failed. Okay, time to move on. Pretending that she's some smol bean who had no idea what was going on and no power to change things is an insult to MCPS staff and parents, and ultimately to her.

But all she's done from day one is clean house! There's just a lot of house to clean. Some of you are never happy with anything.

Unfortunately, most of the people who have left were really solid, good employees who didn’t share the current leadership’s values.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An absolutely shocking report.

Sad to see the Post not running this, and its only local moco360. This has been amazing reporting.
Heads need to roll. Ignore the trolls, and maybe this thread won't get locked like the 5 other ones.

That should tell you something immediately about the credibility of the claim. Real newspapers don't think it's worth covering.

BS. The Post just laid off a ton of staffers, and offered buy-out packages to others. Alexandra Robbins is a serious journalist. This story will show up in People magazine before you know it - in other words, this is going national.

And I hope his family sues the hell out of her and anyone else involved for the mental and emotional damage she has already caused.

WHAT. Legit LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another thread by the same old failed school board candidates and MCPS malcontents. You people really need to move on.

First show me a breakdown of exactly how much these people are paid to act completely inappropriate. Beidleman is about $192,000 a year? Diane Morris is more than $200,000? Jones? Everyone else who was involved in the cover up? No one should move on until MCPS Central Office fully discloses how much damage was done. They probably want to make another BS professional development session that all the teachers have to go to because after all, we all know everything boils down to blaming the teachers.

I know some people allege there was this cover-up, but not all that clear since there are 12345 different investigations with as many different conclusions. The only thing that was clear is the main person who filed a complaint was sending him nudie pics.

There are, in fact, only four investigations over the last 12 months.

Investigation 1 was while he was incoming as PBHS principal. Based on about 13 complaints from staff, MCPS looked into his behavior. We know now that Khalid Walker found that Beidelman had violated the Code of Conduct, but that he was over-ruled and forced to engage in a cover-up by MCPS leadership reporting directly to Dr. McKnight.

Investigation 2 was after the Washington Post uncovered the allegations and spoke with 30+ victims and witnesses. This was carried out by MCPS's own attorneys, and again found that Beidelman had violated the Code of Conduct. This was also where we first learned that the results of Investigation 1 had been tampered with.

Investigation 3 was conducted by the Office of the Inspector General and looked specifically at Beidelman's conduct. It found he had violated the Code of Conduct.

Investigation 4 is ongoing, and is examining the role that MCPS leadership played in covering up Investigation 1.

Over the course of the reporting, there are now more than 80 victims and witnesses who have come forward, all saying the same thing: Beidelman engaged in a pattern of sexual harassment, bullying, and retaliation.

I know you think that the "nude pics" exonerate him, but that's the abuser mentality. Even a consensual relationship with a direct report is an abuse of power, not to mention the scores of other victims who never agreed to a consensual relationship.

I don't know who you are, but thank you for both having reading comprehension and being able to synthesize information from multiple sources and explain it clearly.

I heard there were 40 anonymous complaints. It seems like they're creating new investigations to get their preferred conclusion.

No one needs to make up fake accusations- there are plenty of very real ones.

At this point I think any adults left in Moco just want to see some level of accountability

It does seem suspect that they have to create more than one investigation for something like that.

Well, one investigation would have been sufficient if MCPS had correctly handled the matter from the beginning. This was absolutely clear-cut, but Beidelman had powerful protectors and Dr. McKnight had allowed a culture of impunity to thrive.

We now know that the investigator was forced to change his report, that the report was fraudulently backdated by senior MCPS staff, and that additional victims were never interviewed because MCPS ignored reports that came in via their own secure hotline and those that did not arrive on a specific form. This was, again, contrary to MCPS written policy. It is unclear at this time whether those rules were ignored only for complaints against Beidelman, or whether they were ignored for all victims.

The additional investigations have only been necessary because the internal MCPS processes failed. If MCPS Human Resources had handled this matter in line with their own regulations, and if Beidelman had not been protected by powerful interests, he would never have been promoted in the first place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another thread by the same old failed school board candidates and MCPS malcontents. You people really need to move on.

First show me a breakdown of exactly how much these people are paid to act completely inappropriate. Beidleman is about $192,000 a year? Diane Morris is more than $200,000? Jones? Everyone else who was involved in the cover up? No one should move on until MCPS Central Office fully discloses how much damage was done. They probably want to make another BS professional development session that all the teachers have to go to because after all, we all know everything boils down to blaming the teachers.

I know some people allege there was this cover-up, but not all that clear since there are 12345 different investigations with as many different conclusions. The only thing that was clear is the main person who filed a complaint was sending him nudie pics.

There are, in fact, only four investigations over the last 12 months.

Investigation 1 was while he was incoming as PBHS principal. Based on about 13 complaints from staff, MCPS looked into his behavior. We know now that Khalid Walker found that Beidelman had violated the Code of Conduct, but that he was over-ruled and forced to engage in a cover-up by MCPS leadership reporting directly to Dr. McKnight.

Investigation 2 was after the Washington Post uncovered the allegations and spoke with 30+ victims and witnesses. This was carried out by MCPS's own attorneys, and again found that Beidelman had violated the Code of Conduct. This was also where we first learned that the results of Investigation 1 had been tampered with.

Investigation 3 was conducted by the Office of the Inspector General and looked specifically at Beidelman's conduct. It found he had violated the Code of Conduct.

Investigation 4 is ongoing, and is examining the role that MCPS leadership played in covering up Investigation 1.

Over the course of the reporting, there are now more than 80 victims and witnesses who have come forward, all saying the same thing: Beidelman engaged in a pattern of sexual harassment, bullying, and retaliation.

I know you think that the "nude pics" exonerate him, but that's the abuser mentality. Even a consensual relationship with a direct report is an abuse of power, not to mention the scores of other victims who never agreed to a consensual relationship.

I don't know who you are, but thank you for both having reading comprehension and being able to synthesize information from multiple sources and explain it clearly.

I heard there were 40 anonymous complaints. It seems like they're creating new investigations to get their preferred conclusion.

No one needs to make up fake accusations- there are plenty of very real ones.

At this point I think any adults left in Moco just want to see some level of accountability

It does seem suspect that they have to create more than one investigation for something like that.

Well, one investigation would have been sufficient if MCPS had correctly handled the matter from the beginning. This was absolutely clear-cut, but Beidelman had powerful protectors and Dr. McKnight had allowed a culture of impunity to thrive.

We now know that the investigator was forced to change his report, that the report was fraudulently backdated by senior MCPS staff, and that additional victims were never interviewed because MCPS ignored reports that came in via their own secure hotline and those that did not arrive on a specific form. This was, again, contrary to MCPS written policy. It is unclear at this time whether those rules were ignored only for complaints against Beidelman, or whether they were ignored for all victims.

The additional investigations have only been necessary because the internal MCPS processes failed. If MCPS Human Resources had handled this matter in line with their own regulations, and if Beidelman had not been protected by powerful interests, he would never have been promoted in the first place.

I felt they handled it fine, but they created a new investigation to get their preferred outcome.