Taylor: “What’s the Worst That Could Happen? They Fire Me?”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The email is fine. You all love to complain about everything. It is a nightmare job.

Yep there is absolutely nothing wrong with his email.

There’s plenty wrong with it

+1

Sends a terrible message that he dgaf and won't listen to anyone

Which Taylor's supporters apparently think is in admirable trait in Maryland's largest school district's superintendent. Sad and bizarre.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly this makes me like him more. I like that he’s not afraid to challenge the politicians and wont roll over for them.

Same here. His reply was honest.

+2
We haven't had a superintendent who was strongly leading the district despite politicians since Jerry Weast.

Jerry Weast had councilmembers to his house on Fridays for poker games. It was well known. Weast worked closely with the council.

To be clear, while that was politically savvy on his part and probably let him do what he wanted to do with MCPS, that is ultimately not how we want local government to work. The County Council is supposed to be another layer of oversight after the BOE, and they can't play that role if they're too cozy with the superintendent.

I want a BOE and County Council that takes its oversight jobs seriously and can separate friendships from roles and responsibilities and evaluate the system's performance clearly without letting biases such as being invited to friendly outings with the superintendent to cloud their judgement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The email is fine. You all love to complain about everything. It is a nightmare job.

Yep there is absolutely nothing wrong with his email.

There’s plenty wrong with it

+1

Sends a terrible message that he dgaf and won't listen to anyone

It actually reads as the opposite. It says that he won't bow to political pressure from politicians who are pandering to constituents and will instead rely on the data.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The email is fine. You all love to complain about everything. It is a nightmare job.

Yep there is absolutely nothing wrong with his email.

There’s plenty wrong with it

+1

Sends a terrible message that he dgaf and won't listen to anyone

It actually reads as the opposite. It says that he won't bow to political pressure from politicians who are pandering to constituents and will instead rely on the data.

I suppose that makes him akin the guy in the White House then….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The email is fine. You all love to complain about everything. It is a nightmare job.

Yep there is absolutely nothing wrong with his email.

There’s plenty wrong with it

+1

Sends a terrible message that he dgaf and won't listen to anyone

It actually reads as the opposite. It says that he won't bow to political pressure from politicians who are pandering to constituents and will instead rely on the data.

DP. There is no purely "relying on data" when you're making political decisions, which his decisions are. Data can help you predict what the outcomes of a choice will be, but it can't help you pick which outcomes should be prioritized. Like with the decision to close Wootton, "data" can help you guess the costs of closure versus alternatives, or the effect of closure on enrollment, student travel time, and course offerings. It can't tell you how to prioritize those outcomes. How you arrange those priorities is a political choice, like all choices for how public benefits will be distributed.

Ultimately, those choices are made by voters. The school system is a democratic institution. A superintendent's job is, in part, to implement those goals as decided by the voters through their representatives. A superintendent who doesn't see that as political is either lying to himself or to us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The email is fine. You all love to complain about everything. It is a nightmare job.

Yep there is absolutely nothing wrong with his email.

There’s plenty wrong with it

+1

Sends a terrible message that he dgaf and won't listen to anyone

It actually reads as the opposite. It says that he won't bow to political pressure from politicians who are pandering to constituents and will instead rely on the data.

Lol

I used to work with someone who would tell people they didn't care if they got fired. I no longer work with them because they were caught and eventually convicted of stealing money

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Adam Pagnucco posted an email that was forwarded to him from a community member who engaged with Taylor after Md. State Senator Cheryl Kagan criticized MCPS and Taylor for their decisions on Wootton. The response to the community member was quite revealing and Pagnucco reprinted it since he felt it revealed something about Taylor's character and/or his state of mind.

SOURCE: https://montgomeryperspective.com/2026/02/23/taylor-whats-the-worst-that-could-happen-they-fire-me/

Taylor’s email to the reader is printed below.

*****

This really means a lot. The data is what the data is – I can’t change it. Politicians who chest-thump is nothing new in Montgomery County. I work for politicians, but I am not one and I also don’t wobble when they fuss (this makes them uncomfortable). Been doing this a long time…what’s the worst that could happen? They fire me? …great! Maybe I’ll get a full night’s sleep for once. 🙂

In all seriousness, the state has no role in this, especially individual legislators. We’ll get through this. And yes – Magruder finally has a clear path! They will be in the next CIP…I just wish it didn’t take so dang long to get stuff done around here.

Again, thanks for reaching out. Onward…!

All my best,

Thomas

Oh, I like him now.
I didn’t really have an opinion of him before, but now...

How is it that all the I love Taylor posts haven't been able to name one thing they like about him except this one email?

The thing they like about him is that he is anti-parent. The people who love Taylor hate the parents and students they're supposed to serve.

I'd give Taylor a mixed review. He's made choices or proposals I support, choices I don't, and choices I have no feeling about because they don't concern me. I think you've nailed his supporters here, at least, with this comment. Look at the person posting in every thread with comments about "Mad Mommies," as if it's inherently insulting to be a parent who has opinions about the schools.

I'm not sold that Taylor himself has this attitude, but the email does give me pause. He talks about the opinions of politicians who "fuss," but the criticism of closing Wootton is coming from politicians because it's how their constituents feel. I don't care about Wootton in particular, but the Superintendent should be responsive to the concerns of parents when making a big change like that. It doesn't necessarily mean making a different choice, but I don't love how it seems like he's thinking about the response to the proposal.

Correct.

In Montgomery County, every decision will have supporters and detractors. That's a given. But Taylor and MCPS typically run afoul by not being transparent, honest and consistent with their own rules and policies.

Taylor is signaling here that he doesn't care about being fair or consistent and believes that he alone knows what's best for everyone.

The politicians are doing their job of advocating on behalf of their constituents. That he doesn't respect the political process and roles and responsibilities of the public and elected officials is troubling.

A sign of a dictator is when they attack politicians for doing their job. Beware of Taylor.

From working in MCPS and hearing stories of how he is in meetings with supervisors who have tried to present data and explain why the changes he's making are a bad idea, this fits exactly. I've been told he has no curiosity for understanding how/why things are the way they are, which could help him pinpoint the actual issues that need changing. Instead, the philosophy is that he knows best and you are gaslit if you say, for example "it's harder to do X job because you cut X positions last year" and the response is just "no, I actually gave more support to X area." Just blatantly false statements that can be debunked by his own budget. However TT and his minions are great at doublespeak and are very insistent that the natural consequences of his choices just haven't happened or couldn't possibly happen. This is why so many people have fled central office positions. Not just people whose positions were cut but people in the mid level who keep the system afloat with their institutional knowledge are over the incompetency. You now have people running things who literally know nothing about their area/programs. I think TT and co see this as a positive to "root out" the naysayers. It's all going to come crashing down eventually when you wind up with no one with any expertise!

Agreed. He is an arrogant narcissist who hammers at staff and thinks he has all the answers. We can’t fire him fast enough.

Lol. I'm a TT fan except for the electric bus part. Other than that he's good. I haven't seen the 'bocce ball millionaire' or 'kids museum' ghost schools issues popping up lately? Hopefully he'll stay a while.

Taylor sent a few kids and staff to China to play pickleball.
Air fare alone was $500K.

MCPS didn't fund those trips though. A quick google search shows this

The Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) pickleball diplomacy program, which facilitates exchange trips with China, is primarily funded and supported by the Ministry of Education of China and the China Education Association for International Exchange. The initiative is supported by local partners, including JOOLA and Dill Dinkers.

Key details regarding the program's support include:
Trip Funding: The Ministry of Education of China and the China Education Association for International Exchange funded the travel.

Equipment and Gear: JOOLA, based in Montgomery County, provides paddles and apparel for the delegation.

Training and Practice: Dill Dinkers hosts weekly practices for the student-athletes.

Support: The program received encouragement from Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The program aims to foster cross-cultural friendship through sport.

A quick search of MCPS shows Taylor bought $500,000 of airfare on Air China.

Based on available reports and search results, there is no evidence that Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) spent $500,000 on airfare to China. The claim appears to confuse various financial reports, including a 2017 report on federal officials' travel and recent, unrelated, 2025 inspector general inquiries into MCPS procurement practices.

MCPS Procurement Issues: A late 2025 WJLA report indicated that the Office of the Inspector General found that MCPS spent over $1 million without proper board approval during FY23 and FY24.
Irrelevant Data: The "$500K" figure in similar queries likely refers to a 2017 CBS News report concerning former HHS Secretary Tom Price's travel, not a school district trip to China.

MCPS has since announced a corrective action plan to address these procurement concerns.

LOL
AI can’t find the spending. That makes MCPS very happy.

How about you find it and present it then? Or will that interfere with your busy day of ldoing nothing as a stay at home mom

It has already been made public.

NP here. Please share your source, becuase a PP shared concrete information demonstrating that this is a cultural diplomacy effort funded by the Government of China.

Now, we can discuss whether exposing MCPS kids to PRC propaganda is a good idea, but: A) Cultural diplomacy has been ongoing since the Cold War, and is generally regarded as a good thing; and B) There is zero evidence that this cost MCPS money.

AI isn't a concrete source. The $525,075 spent on Air China airline is on the MCPS website.

Show us the link.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The email is fine. You all love to complain about everything. It is a nightmare job.

Yep there is absolutely nothing wrong with his email.

There’s plenty wrong with it

+1

Sends a terrible message that he dgaf and won't listen to anyone

It actually reads as the opposite. It says that he won't bow to political pressure from politicians who are pandering to constituents and will instead rely on the data.

You are a grade-A fool if you actually believe Taylor and/or MCPS don't bow to political pressures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The email is fine. You all love to complain about everything. It is a nightmare job.

Yep there is absolutely nothing wrong with his email.

There’s plenty wrong with it

+1

Sends a terrible message that he dgaf and won't listen to anyone

It actually reads as the opposite. It says that he won't bow to political pressure from politicians who are pandering to constituents and will instead rely on the data.

DP. There is no purely "relying on data" when you're making political decisions, which his decisions are. Data can help you predict what the outcomes of a choice will be, but it can't help you pick which outcomes should be prioritized. Like with the decision to close Wootton, "data" can help you guess the costs of closure versus alternatives, or the effect of closure on enrollment, student travel time, and course offerings. It can't tell you how to prioritize those outcomes. How you arrange those priorities is a political choice, like all choices for how public benefits will be distributed.

Ultimately, those choices are made by voters. The school system is a democratic institution. A superintendent's job is, in part, to implement those goals as decided by the voters through their representatives. A superintendent who doesn't see that as political is either lying to himself or to us.

Hang on, so by this logic civil servants in the federal government should make recommendations based on talking points from members of Congress? If not, how is what you are saying different?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The email is fine. You all love to complain about everything. It is a nightmare job.

Yep there is absolutely nothing wrong with his email.

There’s plenty wrong with it

+1

Sends a terrible message that he dgaf and won't listen to anyone

It actually reads as the opposite. It says that he won't bow to political pressure from politicians who are pandering to constituents and will instead rely on the data.

You are a grade-A fool if you actually believe Taylor and/or MCPS don't bow to political pressures.

So do you want him to do that? Or don't you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The email is fine. You all love to complain about everything. It is a nightmare job.

Yep there is absolutely nothing wrong with his email.

There’s plenty wrong with it

+1

Sends a terrible message that he dgaf and won't listen to anyone

It actually reads as the opposite. It says that he won't bow to political pressure from politicians who are pandering to constituents and will instead rely on the data.

You are a grade-A fool if you actually believe Taylor and/or MCPS don't bow to political pressures.

So do you want him to do that? Or don't you?

I am the PP who said he dgaf (not the person who said you're a fool).

There is difference between not bowing to political pressures - which implies doing the right thing despite powerful people being opposed to doing the right thing - and simply not listening to people. Certainly, many people could argue closing Wootton is the correct and fiscally responsible thing to do and he is brave to propose that. Maybe he is, I think it is a complicated choice and a difficult situation.

But there are many examples of him proposing the wrong thing. Like setting up dozens new programs in high schools without adequate support and at the same time dismantling existing structures that have been built up over decades. With no real effort to gather community input (all they have done is push information out to the community and they haven't set up a way to gather or report out community feedback).

Ignoring the community is not a good way to make decisions. MCPS central staff pushing out decisions that aren't informed by community members or school staff means decisions that are disconnected from communities and their needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The email is fine. You all love to complain about everything. It is a nightmare job.

Yep there is absolutely nothing wrong with his email.

There’s plenty wrong with it

+1

Sends a terrible message that he dgaf and won't listen to anyone

It actually reads as the opposite. It says that he won't bow to political pressure from politicians who are pandering to constituents and will instead rely on the data.

You are a grade-A fool if you actually believe Taylor and/or MCPS don't bow to political pressures.

So do you want him to do that? Or don't you?

I am the PP who said he dgaf (not the person who said you're a fool).

There is difference between not bowing to political pressures - which implies doing the right thing despite powerful people being opposed to doing the right thing - and simply not listening to people. Certainly, many people could argue closing Wootton is the correct and fiscally responsible thing to do and he is brave to propose that. Maybe he is, I think it is a complicated choice and a difficult situation.

But there are many examples of him proposing the wrong thing. Like setting up dozens new programs in high schools without adequate support and at the same time dismantling existing structures that have been built up over decades. With no real effort to gather community input (all they have done is push information out to the community and they haven't set up a way to gather or report out community feedback).

Ignoring the community is not a good way to make decisions. MCPS central staff pushing out decisions that aren't informed by community members or school staff means decisions that are disconnected from communities and their needs.

Ah, OK. I get your POV on that.

But just to clarify- what I was discussing was the specific email and what it conveys. That email itself is about not being afraid of a politician having an opposing view. And that to me is fine, and even good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The email is fine. You all love to complain about everything. It is a nightmare job.

Yep there is absolutely nothing wrong with his email.

There’s plenty wrong with it

+1

Sends a terrible message that he dgaf and won't listen to anyone

It actually reads as the opposite. It says that he won't bow to political pressure from politicians who are pandering to constituents and will instead rely on the data.

You are a grade-A fool if you actually believe Taylor and/or MCPS don't bow to political pressures.

So do you want him to do that? Or don't you?

I am the PP who said he dgaf (not the person who said you're a fool).

There is difference between not bowing to political pressures - which implies doing the right thing despite powerful people being opposed to doing the right thing - and simply not listening to people. Certainly, many people could argue closing Wootton is the correct and fiscally responsible thing to do and he is brave to propose that. Maybe he is, I think it is a complicated choice and a difficult situation.

But there are many examples of him proposing the wrong thing. Like setting up dozens new programs in high schools without adequate support and at the same time dismantling existing structures that have been built up over decades. With no real effort to gather community input (all they have done is push information out to the community and they haven't set up a way to gather or report out community feedback).

Ignoring the community is not a good way to make decisions. MCPS central staff pushing out decisions that aren't informed by community members or school staff means decisions that are disconnected from communities and their needs.

Ah, OK. I get your POV on that.

But just to clarify- what I was discussing was the specific email and what it conveys. That email itself is about not being afraid of a politician having an opposing view. And that to me is fine, and even good.

It's one thing to not be afraid, it's another to simply not care and to see yourself as the one person in the county who is willing to do the right thing, to hell with everyone else and their perspectives and ideas (they are all selfish POSs).

Yes, democracy sucks, except it is better than all the other options. This is a large public school system and leadership by fiat is not the way to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The email is fine. You all love to complain about everything. It is a nightmare job.

Yep there is absolutely nothing wrong with his email.

There’s plenty wrong with it

+1

Sends a terrible message that he dgaf and won't listen to anyone

It actually reads as the opposite. It says that he won't bow to political pressure from politicians who are pandering to constituents and will instead rely on the data.

As a data scientist, I have witnessed numerous times that he is using data he wants to use, interpreting the data in a strongly biased way only to support his opinion, and using falsified data that his ass-kissing team provided. MCPS definition of "using data" is basically following every rule about "manipulating data".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The email is fine. You all love to complain about everything. It is a nightmare job.

Yep there is absolutely nothing wrong with his email.

There’s plenty wrong with it

+1

Sends a terrible message that he dgaf and won't listen to anyone

It actually reads as the opposite. It says that he won't bow to political pressure from politicians who are pandering to constituents and will instead rely on the data.

As a data scientist, I have witnessed numerous times that he is using data he wants to use, interpreting the data in a strongly biased way only to support his opinion, and using falsified data that his ass-kissing team provided. MCPS definition of "using data" is basically following every rule about "manipulating data".

+1000

Same