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Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)
Board wants Monifa to step down
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Anonymous
There's definitely a Dr. Monifa McKnight booster on here. Either they're clueless or deliberately protecting her, very much like McKnight's behavior regarding Beidleman. |
Anonymous
I'm happy to find fault with the superintendent for things which are under the superintendent's control. These aren't that. |
Anonymous
| The number of delusional posters here that think her being asked to step down is somehow an affirmation of their being disgruntled with class sizes, IEPs, LEP resources, school safety, the focus on equity, etc. is amusing. It's about Biedleman only and if she does step down and she not going to replaced with some person with business acumen who will run schools like Wall Street. Really what planet are you people living on? |
Anonymous
This line of defense, which Monifa also uses herself to defend her piss-poor track record, is inept, stupid and illogical. NO ONE says Monifa or MCPS are the sole reasons why anything happens. As superintendent, she has to deal with problems that originate locally AND nationally. It doesn't matter where it starts. What matters is how she responds when the problem shows up in her school district, which she is handsomely paid to lead and solve problems for. IN EVERY scenario you tried to hold her blameless for, Monifa is judged not for the problem happening perse, but how she responded poorly or failed to respond or ignored warnings until the problem exploded into the media. For example, with Magruder, school security had been a known issue for some time. When SROs were removed, Monifa did so over the advice of her secondary school principals who told her SROs were an important part of keeping schools safe and secure from violent incidents. She didn't care. She joined the choir with what she thought was popular sentiment. Then, when the shooting happened, communication between central office and the school and the parents was a mess, so much so that the school was in uproar and an investigation had to be done into what went wrong and what could've been done better. THAT is 100% on Monifa. Full stop. Furthermore, what matters even more is what Monifa and MCPS didn't do AFTER the Magruder incident. What sweeping change was put in place to prevent another shooting from taking place? What drastic investment in safety and security funding did Monifa request since 2021? Judging by the fact that multiple guns have made it onto MCPS high school campuses we can see the answer is nothing. Monifa's grade as a superintendent is deservedly a failing one because she has failed to respond as an effective leader. She cannot communicate well, engender buy-in nor retain the trust of her staff, students and stakeholders. She is failing on every front. |
Anonymous
She and the school district are 100% responsible for responding to guns being brought to school and drug use happening on campus. Who else would you want to solve this problem for her or the district??? Doesn't she have budget for safety and security? Isn't she responsible for the strength and health of the system's partnership with MCPD? What are you people talking about? Who else, if not the superintendent of MCPS, should be leading the charge on dealing with these serious issues that are happening within the walls of MCPS buildings? Should we turn to the Wizard of Oz instead? |
Anonymous
Beidleman is what they will use to bring her down, but trust and believe, if you have relationships with the board, they are displeased with Monifa on all of the other things as well. Above all else, the board is sick of MCPS being in the news for bad things. And they believe Monifa's mismanagement is why they're being cornered by news media to comment and explain one crisis or the other all the time and they're sick and tired of it. |
Anonymous
First of all, you stated "they're equally responsible for running an awesome school system" -- how is the school system so awesome when we have guns being brought to school and overdoses happening on school grounds, not to mention all the vaping in the bathrooms. Secondly, if the superintendent is not responsible for the safety of the schools, then who is? Shall we just throw our hands up in the air, claiming "it's too hard, so why bother? Let's just slap the RJ label on every issue and call it a day"? Gosh, what an awesome school system that is. |
Anonymous
You should turn to the Wizard of Oz if you believe there is some sweeping change that can be implemented immediately to deal with guns and drugs. SROs were eliminated by the council. The school has put in CEOs in some form to address concern. Weapon detectors would be huge expensive to implement at just the HS and the entire county is not on board with the idea. Additional cameras are going into schools even at the ES level. Guns and drugs and part of American society so will show up in schools and I doubt parents are going to sign off on every kid being frisked going into and out of every door of the school and having their id scan and matched to them upon entry. So please tell us about how she is suppose to respond and what she is suppose to do to make sweeping changes that would then have everyone cheering. And I would say the same regardless of who was Super. Some of ya’ll are delusional. Meanwhile here in the real world folks still manage to or try to smuggle things on planes where there are armed guards, drug and bomb sniffing dogs, and billions of dollars worth of technology and security personnel around. |
Anonymous
So you expect us to do Monifa's job for her? What is the purpose behind her title and $300k+ salary if parents are supposed to give her the solutions of expecting her and her team of school safety professionals to develop and implement plans? You act like she is helpless. Meanwhile, other superintendents, like neighboring Prince George's County Public Schools Superintendent Millard House are doing the things that you say are impossible. https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/maryland/weapons-detectors-phased-prince-georges-county-public-schools/65-c304668d-2564-4550-bc5b-fe10574157c6 https://wjla.com/news/local/town-hall-prince-georges-county-public-schools-millard-house-safety-plan-metal-detectors-shooting-students-dead-parents-questions-concerns-gun-violence-juvenile-crime-clear-backpacks-school-district https://wtop.com/prince-georges-county/2023/12/prince-georges-county-superintendent-touts-early-action-next-steps-in-90-day-report/ This man is moving budgets, shifting priorities, coming up with solutions and making it clear that he is prioritizing safety and security in his schools and speaking publicly and clearing to his community about these things. He's not folding his hands and saying, "But it's a national problem and there's nothing I can do about it." Your defense of McKnight is weak and impotent. Give it up. |
Anonymous
Yep, this is the "throw up our hands and give up" attitude. For one thing, she can put a stop to RJ, and put some real consequences in for repeat violent students. Secondly, to use your example, even though people try to sneak in all kinds of contraband on flights, they don't give up and just let them on the airplanes, right? So, why doesn't the Superintendent put in more safety measures, and find some way to stop letting in repeat violent offenders into our schools. And before you say, "What is she supposed to do?". That's her job to figure out. What the f* are we paying her salary for if not to solve hard problems, or at least attempt to solve them other than with pretty words that have zero meaning. And lastly, she has proven to protect her friends more than the teachers who teach our kids. Knowing what Biedelman said and did, would you be ok with your 13/14 yr old DD near him? I wouldn't. And yet she protected him. So yea, she's not good at this job. Next. |
Anonymous
Let's hire that dude. |
Anonymous
No one is advocating throwing hands up. But there does need to be some realism and rational thinking applied to all situations. Believing that the Superintendent can snap their fingers and make every bad thing happening better is magical thinking. There are a variety of issues happening with a lot of variables at play. Everyone must acknowledge how much of society’s problems we expect to be serviced or resolved in schools. For example let’s just take behavior. We’ve got overcrowded classrooms, pandemic mental health, normal mental health, different age ranges from pre-K thru 12, IDEA mandates, bias, etc etc. No one thing is going to solve the issue because it’s not just one thing. All of which require people, money, politics, consulting of policies and maybe even trying to get them changed. Meanwhile racist incidents are going up and of course those make the news. It doesn’t matter that the Super made sure the anti racist audit was complete, doesn’t matter that changes are being made to curriculums for English and SS so more topics are covered and other type books are read/available, doesn’t matter that partnership with some community organizations has increased or improved. What people are going to focus on is the fact that racist incidents are up and the county is on the news. But the Super has zero mechanisms to control for that because they don’t know who or when something racist is going to occur nor do they know who is going to call the news. They are left to deal with the emotion. |
Anonymous
How about allowing teachers to enforce deadlines? That is something the Super can control. How about not protecting serial sexual harassers? That is something the Super can control. How about getting an appropriate reading curriculum? That is something the Super can control. |
Anonymous
And what has all of this actually done??? Meanwhile LAUSD who has had them for years aid reevaluating in favor of mental health supports and community partnerships. DC did clear book bags and metal detectors back in the 90s and early 2000s. This isn’t the panacea you believe it is. But I forgot, DCUM likes performative action that makes them feel good not real solutions. |
Anonymous
Nobody said it's a panacea, but that at least they are TRYING! What has she tried other than pretty words that are meaningless. And let's not forget her defense and protection of a serial sexual harrasser. IMO, that's bad enough. She's clearly incompetent. |