Washington Post article about Former Farquhar Administrator

[Anonymous]

Obviously she will claim to be inept and ignorant vs admitting to her role in covering it up

[Anonymous]

Beidleman and Minus together at Sherwood's graduation a year ago

[Anonymous]

[quote/] "My former principal brought vodka to school and was just as vindictive as this guy. Just as many complaints. He is going to be admin at a different school now. We are scared of retaliation so in same position.

Hi, Alexandra Robbins here. If any of you on this thread would like to share your experiences with admin or central office for a potential future article, please feel free to email me at [e-mail]

[Anonymous]

The notion that McKnight should be able to keep her job at this point is preposterous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:McKnight’s people are promoted and protected. I hope this is the first step in the discovery process and her entire squad is exposed for their predatory and corrupt practices. Learning and achievement specialists and directors have so much power and yet do absolutely NOTHING other then take away funds from students and teachers that actually work with kids. Look who has been promoted these past two years- it’s all on Twitter (X). It’s all public info on the MCPS website. Unfortunately there are also a handful of principals that also behave this way and have blackballed teacher’s careers for attempting to get the union involved. I am a few years into an admin like role and have personally witnessed how these people get into these positions of power and how central office ignores complaints and does not follow through. Those that try to speak up or go against the status quo of mcps will never make it to higher positions and so the good ones never make it to the top.

Hi, I'm interested in hearing more about this at your convenience, if you're interested in sharing what you witnessed. - Alexandra Robbins ( [e-mail] or via Alexandrarobbins.com)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[quote/] "My former principal brought vodka to school and was just as vindictive as this guy. Just as many complaints. He is going to be admin at a different school now. We are scared of retaliation so in same position.

Hi, Alexandra Robbins here. If any of you on this thread would like to share your experiences with admin or central office for a potential future article, please feel free to email me at [e-mail]


Even if an anonymous email is sent, people can track the IP address and names can still be gathered from the information indirectly. I'll share my story here. I'm a former MCPS student who went to an East County school from K-8, and a W school from 9-12 (parents got a promotion so we moved).

My first month of freshman year, I was elected to a student council leadership position, and a couple of people decided it was OK to call me (a non-White but straight male) a "monkey" in a group chat one weekend. Someone sent it over to me. Needless to say, I had prepared to non-violently but firmly & loudly confront the two individuals. It's not my fault that I simply wanted belonging in a new environment and wanted to hone/share my talents. So, I confronted them the minute I got to school that Monday, and, of course, it was a whole scene where people were confused and "calling me angry", which feeds into long-standing stereotypes. The AP of my grade (who was a Black man) chastises me for being angry at them, even when I was literally attacked. He promises to do an investigation and loop me in, but he never speaks to the 2 perpetrators. Instead, he thinks it's a good decision to say "turn the other cheek" and play kumbaya. He was also the sponsor for the Minority Scholars Program at my school, which I also belonged to, and we worked together on student council stuff. So for all 4 years, I had to deal with his indignant, passive aggressive, quick to blame, snarky attitude -- all because he wanted to look good for our new principal and not ruffle any feathers. He became an AP at another school and pushed out of the county because he was also creepy in his mannerisms. Nobody liked him, but hey, MCAAP is a powerful union and almost every school needs a token POC administrator. He was totally ineffective otherwise. Did I probably have the ability to handle it better? Yes, but it was warranted as I stand by the substance behind it. In my time of need and in the face of blatant racism, a culture of looking the other way reared its head, and to this day, I have been scared to speak about things. This long, drawn out process has also driven me to constant depression, anxiety, binge eating, etc. and I am always reminded of it.

Then, at the same school, there was a Pre-Calculus teacher who was older and very racist. Everyone reported her form every background. She would barely help the Black kids or be very short with them. One time, I had a personal issue and tried to go to her with some homework I had made up. Keep in mind that math is not my strength due to ADHD - I'm more of a humanities person, especially English and History. It's bad enough that I hate math and only took that class because it was part of the math pathway for college. When I try to see her at the end of the day, she literally barks at me "I'm tired of grading" and shoos me out of there. I reported her to my AP and counselor, but because it's very hard to find a pre-calc teacher, she knew she was protected. "Oh, I'm conservative, people of color should work for what they want" OK, with your wrinkly ass. You know nothing about me. I used to be proud of MCPS, but we are absolutely slipping as a system because of good old boy behavior, tenure rules, half-assed processes, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[quote/] "My former principal brought vodka to school and was just as vindictive as this guy. Just as many complaints. He is going to be admin at a different school now. We are scared of retaliation so in same position.

Hi, Alexandra Robbins here. If any of you on this thread would like to share your experiences with admin or central office for a potential future article, please feel free to email me at [e-mail]

Even if an anonymous email is sent, people can track the IP address and names can still be gathered from the information indirectly. I'll share my story here. I'm a former MCPS student who went to an East County school from K-8, and a W school from 9-12 (parents got a promotion so we moved).

My first month of freshman year, I was elected to a student council leadership position, and a couple of people decided it was OK to call me (a non-White but straight male) a "monkey" in a group chat one weekend. Someone sent it over to me. Needless to say, I had prepared to non-violently but firmly & loudly confront the two individuals. It's not my fault that I simply wanted belonging in a new environment and wanted to hone/share my talents. So, I confronted them the minute I got to school that Monday, and, of course, it was a whole scene where people were confused and "calling me angry", which feeds into long-standing stereotypes. The AP of my grade (who was a Black man) chastises me for being angry at them, even when I was literally attacked. He promises to do an investigation and loop me in, but he never speaks to the 2 perpetrators. Instead, he thinks it's a good decision to say "turn the other cheek" and play kumbaya. He was also the sponsor for the Minority Scholars Program at my school, which I also belonged to, and we worked together on student council stuff. So for all 4 years, I had to deal with his indignant, passive aggressive, quick to blame, snarky attitude -- all because he wanted to look good for our new principal and not ruffle any feathers. He became an AP at another school and pushed out of the county because he was also creepy in his mannerisms. Nobody liked him, but hey, MCAAP is a powerful union and almost every school needs a token POC administrator. He was totally ineffective otherwise. Did I probably have the ability to handle it better? Yes, but it was warranted as I stand by the substance behind it. In my time of need and in the face of blatant racism, a culture of looking the other way reared its head, and to this day, I have been scared to speak about things. This long, drawn out process has also driven me to constant depression, anxiety, binge eating, etc. and I am always reminded of it.

Then, at the same school, there was a Pre-Calculus teacher who was older and very racist. Everyone reported her form every background. She would barely help the Black kids or be very short with them. One time, I had a personal issue and tried to go to her with some homework I had made up. Keep in mind that math is not my strength due to ADHD - I'm more of a humanities person, especially English and History. It's bad enough that I hate math and only took that class because it was part of the math pathway for college. When I try to see her at the end of the day, she literally barks at me "I'm tired of grading" and shoos me out of there. I reported her to my AP and counselor, but because it's very hard to find a pre-calc teacher, she knew she was protected. "Oh, I'm conservative, people of color should work for what they want" OK, with your wrinkly ass. You know nothing about me. I used to be proud of MCPS, but we are absolutely slipping as a system because of good old boy behavior, tenure rules, half-assed processes, etc.

Third story: a recent principal appointee at a DCC school was a staff development teacher at my elementary school that I went to as a student. If y'all saw the East Silver Spring AP watch as a young Black boy was accused, then imagine the same thing at my school. At least once a week, this SDT (not even an AP and not even in a true administrative position) would be rude to & scream at kids for no reason. And she'd hide behind "oh, I'm from Jersey", like we give a damn. Did not care about kids at all whatsoever, but hey, Black woman, so promote her. (Again, I am also saying this as a person from an underrepresented group who is the first to speak about race whenever needed.) Accountability is accountability. This SDT became an AP and has been at more than 7 different schools in a 9 year period. What this means is this: usually, when a principal intern or something comes in, a current AP must be moved. However, the principal has the power to choose which AP stays, and it's usually based on seniority. While this person has been moved many times because of that, she was not getting moved by central office every time. Meaning that her principals don't like her. Yet, she gets promoted. When a person moves frequently, it's not the system, it's them. MCPS has to not only improve their harassment reporting system, but really do due diligence on people who want to enter the system or move up. I know they're a big system, but even at my HS, there was a security guard who slept with one of the students and still stayed in his post. That's not being a big system, that's called allowing literally anything. There are so many stories about people who clearly had crimes and worked at MCPS before the teacher shortage, so they can't use the excuse about "oh, there's a teaching shortage and we need somebody". All they care about is moving up, not kids. There's a reason why legendary administrators have moved on, and that changing of the guard over the past decade-plus or so, combined with a lack of stability in leadership at the very top (who use our county as a stepping stone), added to the cocktail of the old boys club, has caused this crap. If I were a parent and I had the means to raise a kid in MD, I'd send them to Howard County. I never thought I'd say this, but hell, I'd send them to Anne Arundel in a heartbeat. Cheaper homes for more land, the same commute to DC or Baltimore, and smaller student bodies so they're able to stand out academically. The system is constantly in denial about their slipping status and live so hard on the past. Those days ended with Weast and the Recession. I'm so done as an alum but someone who still has family members in the system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Beidleman and Minus together at Sherwood's graduation a year ago

So what?

All the principals from the feeder schools attend the high school graduation. It doesn’t mean anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This smacks of someone from an ultra-low-represented population in education administration targeted for advancement and let’s just put blinders on to all the unsubstantiated rumors that we’ve heard.

Meanwhile, said candidate knows exactly how much leverage he has as a member of such ultra-low-represented population in education administration and outright flaunts his ability to do whatever the hell he wants with zero fear of repercussions and, to prove his point, gets repeatedly promoted. Until the media gets the story.

Are there stats on such demographics?

Are black admins really underrepresented?

Note: when calculating representation, one should evaluate it against the demographics of the county…and the black population in the county really isn’t that large. The Latino population is far larger.

You’re right that Latinos are are larger group than blacks across the county, but there are pockets where blacks make up the majority. And Paint Branch is one of them. I believe Paint Branch is 60% black so I’m sure MCPS was prioritizing a black principal for a majority black school, which is not a bad thing, but they picked the wrong black principal for the job.

I’m not sure that’s how principal assignments work. I live in a diverse yet majority white school boundary, and we’ve had black principals at every level.

Farquhar is partly in the Sherwood cluster where many other schools have had black principles, even though it is not a majority black area. Thinking back Greenwood, Rosa Parks, Sherwood, Farquhar had black Principals. Other families in the area can confirm or add onto this list. I don’t think the other persons theory is entirely accurate.

[Anonymous]

Alexandra Robbins this is not directly related to the.current topic, but I would be very appreciative if you were to do a story about the way special needs students who are mainstreamed in MCPS are treated. My son who dysgraphia (a small motor deficit that makes it difficult to hold a pencil) was denied help with his problem byt.the county. Instead their solution was to allow him to type instead of write. However almost all math and some other subjects did not make the work available to be typed on computer. Last year a W teacher asked him loudly infront of the class if he did the assignment with his feet. This is one small example of the abuse and mockery that happens from both students and staff that is allowed in mcps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Beidleman and Minus together at Sherwood's graduation a year ago

Weird that he's wearing sunglasses inside

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Alexandra Robbins this is not directly related to the.current topic, but I would be very appreciative if you were to do a story about the way special needs students who are mainstreamed in MCPS are treated. My son who dysgraphia (a small motor deficit that makes it difficult to hold a pencil) was denied help with his problem byt.the county. Instead their solution was to allow him to type instead of write. However almost all math and some other subjects did not make the work available to be typed on computer. Last year a W teacher asked him loudly infront of the class if he did the assignment with his feet. This is one small example of the abuse and mockery that happens from both students and staff that is allowed in mcps.

My child with dysgraphia was denied help as well. We the parents were gaslit and made to seem as though we were the problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This smacks of someone from an ultra-low-represented population in education administration targeted for advancement and let’s just put blinders on to all the unsubstantiated rumors that we’ve heard.

Meanwhile, said candidate knows exactly how much leverage he has as a member of such ultra-low-represented population in education administration and outright flaunts his ability to do whatever the hell he wants with zero fear of repercussions and, to prove his point, gets repeatedly promoted. Until the media gets the story.

Are there stats on such demographics?

Are black admins really underrepresented?

Note: when calculating representation, one should evaluate it against the demographics of the county…and the black population in the county really isn’t that large. The Latino population is far larger.

You’re right that Latinos are are larger group than blacks across the county, but there are pockets where blacks make up the majority. And Paint Branch is one of them. I believe Paint Branch is 60% black so I’m sure MCPS was prioritizing a black principal for a majority black school, which is not a bad thing, but they picked the wrong black principal for the job.

I’m not sure that’s how principal assignments work. I live in a diverse yet majority white school boundary, and we’ve had black principals at every level.

Farquhar is partly in the Sherwood cluster where many other schools have had black principles, even though it is not a majority black area. Thinking back Greenwood, Rosa Parks, Sherwood, Farquhar had black Principals. Other families in the area can confirm or add onto this list. I don’t think the other persons theory is entirely accurate.

Yep. From where I sit, I’ve seen nothing but black principals at every level of my local schools. Some impressive, others not so much.

[Anonymous]

Has anyone checked with PG and a Fairfax County about this guy? Sure seems like he moved around a lot before coming to MCPS, but specially as a career switcher. How did he even get certified to teach in the first place? Then why did he change schools so much? Did PG and Fairfax see what MCPS didn’t?

https://www.hood.edu/cohort-3-doctoral-bios

[Anonymous]

All the Farquhar kids now have a large group text going about this situation. My son told me the kids were also talking about it at camp the other day. Got to chat with him about how not all adults in leadership positions can be trusted, many can but some can't. What it means to be respectful of girls and women and what sexual harassment is. And what it means to be called a "thot" and why that's not okay.