Did Dr. McKnight's antiracist speech fall flat?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish mcps and the larger MoCo community would step back and examine what the real issues are. I’m not opposed to tackling the issues, but I feel like our community tends to miss the mark despite its well-intentioned, well-resourced efforts.

Fact: MoCo is a highly educated, super progressive, welcoming place.

Fact: Racism exists everywhere and everyone experiences bias.

Fact: There’s nothing wrong with flagging this and encouraging people to do better…and there’s nothing wrong with establishing expectations for teachers and students.

Fact: Demographics have shifted dramatically in the last two decades, and it’s causing issues that moco and mcps seem to fail to understand.

-Latino newcomers can’t be shoe-horned into our culture. They don’t prioritize education the same way African and Asian newcomers do. Latinos make up the fastest growing student demographic and will outpace whites across the county soon (it’s already happened in several school pyramids).

Fact: There’s a conflict between blacks and Latinos. Reams of research and data on this at the school level as well as the societal level.

Fact: We won’t see the success mcps is looking for until they realize the game has changed. We need a system that recognizes the real issues rather than focusing on the wrong things.

The unfortunately, I’m not optimistic. The changes we need are big.

Do you have sources for your "facts"?

[Anonymous]

Opinion. No one cares about McKnight's personal hangups. She needs to focus on education and equality of services for everyone. By that standard, yes, her speech fell flat and on deaf ears.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one has bothered to post or discuss the grandiose speech Dr. McKnight that teased and promoted through multiple MCPS communication blasts:

Article: https://moco360.media/2023/04/28/mcps-averages-one-hate-incident-a-day-mcknight-reports-outlining-response-plan/

I'm guessing the reason why no one DCUM is talking about it is because it fell flat?

For me, just as with the antiracist audit report, I heard a lot of talk and fluff but I can't figure out for the life of me what action she and/or MCPS are actually proposing. You say we need to do better, how will you make people do better? Training is a pathetic response to that question, in my opinion.

That speech was so inspiring, and McKnight is a fantastic role model for our kids. We are so lucky to have such a great leader!

If your only priority is closing the gap by dumbing down school then sure.

That's all MCPS cares about. Dumbing it down to make it appear like they did something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Opinion. No one cares about McKnight's personal hangups. She needs to focus on education and equality of services for everyone. By that standard, yes, her speech fell flat and on deaf ears.

+1

She is useless person when it comes to doing her main job. She is not working for public relations firm. Her job is to provide the best education for all kids in MCPS.

[Anonymous]

I think her messages are really off based on the needs of the county. Her messages end up dividing the parents and students rather than uniting them (see the Lakewood thread).Black students are the 3rd largest demographic at only 21%, yet every other word is about moving them up. We had an entire curriculum added this year about black history in MOCO. However, 80% of the students in this county are feeling left out and not seen- and this includes our largest and fastest growing demographic- our Hispanic community.

She is also not listening to the teachers about what is needed in schools for all students to be successful.

I feel her messages would be better off if they were about raising the bar for all students from all backgrounds. She needs to stop making everything about race and start making things about kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My takeaways were they’re going to bring in experts, more teacher training, and engage with the community. So yeah, basically more of nothing.

It would be nice if they could pivot to education and focus on reading and math.

Interestingly, they continue to fall short despite how much time they dedicate to math and reading at the elementary level.

They need to group by ability and switch classrooms for math and reading.

One of my kids was lucky enough to be placed in a “smart kid” cohort for grades 3-5 where the entire class is accelerated for math and reading. Class size is smaller than the others. I suspect mcps is studying them but im not sure. Anyway, that kid has received a far superior education than my others who weren’t in such a cohort. Instead they received the allegedly accelerated curriculum while shifting through groups within the same classroom as the teacher struggled to meet the needs of kids at various levels…which serves no one well.

Our school dedicates almost 0 time to reading and math unless you're below grade level. My kid gets a reading group maybe once every 2-3 months. They seem to be only concerned with the achievement gap and nothing else. I feel I'm completely responsible for teaching these things and the school can't be expected to do anything.

What school? Or what pyramid?

This is most common in areas with greater SES diversity, but it is the new normal in early ES at those schools.

[Anonymous]

The whole system is bout pressuring teachers to inflate grades then firing teachers whether they do or don't. I would say it's more racist to deprive minorities of an education because you have no faith in people with accountability and standards. I had a black aadmin in mcps tell me that black children cuss out their teachers because that is their culture and I did not understand their culture. What a load of crap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The whole system is bout pressuring teachers to inflate grades then firing teachers whether they do or don't. I would say it's more racist to deprive minorities of an education because you have no faith in people with accountability and standards. I had a black aadmin in mcps tell me that black children cuss out their teachers because that is their culture and I did not understand their culture. What a load of crap.

I knew many AA kids who did not do this, so that's complete BS. These endless excuses for bad behavior get so old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole system is bout pressuring teachers to inflate grades then firing teachers whether they do or don't. I would say it's more racist to deprive minorities of an education because you have no faith in people with accountability and standards. I had a black aadmin in mcps tell me that black children cuss out their teachers because that is their culture and I did not understand their culture. What a load of crap.

I knew many AA kids who did not do this, so that's complete BS. These endless excuses for bad behavior get so old.

Which is why need to stop labeling groups and setting different standards.

The American education system can and should be the best on the planet.

Set expectations for everyone. Establish and maintain structure and discipline. Approach the curriculum the way private schools do.

Drag parents into school when their kids act up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole system is bout pressuring teachers to inflate grades then firing teachers whether they do or don't. I would say it's more racist to deprive minorities of an education because you have no faith in people with accountability and standards. I had a black aadmin in mcps tell me that black children cuss out their teachers because that is their culture and I did not understand their culture. What a load of crap.

I knew many AA kids who did not do this, so that's complete BS. These endless excuses for bad behavior get so old.

Which is why need to stop labeling groups and setting different standards.

The American education system can and should be the best on the planet.

Set expectations for everyone. Establish and maintain structure and discipline. Approach the curriculum the way private schools do.

Drag parents into school when their kids act up.

Did McKnight move to Montgomery County yet? Let's see how fast this gets deleted. Apparently McKnight's contract is not to be discussed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The whole system is bout pressuring teachers to inflate grades then firing teachers whether they do or don't. I would say it's more racist to deprive minorities of an education because you have no faith in people with accountability and standards. I had a black aadmin in mcps tell me that black children cuss out their teachers because that is their culture and I did not understand their culture. What a load of crap.

What subset of Black culture, because it's certainly not all (or even most) of Black culture. Very low income?

In any event, I hope the Black admin recognizes that school is a place to learn society norms in terms of manners. Cussing people out doesn't get one very far in the job market, for example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The whole system is bout pressuring teachers to inflate grades then firing teachers whether they do or don't. I would say it's more racist to deprive minorities of an education because you have no faith in people with accountability and standards. I had a black aadmin in mcps tell me that black children cuss out their teachers because that is their culture and I did not understand their culture. What a load of crap.

I hope you know that the black admin who told you that is full of it. I'm a black parent and I was a black kid in MCPS and my black mother would've skinned me alive if I cursed out any of my teachers.

Some MCPS staff seem to have an unhealthy sense of loyalty to one another to the point that they justify the unjustifiable just because it's their friend or fellow co-worker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole system is bout pressuring teachers to inflate grades then firing teachers whether they do or don't. I would say it's more racist to deprive minorities of an education because you have no faith in people with accountability and standards. I had a black aadmin in mcps tell me that black children cuss out their teachers because that is their culture and I did not understand their culture. What a load of crap.

I hope you know that the black admin who told you that is full of it. I'm a black parent and I was a black kid in MCPS and my black mother would've skinned me alive if I cursed out any of my teachers.

Some MCPS staff seem to have an unhealthy sense of loyalty to one another to the point that they justify the unjustifiable just because it's their friend or fellow co-worker.

I wonder if we're at the same MCPS elementary school? Our BIPOC assistant principal would always say the parents are doing the best that they can regardless of how terrible a kid behaved on a regular basis. I don't necessarily blame parents when a student is unwell but when the parent curses me out and calls me a racist, drives a $80k car but lives in section 8 housing, well...I do begin to wonder where the priorities are with some folks.