Taylor's first year
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Anonymous
We were denied an IEP last year. He's not fixing anything. If he is for you, you are lucky. They wouldn't even do an evaluation despite multiple teachers and staff expressing concerns and grades dropping. |
Anonymous
No! Not true. |
Anonymous
+1. No Superintendent will be enough because people believe all change can happen immediately. Just snap your fingers and all issues will be resolved. None of them will be given credit for the good they do or progress they make. This is our third Super on the districts. I’ve had/have issues with each. But also think they each cared and working to make positive improvements. |
Anonymous
So far the “cross-functional teams” are a joke. The special ed people on our school’s “team” have little background necessary to effectively support us. Lord knows how this will turn out! |
Anonymous
Tell us what Taylor has done that is good. You all keep complaining about people saying Taylor hasn't done much, but don't respond with his list of accomplishments. Instead of attacking others, stand by your man. |
Anonymous
| I like that he is willing to acknowledge the many entrenched problems MCPS faces, and isn't pretending everything's been going just fine. He doesn't speak in incomprehensible word salads like the previous two superintendents. Yes, it will take some time for him to truly have major accomplishments, but I'm feeling better about his chances to do so. |
Anonymous
See, I felt that way initially. And I think if you only pay attention to him and MCPS at a surface level, you'll walk away with this POV. But in my observation of him, Taylor SAYS the right things but does none of them. For example: He TALKED about stabilizing and getting things on track with special ed, but nothing has changed for special ed in the most meaningful ways that parents and teachers have been asking for. He TALKS about the additional staff added but most of those special ed staff being added are just part-time staff conversions. There is no PLAN for putting special ed on a better path a YEAR later, despite him listening and acknowledging how bad the situation is in MCPS. Again, at this point, we should have seen a plan for improvement. He talked about safety and security being his "number one priority." What has he done to drastically improve on this number one priority? Nothing. Chief Jones is absent. He talked about increasing transparency and accountability, but MCPS has been caught and called out time and time again during his first year for ducking journalists, parents and advocates, and obscuring its processes, decision making and planning. |
Anonymous
| He mostly got the budget he wanted to work with, and FY26 just began two weeks ago. Now let's see how this year turns out with him now being fully up to speed and with his (largely) new team in place. |
Anonymous
You do realize the average tenure for a superintendent is only 3 years, right? The time horizon and call for patience you're making would make sense if the average superintendent stuck around for 5-10 years, but the reality is Taylor spent one year "listening and learning" about MCPS, and then he'll have one year to do something with the budget he secured, and he'll spend a good chunk of his third year searching for his next job. When the community was surveyed during the BOE's listening tour, we said we needed a superintendent who would hit the ground running after McKnight's unexpected ouster, and an incredible list of problems to address. Taylor was sold to us by the BOE as someone who could onboard quickly since he was a native son of Montgomery County. |
Anonymous
Sorry, but that's absurd. That gives him familiarity with the geography of the county and some of the decades-ago history, but that's about it. |
Anonymous
I’m not advocating for or against Taylor but I think there is some expectation setting needed with MCPS stakeholders. Using the examples listed above: Converting a bunch of part time Paras to Fulltime is actually something because it makes the job more attractive which can improve hiring and retention. It also potentially creates more time for one resource to be working in one place. He requested additional Spec Ed teachers. Now yes there needs to be a whole salary and recruitment plan to go with that, but even setting the position up and getting funding for them is a process. Security. Evaluations of schools have happened, new security teams members are in the budget, processs/procedures/training is being aligned, etc. Contrary to popular belief you can just purchase hundreds of millions of dollars of metal detectors, install them in schools and then viola everything will be better. What that is in window dressing to make people feel better while not actually doing much. Also, part of the issues that people complain about as security problems are actually issues are special education and discipline which the chief of security can’t solve alone or with the snap of his fingers. That’s why the score of Conduct has to be updated and people trained on it and trained in enforcing appropriately. Transparency and Accountability. Yes absolutely. But there’s a difference between being transparent and accountability vs subjecting themselves to every thought and whim of parents of students and having to respond in kind. There is also a big difference to what pie in the sky law say and what the organization can actually deliver while maintaining normal operations. Again not saying the Taylor is perfect or amazing. What I’m saying is that some of the vitriol that has been launched at MCPS Supers would be much better placed with the County Council, MSDE and Congress. |
Anonymous
I thought Felder was much more substantive. |
Anonymous
She was here for what, 4 months? And presided over last year's budget debacle. |
Anonymous
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I think he's had some big wins - mostly the budget, but also the way he engages very well with county officials. The past few supers were not as collaborative with elected officials and it showed at budget time. Taylor played nice with the electeds and got a huge amount of money.
He is also doing well at repairing relationships with the staff associations. He knows when to show up for teachers, etc. As a pp said, he uses plain language and metaphors that parents understand rather than talking like an EdD trying to sound smart. I think the work he put into get the added funds will show improvement in security and special ed in the coming year. The boundaries and programs are going to be his crucible, though. He has not done well at managing the folks managing those processes and it can come back to bite him. He's a smarter than average, affable guy who actually understands dollars and cents. He is absolutely the best since Starr and I'd venture a bet that he will best Starr since he isn't openly egotistical and combative. |
Anonymous
I agree!!! But people aren’t really ready for the type of change they claim to want, because that would require admitting that some MCPS teachers and administrators need to go, some parents need to be told to pound sand, some of the things that are propped up are privilege not productive, and some of this ever school is different conversation get replaced with standards and accountability. |