Board of Education Board Business Meeting Sept 25 Thread

[Anonymous]

The Background Screening portion of the meeting proves that this BOE is an abysmal failure.

Karla MEEKLY attempted to ask how MCPS got into this hole, and MCPS punted it to HHS who awkwardly said a backlog would not appeal in the future because it's not a digital and handled through an online portal, which of course does not answer Karla's question and Karla couldn't be bothered to ask a follow-up.

Then, Laura THANKS MCPS and DHHS and claims she's never seen a great response to a crisis. She says this despite the fact that the OIG was NOT complimentary to Taylor and his handling of the situation, as she called Taylor out for sitting on the issue after being alerted in Dec and for failing to attend ANY of the follow-up meetings with his staff. Not to mention, completely ignoring the nastygrams that he lobbed at the OIG, accusing her of being unprofessional and inaccurate.

MCPS is doing a LOT of leaning on the fact that every MCPS employee has had an initial fingerprint requirement and background check. Even though it is ALSO a requirement that employees be RE-FINGERPRINTED every 5 years or be enrolled in RapBack AND the legal requirement to have every employee CPS cleared.

Where is the outrage and anger at MCPS for FAILING to meet those real and serious legal requirements? How is the BOE and MCPS ok with breaking the law like this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1:27:30 - last testimony today dug out more story from Taylor’s previous serviced district.

1:39:54 - Silvestre clarified again that BOE will not vote on regional model. I interpreted that as BOE has forseen alarming signs and they want to get away from sharing accountability of the decision.

Any other highlights?

That is BS and no one should let her/the Board get away with that. MCPS sent an email out literally today once again saying "The Board of Education is expected to take final action in December" on the program analysis. If they think it's not going to go well and they just want to wash their hands of responsibility for it, that is cowardly.

Okay, I watched Silvestre saying it and maybe I'm wrong but it sounded like she might actually genuinely not know they are supposed to vote on it? (Which is problematic in a whole different way, of course.)

Shouldn't board staff have corrected her if she was wrong?

No, she really runs the show. No one will go against her.

How does Karla run the show? She's no longer Board President.

Because everyone defers to her.

Why? Does she eat babies or something?

[Anonymous]

Julie Yang had NOTHING to say as board president about the background screening compliance failures? She's our leader of the oversight body of MCPS? Seriously?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Background Screening portion of the meeting proves that this BOE is an abysmal failure.

Karla MEEKLY attempted to ask how MCPS got into this hole, and MCPS punted it to HHS who awkwardly said a backlog would not appeal in the future because it's not a digital and handled through an online portal, which of course does not answer Karla's question and Karla couldn't be bothered to ask a follow-up.

Then, Laura THANKS MCPS and DHHS and claims she's never seen a great response to a crisis. She says this despite the fact that the OIG was NOT complimentary to Taylor and his handling of the situation, as she called Taylor out for sitting on the issue after being alerted in Dec and for failing to attend ANY of the follow-up meetings with his staff. Not to mention, completely ignoring the nastygrams that he lobbed at the OIG, accusing her of being unprofessional and inaccurate.

MCPS is doing a LOT of leaning on the fact that every MCPS employee has had an initial fingerprint requirement and background check. Even though it is ALSO a requirement that employees be RE-FINGERPRINTED every 5 years or be enrolled in RapBack AND the legal requirement to have every employee CPS cleared.

Where is the outrage and anger at MCPS for FAILING to meet those real and serious legal requirements? How is the BOE and MCPS ok with breaking the law like this?

Only a one time background check is the norm with the county too. It should be done regularly for both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Background Screening portion of the meeting proves that this BOE is an abysmal failure.

Karla MEEKLY attempted to ask how MCPS got into this hole, and MCPS punted it to HHS who awkwardly said a backlog would not appeal in the future because it's not a digital and handled through an online portal, which of course does not answer Karla's question and Karla couldn't be bothered to ask a follow-up.

Then, Laura THANKS MCPS and DHHS and claims she's never seen a great response to a crisis. She says this despite the fact that the OIG was NOT complimentary to Taylor and his handling of the situation, as she called Taylor out for sitting on the issue after being alerted in Dec and for failing to attend ANY of the follow-up meetings with his staff. Not to mention, completely ignoring the nastygrams that he lobbed at the OIG, accusing her of being unprofessional and inaccurate.

MCPS is doing a LOT of leaning on the fact that every MCPS employee has had an initial fingerprint requirement and background check. Even though it is ALSO a requirement that employees be RE-FINGERPRINTED every 5 years or be enrolled in RapBack AND the legal requirement to have every employee CPS cleared.

Where is the outrage and anger at MCPS for FAILING to meet those real and serious legal requirements? How is the BOE and MCPS ok with breaking the law like this?

Only a one time background check is the norm with the county too. It should be done regularly for both.

So where does the requirement for more with MCPS come from? They kept referencing state law as the reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Brigid Howe's testimony about the more meaningful role the BOE can and should be playing in making it safer to walk to school. It sounds like the pushback on the resolution and the death of Wheaton student James Anderson made Taylor ask schools to cancel National Walk to School Day celebrations.

I don’t get the pushback but Mcps should honor this student more. Everyone is using him to push their agendas without respecting two people passed away. It should be held. Some of the safety issues are not mcps but Mcps should offer school busses across major roads and unsafe neighborhoods and not just the two mile rule. Some neighborhoods go across major streets with no crossings guards and don’t have sidewalks.

Seriously? A 16 year old should be able to cross the street without a crossing guard.

[Anonymous]

News article on this morning's county council meeting. Check out Dr. Taylor's response to who should be hold accountable. He is good at ducking.

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/09/26/mcps-background-re-screening/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:News article on this morning's county council meeting. Check out Dr. Taylor's response to who should be hold accountable. He is good at ducking.

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/09/26/mcps-background-re-screening/

He's a slippery eel and a coward. I hope the council saw through his BS. Lord knows the BOE is still blind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OMG! Lin Li did his homework and absolutely SKEWERED Taylor and his Regional Programs model and showed how it was a copy and paste failure from Stafford! How embarrassing.

You and Lin need better critical thinking skills. Just because access to Blair will become regional does not mean other regions will have no access to magnet programs. Each region will have magnet programs, which expands access.

About the bus system “collapsing” due to what happened at Stafford Co: MCPS’s bus system is well developed and organized. It is strange to assume MCPS will nuke it to implement the regional model. Also, why is Lin assuming that having transferring bus stops will mean a longer commute? The total commute time could still be shorter than a countywide commute with no transfer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG! Lin Li did his homework and absolutely SKEWERED Taylor and his Regional Programs model and showed how it was a copy and paste failure from Stafford! How embarrassing.

You and Lin need better critical thinking skills. Just because access to Blair will become regional does not mean other regions will have no access to magnet programs. Each region will have magnet programs, which expands access.

About the bus system “collapsing” due to what happened at Stafford Co: MCPS’s bus system is well developed and organized. It is strange to assume MCPS will nuke it to implement the regional model. Also, why is Lin assuming that having transferring bus stops will mean a longer commute? The total commute time could still be shorter than a countywide commute with no transfer.

You lost all credibility with this statement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG! Lin Li did his homework and absolutely SKEWERED Taylor and his Regional Programs model and showed how it was a copy and paste failure from Stafford! How embarrassing.

You and Lin need better critical thinking skills. Just because access to Blair will become regional does not mean other regions will have no access to magnet programs. Each region will have magnet programs, which expands access.

About the bus system “collapsing” due to what happened at Stafford Co: MCPS’s bus system is well developed and organized. It is strange to assume MCPS will nuke it to implement the regional model. Also, why is Lin assuming that having transferring bus stops will mean a longer commute? The total commute time could still be shorter than a countywide commute with no transfer.

Hello, Mrs. Porter. Instead of defending palely on this anonymized forum, would you please respond my email to BOE and CO? Who wants to stand out and shoulder the accountability of all consequences?

[Anonymous]

100% agree with student Ella Wan (1:04). Good point about making sure there is equitable funding across the regions.

I agree with the next student about keeping humanities criteria-based but I don’t see a problem with the humanities magnets being regional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG! Lin Li did his homework and absolutely SKEWERED Taylor and his Regional Programs model and showed how it was a copy and paste failure from Stafford! How embarrassing.

You and Lin need better critical thinking skills. Just because access to Blair will become regional does not mean other regions will have no access to magnet programs. Each region will have magnet programs, which expands access.

About the bus system “collapsing” due to what happened at Stafford Co: MCPS’s bus system is well developed and organized. It is strange to assume MCPS will nuke it to implement the regional model. Also, why is Lin assuming that having transferring bus stops will mean a longer commute? The total commute time could still be shorter than a countywide commute with no transfer.

By the way, you've never rode the magnet bus a single time or read the statistics of bus time, do you? TPMS and Eastern students need to transfer at Blair every morning and afternoon, and the total time doubles because of the waiting of transfer. It only takes Blair kids one-way about 20 - 25 mins from/to some popular stops in the western county, but 50 mins from/to TPMS for the same station.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG! Lin Li did his homework and absolutely SKEWERED Taylor and his Regional Programs model and showed how it was a copy and paste failure from Stafford! How embarrassing.

You and Lin need better critical thinking skills. Just because access to Blair will become regional does not mean other regions will have no access to magnet programs. Each region will have magnet programs, which expands access.

About the bus system “collapsing” due to what happened at Stafford Co: MCPS’s bus system is well developed and organized. It is strange to assume MCPS will nuke it to implement the regional model. Also, why is Lin assuming that having transferring bus stops will mean a longer commute? The total commute time could still be shorter than a countywide commute with no transfer.

Hello, Mrs. Porter. Instead of defending palely on this anonymized forum, would you please respond my email to BOE and CO? Who wants to stand out and shoulder the accountability of all consequences?

Another poster who needs to work in their critical thinking skills. I am not Porter, whoever that is. I just see when someone has made an invalid argument.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG! Lin Li did his homework and absolutely SKEWERED Taylor and his Regional Programs model and showed how it was a copy and paste failure from Stafford! How embarrassing.

You and Lin need better critical thinking skills. Just because access to Blair will become regional does not mean other regions will have no access to magnet programs. Each region will have magnet programs, which expands access.

About the bus system “collapsing” due to what happened at Stafford Co: MCPS’s bus system is well developed and organized. It is strange to assume MCPS will nuke it to implement the regional model. Also, why is Lin assuming that having transferring bus stops will mean a longer commute? The total commute time could still be shorter than a countywide commute with no transfer.

By the way, you've never rode the magnet bus a single time or read the statistics of bus time, do you? TPMS and Eastern students need to transfer at Blair every morning and afternoon, and the total time doubles because of the waiting of transfer. It only takes Blair kids one-way about 20 - 25 mins from/to some popular stops in the western county, but 50 mins from/to TPMS for the same station.

My kids ride magnet buses every day and I like our bus system. You cannot assume the commute will be longer just because someone has to transfer.