Is it possible to get rid of Jack Smith?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm old enough to remember that DCUM has never liked an MCPS superintendent, and has collectively brayed for the heads of every single one of them to date.

Maybe at a certain point folks need to realize that the problem isn't the parade of administrators that get cycled in and out in a futile effort to please UMC parents who want a bespoke private school experience in public school.

I just came here to say that too.

Jerry Weast? Terrible! (Curriculum 2.0, y'all.)
Joshua Starr? Damn him!!!1!!1!!
Larry Bowers? [He doesn't count.]
Jack Smith? Fire him!

There was no DCUM when Paul Vance was superintendent, but if there had been, DCUM would have hated him too.

Why do they make such poor hiring decisions? Is there a lack of talent for this role?

Well, it might be that they're all terrible. But the simpler explanation is that DCUM would hate anyone. If the BoE hired you (or me), then DCUM would hate you (or me).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lack of action? He cannot fix covid.

He was a disaster before covid. He is the singular reason MCPS is declining at a rapid rate and he has increased the bloated MCPS bureaucracy and surrounded himself with other incompetent people in central office. Calvert county was more than happy to get rid of him four years ago. The BOE should never have forced Josh Starr out the door.

Amen

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lack of action? He cannot fix covid.

He was a disaster before covid. He is the singular reason MCPS is declining at a rapid rate and he has increased the bloated MCPS bureaucracy and surrounded himself with other incompetent people in central office. Calvert county was more than happy to get rid of him four years ago. The BOE should never have forced Josh Starr out the door.

People said that on DCUM about Jerry Weast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lack of action? He cannot fix covid.

No, but he could bring students back to school, like they're doing all over the country and the world, even in places with higher community spread.

He's not even seriously trying to bring back special needs kids.

How do you propose he does that safely?

The same way that doctors, nurses, speech pathologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, ABA providers, etc., are working in-person. They just do it while taking whatever precautions they reasonably can without interfering significantly with their jobs.

Not all of them are doing it in person and they see one person at a time vs. 35 students in a classroom with 8 classes. Doctors offices allow only the patient in if its in person and see much less and screen before coming in. SLP's, OT and PT's are not all back in person. Many are still virtual.

My spouse sees a lot more than 30 people in the exam over the course of a week. And definitely has closer contact than you would have with your students, unless something is going seriously wrong on your class.

Likewise for daycares, you're looking at slightly smaller cohorts, but much closer contact and much less compliant with rules.

But teachers are special. Or something.

Our middle school classes have 35 kids/8 classes. I'm not a teacher. Both my doctors are virtual only except in rare cases. Teachers and doctors have very different jobs. You just cannot handle your kids while your spouse works. There is no way to do cohorts at my school. We only have about 15 kids taking the same math in the grade and none are in any of the same classes.

You can do cohorts in elementary school. But I agree that it may not be possible to open middle and high schools safely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm old enough to remember that DCUM has never liked an MCPS superintendent, and has collectively brayed for the heads of every single one of them to date.

Maybe at a certain point folks need to realize that the problem isn't the parade of administrators that get cycled in and out in a futile effort to please UMC parents who want a bespoke private school experience in public school.

I just came here to say that too.

Jerry Weast? Terrible! (Curriculum 2.0, y'all.)
Joshua Starr? Damn him!!!1!!1!!
Larry Bowers? [He doesn't count.]
Jack Smith? Fire him!

There was no DCUM when Paul Vance was superintendent, but if there had been, DCUM would have hated him too.

Why do they make such poor hiring decisions? Is there a lack of talent for this role?

Part of the issue is that MCPS is too big.

It’s very difficult to get anyone qualified to do this job.

So many problems in MCPs stem from it simply being too large to manage well. And the kids suffer because of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Why do they make such poor hiring decisions? Is there a lack of talent for this role?

Part of the issue is that MCPS is too big.

It’s very difficult to get anyone qualified to do this job.

So many problems in MCPs stem from it simply being too large to manage well. And the kids suffer because of it.

Q: Why do I get wet when I go out in the rain? Is there a lack of appropriate gear for this weather?

A: Part of the issue is that rain is wet. It's very difficult to get gear that really keeps you dry. So many problems stem from rain simply being wet. And people get wet because of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm old enough to remember that DCUM has never liked an MCPS superintendent, and has collectively brayed for the heads of every single one of them to date.

Maybe at a certain point folks need to realize that the problem isn't the parade of administrators that get cycled in and out in a futile effort to please UMC parents who want a bespoke private school experience in public school.

I just came here to say that too.

Jerry Weast? Terrible! (Curriculum 2.0, y'all.)
Joshua Starr? Damn him!!!1!!1!!
Larry Bowers? [He doesn't count.]
Jack Smith? Fire him!

There was no DCUM when Paul Vance was superintendent, but if there had been, DCUM would have hated him too.

Why do they make such poor hiring decisions? Is there a lack of talent for this role?

MCPS has the reputation of UMC parents who interrogate their Superintendents and often arrogantly pretend to know more about the education field because they read an article or educational journal. No one wants the job here. Its the opposite of DCPS where no one wants the job because of the stress and dysfunction of trying to bring up low income students to grade level.

[Anonymous]

Before you can get rid of Smith, don't you have to find him first?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Before you can get rid of Smith, don't you have to find him first?

I literally LOL’d at this.
Ha! So true.

[Anonymous]

Truthfully I don't think the issue is Jack Smith. The issue is the Board. And as long as Montgomery County residents continue to do a terrible job selecting Board of Ed members, nothing's going to change. We don't get to decide on the Superintendant, but we get to decide who the Board Members are. You all have seen the corruption and the laziness of the BOE but yet you continue to vote for the same people and demonize new outsider candidates who bring in new ideas. It's the same issue with the County Council.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Truthfully I don't think the issue is Jack Smith. The issue is the Board. And as long as Montgomery County residents continue to do a terrible job selecting Board of Ed members, nothing's going to change. We don't get to decide on the Superintendant, but we get to decide who the Board Members are. You all have seen the corruption and the laziness of the BOE but yet you continue to vote for the same people and demonize new outsider candidates who bring in new ideas. It's the same issue with the County Council.

I generally agree.

But part of the problem is that a board position is almost a full time job, but offers 25k, I think.

But the board is almost entirely women (with the exception of the student member), and almost all prior teachers.

That's a problem. They also all have the same personality type, which is a huge problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Truthfully I don't think the issue is Jack Smith. The issue is the Board. And as long as Montgomery County residents continue to do a terrible job selecting Board of Ed members, nothing's going to change. We don't get to decide on the Superintendant, but we get to decide who the Board Members are. You all have seen the corruption and the laziness of the BOE but yet you continue to vote for the same people and demonize new outsider candidates who bring in new ideas. It's the same issue with the County Council.

Agreed.

Though I think it’s a combination. And the fact that there is no accountability.

The BOE allows Smith to do what he pleases. And never calls him out on his nonsense. He shows up when he wants, does what he wants, and nobody holds him accountable or asks the tough questions

The County Council does the same. They know they will get votes, regardless of what they do. As long as they run as Democrats, people vote for them. Again, no accountability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Truthfully I don't think the issue is Jack Smith. The issue is the Board. And as long as Montgomery County residents continue to do a terrible job selecting Board of Ed members, nothing's going to change. We don't get to decide on the Superintendant, but we get to decide who the Board Members are. You all have seen the corruption and the laziness of the BOE but yet you continue to vote for the same people and demonize new outsider candidates who bring in new ideas. It's the same issue with the County Council.

Dude. They weren't demonized (i.e., the reason they lost the election isn't) because they were outsiders with new ideas. It was because they were ignorant outsiders with new (or old) bad ideas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Truthfully I don't think the issue is Jack Smith. The issue is the Board. And as long as Montgomery County residents continue to do a terrible job selecting Board of Ed members, nothing's going to change. We don't get to decide on the Superintendant, but we get to decide who the Board Members are. You all have seen the corruption and the laziness of the BOE but yet you continue to vote for the same people and demonize new outsider candidates who bring in new ideas. It's the same issue with the County Council.

I generally agree.

But part of the problem is that a board position is almost a full time job, but offers 25k, I think.

But the board is almost entirely women (with the exception of the student member), and almost all prior teachers.

That's a problem. They also all have the same personality type, which is a huge problem.

The board being entirely women is only a problem if you think women are pushovers.

Of the 7 adult members, TWO are former teachers (Docca and either Dixon or Harris).

And the idea that they all have the same personality type - well, see the sentence about women, two sentences up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What we are all forgetting is this is a systemic problem with resources, over crowded schools, poor ventilation, and broken buildings are inherited problems. It starts with us, the parents and voters in Montogmery County. Start talking to or looking at your representatives and say we need our focus to be on education and the facilities that are required to house those needing that education. If you receive money from a developer, then develop what is needed. Astro turf for a sports field is not needed, working heat and air conditioning is, clean water in and windows and doors that work.

I would like to do this. Can you suggest who I should be contacting?