Board wants Monifa to step down

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She should have agreed to resign effective the end of the school year with a severence so she could go quietly. She has handled this very, very badly.

Totally setting aside whether termination is justified, she must be living in some kind of crazy echo chamber to think this was the right play.

Maybe the Board was threatening to terminate for cause to get out of paying her for an extra year. Then she wouldn't have anything to lose by fighting it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once the board tell you they want you out - you are out. Not really rocket science. I believe there is a sensitive issue (not race, gender) the board is tiptoeing around because that sensitive issue puts her in a protected class. Pretty obvious by them asking her to "step away". It is actually as kind a way an employer can do it. Agree with reading the room. Her tenure in MCPS is over. However, the same sensitive issue is impacting her judgment in how she has handled this in public. The media and the public are never on your side in a mess that could be handled quietly and with discretion.

+1 they gave her a chance to leave without being fired. Now it is going to be so much worse for everyone.

Exactly. The outcome will be the same but she stands to lose her dignity and the school system will suffer. This ai why contracts exist. She will be paid according to the terms of her contract and she should also honor the terms of the contract.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once the board tell you they want you out - you are out. Not really rocket science. I believe there is a sensitive issue (not race, gender) the board is tiptoeing around because that sensitive issue puts her in a protected class. Pretty obvious by them asking her to "step away". It is actually as kind a way an employer can do it. Agree with reading the room. Her tenure in MCPS is over. However, the same sensitive issue is impacting her judgment in how she has handled this in public. The media and the public are never on your side in a mess that could be handled quietly and with discretion.

+1 they gave her a chance to leave without being fired. Now it is going to be so much worse for everyone.

She wouldn't have gotten a pay-out if she resigned.

And there are 3 BOE seats of election so of some of them were planning to run again they are also going to have more explaining to do.

You don't think they were going to have to otherwise? I don't see how that changes anything with McKnight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once the board tell you they want you out - you are out. Not really rocket science. I believe there is a sensitive issue (not race, gender) the board is tiptoeing around because that sensitive issue puts her in a protected class. Pretty obvious by them asking her to "step away". It is actually as kind a way an employer can do it. Agree with reading the room. Her tenure in MCPS is over. However, the same sensitive issue is impacting her judgment in how she has handled this in public. The media and the public are never on your side in a mess that could be handled quietly and with discretion.

+1 they gave her a chance to leave without being fired. Now it is going to be so much worse for everyone.

Exactly. The outcome will be the same but she stands to lose her dignity and the school system will suffer. This ai why contracts exist. She will be paid according to the terms of her contract and she should also honor the terms of the contract.

She only gets paid if they fire her. She doesn't get paid if she resigns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once the board tell you they want you out - you are out. Not really rocket science. I believe there is a sensitive issue (not race, gender) the board is tiptoeing around because that sensitive issue puts her in a protected class. Pretty obvious by them asking her to "step away". It is actually as kind a way an employer can do it. Agree with reading the room. Her tenure in MCPS is over. However, the same sensitive issue is impacting her judgment in how she has handled this in public. The media and the public are never on your side in a mess that could be handled quietly and with discretion.

+1 they gave her a chance to leave without being fired. Now it is going to be so much worse for everyone.

Exactly. The outcome will be the same but she stands to lose her dignity and the school system will suffer. This ai why contracts exist. She will be paid according to the terms of her contract and she should also honor the terms of the contract.

I don’t think it’s that simple. If she could have been fired for cause then that would have been disclosed and the resignation offered as being quiet and with dignity. And when not taken the firing would have commenced. The fact that neither of these happened tells me something else is going on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once the board tell you they want you out - you are out. Not really rocket science. I believe there is a sensitive issue (not race, gender) the board is tiptoeing around because that sensitive issue puts her in a protected class. Pretty obvious by them asking her to "step away". It is actually as kind a way an employer can do it. Agree with reading the room. Her tenure in MCPS is over. However, the same sensitive issue is impacting her judgment in how she has handled this in public. The media and the public are never on your side in a mess that could be handled quietly and with discretion.

+1 they gave her a chance to leave without being fired. Now it is going to be so much worse for everyone.

Exactly. The outcome will be the same but she stands to lose her dignity and the school system will suffer. This ai why contracts exist. She will be paid according to the terms of her contract and she should also honor the terms of the contract.

She only gets paid if they fire her. She doesn't get paid if she resigns.

It's not in her best interests to resign. But, they should be able to get her on a contract violation, even it ifs just she didn't move to the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She should have agreed to resign effective the end of the school year with a severence so she could go quietly. She has handled this very, very badly.

Totally setting aside whether termination is justified, she must be living in some kind of crazy echo chamber to think this was the right play.

She was probably advised by an attorney to do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once the board tell you they want you out - you are out. Not really rocket science. I believe there is a sensitive issue (not race, gender) the board is tiptoeing around because that sensitive issue puts her in a protected class. Pretty obvious by them asking her to "step away". It is actually as kind a way an employer can do it. Agree with reading the room. Her tenure in MCPS is over. However, the same sensitive issue is impacting her judgment in how she has handled this in public. The media and the public are never on your side in a mess that could be handled quietly and with discretion.

+1 they gave her a chance to leave without being fired. Now it is going to be so much worse for everyone.

She wouldn't have gotten a pay-out if she resigned.

She would have if she had negotiated it as a condition of resigning. -DP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once the board tell you they want you out - you are out. Not really rocket science. I believe there is a sensitive issue (not race, gender) the board is tiptoeing around because that sensitive issue puts her in a protected class. Pretty obvious by them asking her to "step away". It is actually as kind a way an employer can do it. Agree with reading the room. Her tenure in MCPS is over. However, the same sensitive issue is impacting her judgment in how she has handled this in public. The media and the public are never on your side in a mess that could be handled quietly and with discretion.

+1 they gave her a chance to leave without being fired. Now it is going to be so much worse for everyone.

Exactly. The outcome will be the same but she stands to lose her dignity and the school system will suffer. This ai why contracts exist. She will be paid according to the terms of her contract and she should also honor the terms of the contract.

I don’t think it’s that simple. If she could have been fired for cause then that would have been disclosed and the resignation offered as being quiet and with dignity. And when not taken the firing would have commenced. The fact that neither of these happened tells me something else is going on.

There's no smoking gun that makes firing for cause an easy win. I would expect the BoE to realize that and offer severance, but maybe they think a public fight looks better. Make McKnight the bad guy and hope people forget about their own culpability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once the board tell you they want you out - you are out. Not really rocket science. I believe there is a sensitive issue (not race, gender) the board is tiptoeing around because that sensitive issue puts her in a protected class. Pretty obvious by them asking her to "step away". It is actually as kind a way an employer can do it. Agree with reading the room. Her tenure in MCPS is over. However, the same sensitive issue is impacting her judgment in how she has handled this in public. The media and the public are never on your side in a mess that could be handled quietly and with discretion.

+1 they gave her a chance to leave without being fired. Now it is going to be so much worse for everyone.

She wouldn't have gotten a pay-out if she resigned.

She would have if she had negotiated it as a condition of resigning. -DP

What makes you think the Board would have agreed to that? It's pretty clear the Board can fire her and there's nothing she can do to stop them. So fighting it really only makes if the Board wouldn't agree to severance-- most likely for political, rather than legal, reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once the board tell you they want you out - you are out. Not really rocket science. I believe there is a sensitive issue (not race, gender) the board is tiptoeing around because that sensitive issue puts her in a protected class. Pretty obvious by them asking her to "step away". It is actually as kind a way an employer can do it. Agree with reading the room. Her tenure in MCPS is over. However, the same sensitive issue is impacting her judgment in how she has handled this in public. The media and the public are never on your side in a mess that could be handled quietly and with discretion.

+1 they gave her a chance to leave without being fired. Now it is going to be so much worse for everyone.

Exactly. The outcome will be the same but she stands to lose her dignity and the school system will suffer. This ai why contracts exist. She will be paid according to the terms of her contract and she should also honor the terms of the contract.

I don’t think it’s that simple. If she could have been fired for cause then that would have been disclosed and the resignation offered as being quiet and with dignity. And when not taken the firing would have commenced. The fact that neither of these happened tells me something else is going on.

It wouldn’t necessarily have been disclosed. They may not have had time to get a formal notice prepared and employers are better off saying as little as possible at each stage of an HR action. It’s also possible termination has commenced but the board isn’t disclosing it publicly at this stage because she’s still within her appeal window. It’s also possible she’s not being entirely truthful, just as she wasn’t entirely truthful when she testified to the council.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once the board tell you they want you out - you are out. Not really rocket science. I believe there is a sensitive issue (not race, gender) the board is tiptoeing around because that sensitive issue puts her in a protected class. Pretty obvious by them asking her to "step away". It is actually as kind a way an employer can do it. Agree with reading the room. Her tenure in MCPS is over. However, the same sensitive issue is impacting her judgment in how she has handled this in public. The media and the public are never on your side in a mess that could be handled quietly and with discretion.

+1 they gave her a chance to leave without being fired. Now it is going to be so much worse for everyone.

She wouldn't have gotten a pay-out if she resigned.

She would have if she had negotiated it as a condition of resigning. -DP

What makes you think the Board would have agreed to that? It's pretty clear the Board can fire her and there's nothing she can do to stop them. So fighting it really only makes if the Board wouldn't agree to severance-- most likely for political, rather than legal, reasons.

They should terminate her and force her to make her case to a jury just like the Gaithersburg wrestler.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She should have agreed to resign effective the end of the school year with a severence so she could go quietly. She has handled this very, very badly.

Totally setting aside whether termination is justified, she must be living in some kind of crazy echo chamber to think this was the right play.

She was probably advised by an attorney to do it.

If that’s the case, she has a better chance of recovering damages from the lawyer for malpractice than she does of keeping her job or beating MCPS in court.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once the board tell you they want you out - you are out. Not really rocket science. I believe there is a sensitive issue (not race, gender) the board is tiptoeing around because that sensitive issue puts her in a protected class. Pretty obvious by them asking her to "step away". It is actually as kind a way an employer can do it. Agree with reading the room. Her tenure in MCPS is over. However, the same sensitive issue is impacting her judgment in how she has handled this in public. The media and the public are never on your side in a mess that could be handled quietly and with discretion.

+1 they gave her a chance to leave without being fired. Now it is going to be so much worse for everyone.

She wouldn't have gotten a pay-out if she resigned.

She would have if she had negotiated it as a condition of resigning. -DP

What makes you think the Board would have agreed to that? It's pretty clear the Board can fire her and there's nothing she can do to stop them. So fighting it really only makes if the Board wouldn't agree to severance-- most likely for political, rather than legal, reasons.

They should terminate her and force her to make her case to a jury just like the Gaithersburg wrestler.

Perhaps. But without more evidence than they've disclosed this far, they'd lose in court.

And even if they won, they'd never be able to hire a qualified superintendent after that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else catch the gentlemen in the crowd yelling “How did you vote?” to each BOE member after they introduced themselves at todays budget work session? He didn’t yell it to Wolf or Evans though. A sign that they’re the only 2 who still support McKnight?

He didn’t ask the black board members.