Washington Post article about Former Farquhar Administrator

[Anonymous]

I doubt much will change.
MCPS does not care about students or staff unless you are in the coterie of top level central administrators. They are a badly run behemoth

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I want MCPS to say, at least to current farquhar staff, “if you weren’t heard before, or were too afraid to speak out before, you can do it now contacting xyz independent investigator. We will have trauma counselors available on campus to assist during pre-service week”

Too bad over twenty staff left Farquhar just this year because of Beidleman

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this guy married?

Anyone divorced can be searched on case search https://casesearch.courts.state.md.us/casesearch/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First female superintendant. How ridiculous this all is, in the name of racial and gender optics trusting our kids education to predators and incompetents. A snake that eats its own tail - that’s the limousine liberals’ politics of Moco. I used to be moderately democrat. If McKinght keeps her job after this, i will donate to whoever campaigns to unseat the current Board of Education. Hope many other responsible parents will do too.

I will never under any circumstances donate to or vote for a Trump R, so you’d better come up with some other alternatives if you want your hopes fulfilled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any lawyers here that can speak as to whether Beidleman could face actual criminal harassment charges ?

Sexual harassment is not a crime.

If an assault occurred—which frankly doesn’t sound like that much of a stretch in this situation—that would be another story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:McKnight will keep her job and nothing will change. Nothing.

Maybe the principal will lose his job, but other than that there will be no change. There will be some studies, articles in a whole lot of lip service, but ultimately it will be the same status quo.

McKnight is keeping her job.

Everyone else loses theirs, then. A change is gone come

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has McKnight made a statement at all
about the article?

I imagine she is consulting with her lawyer who will dictate exactly what she should say. Which is what beidleman did. Originally he refused to comment on the article, but apparently last minute his lawyer told him to respond with all that “there’s no evidence” bs

There will be the usual canned email from her about how mcps cares about employees so much and does not tolerate such behavior blah blah blah! All fake

the only thing mcps cares about are bad principals, bad administrators, bad teachers, bad students and throwing around the word "equity".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS is stalling for time with the external/independent investigation. And McKnight should be out here demanding heads roll and at the forefront of digging into who did or didn't do their jobs.

But that's not her MO. It's to stall, calling for a lengthy investigation, wait for the heat to die down, and then when the external report inevitably shows that several leaders failed to uphold their responsibilities, to hand wave and say MCPS will try to do better going forward. It's pathetic and the MoCo Council Members need to hold MCPS's feet to the fire and demand some serious repercussions from this embarrassment.

this is exactly what will happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any lawyers here that can speak as to whether Beidleman could face actual criminal harassment charges ?

Sexual harassment is not a crime.

If an assault occurred—which frankly doesn’t sound like that much of a stretch in this situation—that would be another story.

It may have escalated to stalking. A lot of sexual harassment can be charged as stalking in Maryland.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Without change at BOE, you’re probably right. But this makes all of them look awful. Not sure what would tip the balance. Maybe county council will take action.

There needs to be a change at the Board of Education, and I don't mean a change in who is on it. I mean a change in the structural relationship between MCPS and the Board of Education. The Board of Education is supposed to lead MCPS, but right now, MCPS has 99.9% of the power. Does the Board of Education have ANYONE who works for them? In addition, school board member is a part-time position that pays $25,000 a year, unless you're the president, and then you get a whole $29,000 a year. Shouldn't the voters expect more of school board members and also pay them more?

Yes: https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/directory/directory_Boxoffice.aspx?processlevel=10711

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Without change at BOE, you’re probably right. But this makes all of them look awful. Not sure what would tip the balance. Maybe county council will take action.

There needs to be a change at the Board of Education, and I don't mean a change in who is on it. I mean a change in the structural relationship between MCPS and the Board of Education. The Board of Education is supposed to lead MCPS, but right now, MCPS has 99.9% of the power. Does the Board of Education have ANYONE who works for them? In addition, school board member is a part-time position that pays $25,000 a year, unless you're the president, and then you get a whole $29,000 a year. Shouldn't the voters expect more of school board members and also pay them more?

No local legislative body will ever be resourced to the level needed to conduct real oversight. The county council is a full-time but there’s not any real oversight of departments and agencies.

What’s needed is a properly resourced IG, a police department, a board of education, and a state’s attorney who are all committed to cleaning up MCPS and bringing in the feds when necessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Without change at BOE, you’re probably right. But this makes all of them look awful. Not sure what would tip the balance. Maybe county council will take action.

There needs to be a change at the Board of Education, and I don't mean a change in who is on it. I mean a change in the structural relationship between MCPS and the Board of Education. The Board of Education is supposed to lead MCPS, but right now, MCPS has 99.9% of the power. Does the Board of Education have ANYONE who works for them? In addition, school board member is a part-time position that pays $25,000 a year, unless you're the president, and then you get a whole $29,000 a year. Shouldn't the voters expect more of school board members and also pay them more?

Yes: https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/directory/directory_Boxoffice.aspx?processlevel=10711

What does the "internal audit unit" do?

[Anonymous]

Why does MCPS keep promoting principals with terrible school climates via their survey. For example, Farquhar MS had 31% (47% MCPS) say the environment is positive and 34% (56% MCPS) say the admin creates a positive environment. However, he is promoted to lead a high school?
At what point does MCPS look at the data and celebrate the schools who have a positive culture and administration that support that culture? Things need to change and put our energy on schools that are doing it the right way by listening to the staff. That doesn't seem to be the culture of the current leadership.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:McKnight will keep her job and nothing will change. Nothing.

Maybe the principal will lose his job, but other than that there will be no change. There will be some studies, articles in a whole lot of lip service, but ultimately it will be the same status quo.

McKnight is keeping her job.

Agreed. I've followed MCPS closely, including watching every BOE meeting, since the pandemic started. Based on other incidents, like the Damascus principal who failed to timely report a rape on campus and as her "punishment" got promoted to central office and got a pay raise... I don't see McKnight taking the fall on this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Without change at BOE, you’re probably right. But this makes all of them look awful. Not sure what would tip the balance. Maybe county council will take action.

There needs to be a change at the Board of Education, and I don't mean a change in who is on it. I mean a change in the structural relationship between MCPS and the Board of Education. The Board of Education is supposed to lead MCPS, but right now, MCPS has 99.9% of the power. Does the Board of Education have ANYONE who works for them? In addition, school board member is a part-time position that pays $25,000 a year, unless you're the president, and then you get a whole $29,000 a year. Shouldn't the voters expect more of school board members and also pay them more?

It's not a structural issue. It's that the people elect BOE members who seem to be born with a rubber stamp on their hand, ready to approve anything MCPS sends their way.

Go watch any BOE meeting:
https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/boe/meetings/live/

I feel like I'm watching a softball game based on the questions the members ask of MCPS.