Taylor's first year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

I’d say he gets dollars and sense, which I credit him having the MBA and the BoE for recognizing that would be helpfully. I haven’t seen that he fully gets the community part of the job and the differences that exist especially between various areas of the county. When he brought the Program Analysis back in house I knew then he wasn’t clear on that part and it shows in the results we now have between the Program Analysis work vs the Boundary Study.

He doesn’t seem to be drowning anymore, but it’s not far off to say he’s still catching up from playing in the mid-leagues to playing in the big leagues. He’s like a first year rookie who still shows promise but hasn’t lived up to initially hype. We’ll see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

Our kids need a good education now. We don’t have time to wait.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

Our kids need a good education now. We don’t have time to wait.

Agreed, but change does take time especially in a huge institution/organization like MCPS. I'm actually shocked at how much he has managed in a single year and to expect a full turnaround in a single year of the fifth-largest school system in the country is unreasonable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well Taylor's first year at MCPS is complete. What's the verdict? Will this Superintendent be around for awhile or is MCPS going to continuing burning and churning?

I got to congratulate the man because he somehow managed to be worse than McKnight

That's not possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not impressed. He made no real changes and the upcoming ones are all for show.

Going from clusters and 2 consortia to a regional system districtwide? Changing the programs available to students? Those are huge changes and people are in an uproar - particularly W parents. Staff in the system will lose their jobs over these changes. The question is just who will get fired. We'll see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not impressed. He made no real changes and the upcoming ones are all for show.

The new secondary grading policy isn't "for show." That's a significant change that's been needed for a long time.

The grading is not the issue. Its the quality of education and supports kids get. Its all for show. We need to go back to traditional teaching with homework, textbooks and structure and not just have teachers making it up as you go. Teaching math, science, english and history without books is absurd. Kids not knowing what assignments or tests are coming and no structure sucks. Some teachers not grading or taking weeks to grade so kids don't know what's going on sucks. Kids not getting a good foundation in elementary means many will struggle later on if parents don't supplement outside. Taylor and the others are tone death.

Agree with this, except for the teachers making it up as they go. They're constrained by the curriculum, policy and variable school admin/particular classroom demographic dynamics. There certainly are those that fail on the other items (well communicated scheduling, timely grading, quality feedback, responsiveness to inquiry, etc.).

In HS we have multiple teachers making it up as they go. Some teachers follow the MCPS curriculum, others don't. There is no accountability.

And sometimes, there is no actual curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not impressed. He made no real changes and the upcoming ones are all for show.

Going from clusters and 2 consortia to a regional system districtwide? Changing the programs available to students? Those are huge changes and people are in an uproar - particularly W parents. Staff in the system will lose their jobs over these changes. The question is just who will get fired. We'll see.

How is this helpful? It seems worse for the DCC families. There is no way I'd send my kids to Whitman, partly for the distance and its not a reasonable commute with after-school activities and sports but also I don't want the climate there. Its changing to change, not changing for the better. Just have more offerings at DCC schools to meet all the kids needs or offer some classes virtually and align all the HS schedules to be the same to make it happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

Our kids need a good education now. We don’t have time to wait.

Agreed, but change does take time especially in a huge institution/organization like MCPS. I'm actually shocked at how much he has managed in a single year and to expect a full turnaround in a single year of the fifth-largest school system in the country is unreasonable.

What changes have you seen? Last year was far worse than the previous year for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not impressed. He made no real changes and the upcoming ones are all for show.

Going from clusters and 2 consortia to a regional system districtwide? Changing the programs available to students? Those are huge changes and people are in an uproar - particularly W parents. Staff in the system will lose their jobs over these changes. The question is just who will get fired. We'll see.

How is this helpful? It seems worse for the DCC families. There is no way I'd send my kids to Whitman, partly for the distance and its not a reasonable commute with after-school activities and sports but also I don't want the climate there. Its changing to change, not changing for the better. Just have more offerings at DCC schools to meet all the kids needs or offer some classes virtually and align all the HS schedules to be the same to make it happen.

How exactly is it worse. If you don’t want your kid going to Whitman or anywhere else great stay at your home school. Also news flash the county is more than the DCC. There are needs if other families that have to be considered.