Teachers' Union votes to oppose MCPS' current regional program plan

[Anonymous]

They should have kept Felder in place. Taylor is terrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Okay MCAAP it's your turn. Let us know where you stand.

HA! I can tell you that they don't stand with parents or teachers, that's for sure.

If this is true, then that is very sad. The approval of this proposal would take apart our school.

how so? which school?

Pick one - any one. Even the Ws object to this sham of regional program planning.

It is not clear to me how this plan would take apart my child's school so I would appreciate knowing what teachers know and think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They should have kept Felder in place. Taylor is terrible.

I can’t go that far. Taylor is trash but so was Felder. Sadly, it’s been a long time since MCPS has had a qualified and competent superintendent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I realized reading the Bethesda Beat article from today that this entire concept was only introduced to the BoE/public in May of this article.

Article from May:

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/05/16/mcps-exploring-regional-programming/

That’s astonishing speed without any kind of stakeholder/public involvement until it’s presented as a done deal.

To be honest, while I agree with the speed, there actually HAS been a great deal of stakeholder involvement. The problem is, the stakeholder group MCPS convened was gagged by an NDA initially, and MCPS has continuously ignored and disregarded the input and feedback from this group and principals, teachers and parents, since then.

So there isn't an absence of feedback and input, there's an unwillingness to listen and incorporate it or act on it.

Taylor’s hire of Essie McGuire was an early sigh of how this would go.

[Anonymous]

Similarly, like how MCPS had that May? survey with some large number of community response that they keep on touting - as if the themes they created were what the respondents answered. The question back then was rank categories of programs. Nothing tied to regions or programs for those regions. MCPS sure knows how to twist and pervert info to suit their needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should have kept Felder in place. Taylor is terrible.

I can’t go that far. Taylor is trash but so was Felder. Sadly, it’s been a long time since MCPS has had a qualified and competent superintendent.

Felder was substantive. Taylor is all style, but substance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Taylor was a bad hire. If the board of education doesn't shut him down, we are in trouble.

Too late.

The BOE can still take action. It can vote down the regional programming plan or fire Taylor.

[Anonymous]

I hope the fact that the teachers union and the PTA are against this finally slows this train down. It is insane that they are proposing this RADICALLY new reorg with... like a couple months of planning and not doing an actual analysis of what is currently working! Magnets at Blair and Poolesville and Wheaton are working well - figure out HOW that happened, and replicate it. The idea that they can just snap their fingers and suddenly there will be teachers ready to teach the courses available at these places is absurd. The culture that these schools have created is unique and the administrators and teachers at these places could TELL MCPS how it happened. But no one asked. It's infuriating and I hope the petition and these new voices coming out manage to slow this down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope the fact that the teachers union and the PTA are against this finally slows this train down. It is insane that they are proposing this RADICALLY new reorg with... like a couple months of planning and not doing an actual analysis of what is currently working! Magnets at Blair and Poolesville and Wheaton are working well - figure out HOW that happened, and replicate it. The idea that they can just snap their fingers and suddenly there will be teachers ready to teach the courses available at these places is absurd. The culture that these schools have created is unique and the administrators and teachers at these places could TELL MCPS how it happened. But no one asked. It's infuriating and I hope the petition and these new voices coming out manage to slow this down.

Like the 30m lease of a commercial warehouse done in a week?

No chance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should have kept Felder in place. Taylor is terrible.

I can’t go that far. Taylor is trash but so was Felder. Sadly, it’s been a long time since MCPS has had a qualified and competent superintendent.

Felder was substantive. Taylor is all style, but substance.

You are correct that he has no substance. But he is worse than that. He doesn't listen and he thinks he has all the answers. He is an extreme change agent who doesn't care if he is breaking things or if what he creates is poor quality. We need to get rid of him and do it in a timely manner so the BOE is not forced into a hasty decision, like it was when they hired him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope the fact that the teachers union and the PTA are against this finally slows this train down. It is insane that they are proposing this RADICALLY new reorg with... like a couple months of planning and not doing an actual analysis of what is currently working! Magnets at Blair and Poolesville and Wheaton are working well - figure out HOW that happened, and replicate it. The idea that they can just snap their fingers and suddenly there will be teachers ready to teach the courses available at these places is absurd. The culture that these schools have created is unique and the administrators and teachers at these places could TELL MCPS how it happened. But no one asked. It's infuriating and I hope the petition and these new voices coming out manage to slow this down.

Like the 30m lease of a commercial warehouse done in a week?

No chance.

They were screaming poverty a few years ago and cutting programs. Even last year they screamed poverty. Where is that money coming from?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope the fact that the teachers union and the PTA are against this finally slows this train down. It is insane that they are proposing this RADICALLY new reorg with... like a couple months of planning and not doing an actual analysis of what is currently working! Magnets at Blair and Poolesville and Wheaton are working well - figure out HOW that happened, and replicate it. The idea that they can just snap their fingers and suddenly there will be teachers ready to teach the courses available at these places is absurd. The culture that these schools have created is unique and the administrators and teachers at these places could TELL MCPS how it happened. But no one asked. It's infuriating and I hope the petition and these new voices coming out manage to slow this down.

Like the 30m lease of a commercial warehouse done in a week?

No chance.

And how about Taylor declaring that Crown HS should be a holding school without looking at the land agreement that formally included the City of Gaithersburg for the 30 acres on which Crown HS sits. The City of Gaithersburg brokered the deal for the school land with developers. This new move has huge property tax implications for Gaithersburg. Taylor didn't bother to talk with the mayor or any other Gaithersburg official before he declared he wanted Crown to be a holding school. No, the Gaithersburg mayor found out about Taylor's plan from secondary reports. Talk about a you-don't-matter move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope the fact that the teachers union and the PTA are against this finally slows this train down. It is insane that they are proposing this RADICALLY new reorg with... like a couple months of planning and not doing an actual analysis of what is currently working! Magnets at Blair and Poolesville and Wheaton are working well - figure out HOW that happened, and replicate it. The idea that they can just snap their fingers and suddenly there will be teachers ready to teach the courses available at these places is absurd. The culture that these schools have created is unique and the administrators and teachers at these places could TELL MCPS how it happened. But no one asked. It's infuriating and I hope the petition and these new voices coming out manage to slow this down.

Like the 30m lease of a commercial warehouse done in a week?

No chance.

But hey, there is no money to fix SSIMS or the current SCES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They should have kept Felder in place. Taylor is terrible.

+1. Felder was effective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should have kept Felder in place. Taylor is terrible.

I can’t go that far. Taylor is trash but so was Felder. Sadly, it’s been a long time since MCPS has had a qualified and competent superintendent.

Felder was substantive. Taylor is all style, but substance.

What if I tell you BOE (if not all of them, at least the majority of them) are the ones behind the scene? It has been leaked out in individual conversations. An effective way I think is to show that their voters (e.g., MCEA) are going to vote them down.

You are correct that he has no substance. But he is worse than that. He doesn't listen and he thinks he has all the answers. He is an extreme change agent who doesn't care if he is breaking things or if what he creates is poor quality. We need to get rid of him and do it in a timely manner so the BOE is not forced into a hasty decision, like it was when they hired him.