Is it possible to get rid of Jack Smith?

[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 have been unimpressed with the BOE candidates. However, I am also not qualified to be a BOE candidate.

[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 agree. Common person and architect if decline has been Patricia O'Neil.

I hate this Board.

[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 have been unimpressed with the BOE candidates. However, I am also not qualified to be a BOE candidate.

what are the qualifications for being a board of education candid other than willing to sit through 3-hour meetings on the regular

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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 have been unimpressed with the BOE candidates. However, I am also not qualified to be a BOE candidate.

what are the qualifications for being a board of education candid other than willing to sit through 3-hour meetings on the regular

I imagine that kid who's been live-tweeting the meetings would do just fine!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What specifically has Jack Smith done wrong? Not sweeping generalizations. I want specifics with evidence.

1. Decline in academic performance on standardized testing at the state level.
2. Rise in sexual assaults from student to student.
3. Rise in sexual assaults from staff to student.
4. Rise in racist incidents.
5. Rise in on campus violence.
6. Wasting money on useless studies that could go to improving academic opportunities or hiring more teachers.
7. Forcing canned curriculum on MCPS meaning one size fits all curriculum without differentiation. (Eureka Math, Benchmark).
8. Refuses to attend public forums where parents, students or staff present questions. He sends staff members instead.
9. No plan for Covoid. No plans to adapt buildings to support eventual return to school.
10. Increased size of central office bureaucracy, wasting money that could be going to actually helping students.
11. Hiring disgraced retreads in central office. Google Janet Wilson Garrett County.
12. Rude to BOE members and treats them as inferiors to him.
13. Implementing a completely disaster of a LMS (Synergy).

That's a few off the top of my head. MCPS used to be a great school district. It is still really good but it has been in decline the past four years. If he serves out the next four years of his contract, it will continue to decline at a rapid rate and likely will not ever reach it's previous status. Families and students are looking and will continue to look at other education options either the private route or moving to adjacent counties like Frederick, Howard, Fairfax.

MCPS should be able to hire better leadership based on the previous status of the county. Not some re-tread from Calvert County like Smith.

[Anonymous]

Jack Smith doesn’t close or open schools. Period. Travis Gayles does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

That's a few off the top of my head. MCPS used to be a great school district. It is still really good but it has been in decline the past four years. If he serves out the next four years of his contract, it will continue to decline at a rapid rate and likely will not ever reach it's previous status. Families and students are looking and will continue to look at other education options either the private route or moving to adjacent counties like Frederick, Howard, Fairfax.

MCPS should be able to hire better leadership based on the previous status of the county. Not some re-tread from Calvert County like Smith.

According to DCUM, it's been in decline the past 20 years.

[Anonymous]

Once again he's skipping out on a virtual event where questions are coming from the community. Guess he can't roll off the couch to answer questions from his office for 60 minutes. I'm sure he's working on something important. This has been his pattern during this Covoid period. No accountability, no leadership.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

That's a few off the top of my head. MCPS used to be a great school district. It is still really good but it has been in decline the past four years. If he serves out the next four years of his contract, it will continue to decline at a rapid rate and likely will not ever reach it's previous status. Families and students are looking and will continue to look at other education options either the private route or moving to adjacent counties like Frederick, Howard, Fairfax.

MCPS should be able to hire better leadership based on the previous status of the county. Not some re-tread from Calvert County like Smith.

According to DCUM, it's been in decline the past 20 years.

I have children ages 25, 23, 20, 17, 15. All products of the MCPS system. The system is much worse now than when my oldest graduated, it's not even close. I would have said the same thing before the world changed in March.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jack Smith doesn’t close or open schools. Period. Travis Gayles does.

Correct but Jack Smith is in charge of preparing buildings and programs to prepare for eventual re-opening. He has been sitting on his hands since the Spring while other districts are being proactive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

That's a few off the top of my head. MCPS used to be a great school district. It is still really good but it has been in decline the past four years. If he serves out the next four years of his contract, it will continue to decline at a rapid rate and likely will not ever reach it's previous status. Families and students are looking and will continue to look at other education options either the private route or moving to adjacent counties like Frederick, Howard, Fairfax.

MCPS should be able to hire better leadership based on the previous status of the county. Not some re-tread from Calvert County like Smith.

According to DCUM, it's been in decline the past 20 years.

I have children ages 25, 23, 20, 17, 15. All products of the MCPS system. The system is much worse now than when my oldest graduated, it's not even close. I would have said the same thing before the world changed in March.

People said exactly that on DCUM, 10 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What specifically has Jack Smith done wrong? Not sweeping generalizations. I want specifics with evidence.

1. Decline in academic performance on standardized testing at the state level.
2. Rise in sexual assaults from student to student.
3. Rise in sexual assaults from staff to student.
4. Rise in racist incidents.
5. Rise in on campus violence.
6. Wasting money on useless studies that could go to improving academic opportunities or hiring more teachers.
7. Forcing canned curriculum on MCPS meaning one size fits all curriculum without differentiation. (Eureka Math, Benchmark).
8. Refuses to attend public forums where parents, students or staff present questions. He sends staff members instead.
9. No plan for Covoid. No plans to adapt buildings to support eventual return to school.
10. Increased size of central office bureaucracy, wasting money that could be going to actually helping students.
11. Hiring disgraced retreads in central office. Google Janet Wilson Garrett County.
12. Rude to BOE members and treats them as inferiors to him.
13. Implementing a completely disaster of a LMS (Synergy).

That's a few off the top of my head. MCPS used to be a great school district. It is still really good but it has been in decline the past four years. If he serves out the next four years of his contract, it will continue to decline at a rapid rate and likely will not ever reach it's previous status. Families and students are looking and will continue to look at other education options either the private route or moving to adjacent counties like Frederick, Howard, Fairfax.

MCPS should be able to hire better leadership based on the previous status of the county. Not some re-tread from Calvert County like Smith.

You lose all credibility when you said the above, as if those are better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What specifically has Jack Smith done wrong? Not sweeping generalizations. I want specifics with evidence.

1. Decline in academic performance on standardized testing at the state level.
2. Rise in sexual assaults from student to student.
3. Rise in sexual assaults from staff to student.
4. Rise in racist incidents.
5. Rise in on campus violence.
6. Wasting money on useless studies that could go to improving academic opportunities or hiring more teachers.
7. Forcing canned curriculum on MCPS meaning one size fits all curriculum without differentiation. (Eureka Math, Benchmark).
8. Refuses to attend public forums where parents, students or staff present questions. He sends staff members instead.
9. No plan for Covoid. No plans to adapt buildings to support eventual return to school.
10. Increased size of central office bureaucracy, wasting money that could be going to actually helping students.
11. Hiring disgraced retreads in central office. Google Janet Wilson Garrett County.
12. Rude to BOE members and treats them as inferiors to him.
13. Implementing a completely disaster of a LMS (Synergy).

That's a few off the top of my head. MCPS used to be a great school district. It is still really good but it has been in decline the past four years. If he serves out the next four years of his contract, it will continue to decline at a rapid rate and likely will not ever reach it's previous status. Families and students are looking and will continue to look at other education options either the private route or moving to adjacent counties like Frederick, Howard, Fairfax.

MCPS should be able to hire better leadership based on the previous status of the county. Not some re-tread from Calvert County like Smith.

I went to MCPS. We had many of the issues 20+ years ago but they were just hidden and no social media. I doubt there are more assaults and incidents as we saw them all the time at school, but it wasn't well publicized or reported. We had a sketchy teacher and we were all heavily discouraged from saying something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Once again he's skipping out on a virtual event where questions are coming from the community. Guess he can't roll off the couch to answer questions from his office for 60 minutes. I'm sure he's working on something important. This has been his pattern during this Covoid period. No accountability, no leadership.

Ugh! That is terrible. Did he really not show up? What was the excuse this time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

This! Parents want all the benefits of private school and public school at the same time. They want to condemn the superintendent salary, not realizing that the Head of School at a reputable private school can easily make 500-900k plus extras. They want the BOE to have a backbone or vote for new innovative ideas but yet don’t vote for new candidates not run themselves. The job essentially requires dealing with all the stress of UMC parents demanding more and more while also still having to address the equity and educational concerns of low income students and parents. Not to mention local, state and federal regulations. The pool of qualified candidates with both the desire and stamina to be superintendent of any district is small.