MOCO BOE update: Beidleman Report summary

[Anonymous]

Counsel Member Glassman’s statement from today :

https://twitter.com/ksglassman/status/1707421996328349795?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, she shouldn’t call him “babe” at school if she doesn’t want people to believe or spread rumors about their affair.

So you're saying you think she deserves it? Fine. Go ahead and justify your gossiping all you want. She can still sue you. She can sue the principal as well if he was part of the gossip mill.

It’s not gossip when it’s true. Maybe this will show mcps subordinates that they too will be held accountable for acting unprofessional in the work place.

You're working overtime to justify your behavior. Guess what. Gossip is gossip. You're the kind of coworker I try to avoid. Not because I have anything to hide, but because you're just not a nice person.

Hold yourself accountable as an adult and knowing how to act appropriately in the workplace.

Seems like a troll who is obsessed with spreading unsubstantiated rumors because it serves their crusade against McKnight.

No worries. McKnight is already in a ton of substantiated trouble.

Only because of imaginary evidence and gossip

So all the kids imagined being called hoes?
Or is Beidleman an imaginary person?

source?

I swear people love to spin stuff to fit their narrative. If you don’t like the man just leave it at that. If you’re mad he suspended your kid just leave it at that.

It's funny how so many people don't like this man and are angry he's still employed by MCPS (source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/08/11/joel-beidleman-montgomery-county-principal/ ):

- "MCPS treated Beidleman as a rising star. Despite six staff members’ reports to MCPS about his conduct in 2023, officials promoted him in June to run Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville, a position that oversees a larger staff than Farquhar’s and would have raised his salary by $32,000, to $191,000."
- “He is the most vindictive person I’ve ever met,” a Farquhar English teacher said. “Even teachers who left Farquhar are scared of him to this day,” said former Farquhar media assistant Cathy Stanton, who departed MCPS in 2021 because of what she called the school’s “toxic leadership.”
- "In July 2017, former Farquhar PTA president Chelsea Curtis said she hand-delivered a letter to the central office that carbon-copied the principal to request a change of schools for her younger children after Beidleman told her eighth-grade daughter: “Don’t be like [your friend]. She’s a whore.” MCPS granted the transfer."
- "During two Jan. 31, 2018, assemblies for seventh- and eighth-grade students and staff, Beidleman lamented that Farquhar girls were dressing and acting “like hos and thots” (both derogatory terms for promiscuous women), according to multiple witnesses."
- "When parents complained about the assembly, then-Director of School Support and Improvement Eric Minus, Beidleman’s boss, spoke with teachers. One told him about additional instances of workplace misconduct, the teacher said in an interview. But when another tried to do the same, Minus asked to confine the discussion to what Beidleman had said at the assemblies, she said. Several educators were aware that the two men were friends."
- "He berated, humiliated or yelled at staff frequently, according to more than two dozen educators. "
- "A Lakelands teacher said she left that school because of Beidleman, who on numerous occasions “screamed in my face.”
- "Teachers at Lakelands, Clemente and Farquhar said Beidleman often commented on women’s bodies and outfits. During two annual Farquhar staff presentations about professional attire, he showed a picture of a woman’s midsection in tight leggings and said, “Camel toe is not allowed,” several attendees said."
- "When a male science teacher told Beidleman his wife was pregnant, the principal replied that his wife would “change for the worse,” the teacher recounted in an email to Walker obtained by The Post."
- "A teacher told The Post that Beidleman said to her in front of a colleague, who confirmed the conversation in an interview: “You look like you peg your husband and that you do butt stuff.” When that teacher disagreed with Beidleman in discussions, she and a witness said the principal told her: “Maybe your husband needs lessons in bed so you can be calmed down.” The comments were memorialized in a list of aggressions toward staff compiled by Farquhar’s building union representative this year."
- "In April 2021, Beidleman invited an MCPS teacher who had worked with him previously to apply to be his assistant principal at Farquhar, she said....Beidleman told The Post the teacher’s candidacy was rejected “prior to any personal conversations.” But screenshots from the teacher’s phone show that he texted personal messages, including lewd ones, to her more than 400 times between the day he asked if she wanted the job and the date she was informed that she would not be considered for the role."

Yes, we know all this happened before McKnight was in charge. So glad she's cleaning up this mess.

How is Dr. McKnight cleaning up the mess? Her administration promoted Beidleman to Principal at Paint Branch. During McKnight’s tenure as Interim Superintendent and Superintendent, the allegations were reported but not addressed.

Dr. McKnight is part of the problem and should be held accountable.

She wasn't Super when all the events listed above happened. You really can't have it both ways.

So this is like how Obama didn't start the war in Afghanistan therefore he is not responsible for what happened there under his watch?

Exactly! She's just there to clean up the previous super's mess.

I have to believe this person is trolling, but it's also important to knock down disinformation when it rears its head.

Dr. McKnight served as Director of Secondary Leadership Development from 2016-2018, returning in 2019 as Deputy Superintendent. In both roles she would have been in the chain of commeand for the myriad complaints about the Beidleman matter.

She became Acting Superintendent in July 2021, and assumed the permanent role in February 2022. Beidleman was promoted to principal in June 2023, almost two years after Dr. McKnight assumed the Superintendent role.

That's not the case for the director of secondary leadership development position. That is not a supervisor of any principals, or in the chain of command. Principals report up to directors of school support/associate superintendents/chief of schools.

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/personnel/classification/descriptions/description.aspx?fn=0330-1024

[Anonymous]

If MCPS Central Office employees ignored the complaints regarding Beidleman for six years, isn’t it reasonable to assume complaints about other MCPS employees were equally ignored? Isn’t it also reasonable that for other cases, MCPS Administrators such as other OSSI Directors and higher MCPS Administrators equally failed to protect complainants?

There needs to be a broader investigation of what happened for other sexual harassment and bullying complaints MCPS received.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If MCPS Central Office employees ignored the complaints regarding Beidleman for six years, isn’t it reasonable to assume complaints about other MCPS employees were equally ignored? Isn’t it also reasonable that for other cases, MCPS Administrators such as other OSSI Directors and higher MCPS Administrators equally failed to protect complainants?

There needs to be a broader investigation of what happened for other sexual harassment and bullying complaints MCPS received.

Same for BOE members and Ombudsman.

Did MCPS and the BOE ignore other written complaints because they were not on the correct form or anonymous despite enough details to warrant an investigation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, she shouldn’t call him “babe” at school if she doesn’t want people to believe or spread rumors about their affair.

So you're saying you think she deserves it? Fine. Go ahead and justify your gossiping all you want. She can still sue you. She can sue the principal as well if he was part of the gossip mill.

It’s not gossip when it’s true. Maybe this will show mcps subordinates that they too will be held accountable for acting unprofessional in the work place.

You're working overtime to justify your behavior. Guess what. Gossip is gossip. You're the kind of coworker I try to avoid. Not because I have anything to hide, but because you're just not a nice person.

Hold yourself accountable as an adult and knowing how to act appropriately in the workplace.

Seems like a troll who is obsessed with spreading unsubstantiated rumors because it serves their crusade against McKnight.

No worries. McKnight is already in a ton of substantiated trouble.

Only because of imaginary evidence and gossip

So all the kids imagined being called hoes?
Or is Beidleman an imaginary person?

source?

I swear people love to spin stuff to fit their narrative. If you don’t like the man just leave it at that. If you’re mad he suspended your kid just leave it at that.

It's funny how so many people don't like this man and are angry he's still employed by MCPS (source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/08/11/joel-beidleman-montgomery-county-principal/ ):

- "MCPS treated Beidleman as a rising star. Despite six staff members’ reports to MCPS about his conduct in 2023, officials promoted him in June to run Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville, a position that oversees a larger staff than Farquhar’s and would have raised his salary by $32,000, to $191,000."
- “He is the most vindictive person I’ve ever met,” a Farquhar English teacher said. “Even teachers who left Farquhar are scared of him to this day,” said former Farquhar media assistant Cathy Stanton, who departed MCPS in 2021 because of what she called the school’s “toxic leadership.”
- "In July 2017, former Farquhar PTA president Chelsea Curtis said she hand-delivered a letter to the central office that carbon-copied the principal to request a change of schools for her younger children after Beidleman told her eighth-grade daughter: “Don’t be like [your friend]. She’s a whore.” MCPS granted the transfer."
- "During two Jan. 31, 2018, assemblies for seventh- and eighth-grade students and staff, Beidleman lamented that Farquhar girls were dressing and acting “like hos and thots” (both derogatory terms for promiscuous women), according to multiple witnesses."
- "When parents complained about the assembly, then-Director of School Support and Improvement Eric Minus, Beidleman’s boss, spoke with teachers. One told him about additional instances of workplace misconduct, the teacher said in an interview. But when another tried to do the same, Minus asked to confine the discussion to what Beidleman had said at the assemblies, she said. Several educators were aware that the two men were friends."
- "He berated, humiliated or yelled at staff frequently, according to more than two dozen educators. "
- "A Lakelands teacher said she left that school because of Beidleman, who on numerous occasions “screamed in my face.”
- "Teachers at Lakelands, Clemente and Farquhar said Beidleman often commented on women’s bodies and outfits. During two annual Farquhar staff presentations about professional attire, he showed a picture of a woman’s midsection in tight leggings and said, “Camel toe is not allowed,” several attendees said."
- "When a male science teacher told Beidleman his wife was pregnant, the principal replied that his wife would “change for the worse,” the teacher recounted in an email to Walker obtained by The Post."
- "A teacher told The Post that Beidleman said to her in front of a colleague, who confirmed the conversation in an interview: “You look like you peg your husband and that you do butt stuff.” When that teacher disagreed with Beidleman in discussions, she and a witness said the principal told her: “Maybe your husband needs lessons in bed so you can be calmed down.” The comments were memorialized in a list of aggressions toward staff compiled by Farquhar’s building union representative this year."
- "In April 2021, Beidleman invited an MCPS teacher who had worked with him previously to apply to be his assistant principal at Farquhar, she said....Beidleman told The Post the teacher’s candidacy was rejected “prior to any personal conversations.” But screenshots from the teacher’s phone show that he texted personal messages, including lewd ones, to her more than 400 times between the day he asked if she wanted the job and the date she was informed that she would not be considered for the role."

Yes, we know all this happened before McKnight was in charge. So glad she's cleaning up this mess.

How is Dr. McKnight cleaning up the mess? Her administration promoted Beidleman to Principal at Paint Branch. During McKnight’s tenure as Interim Superintendent and Superintendent, the allegations were reported but not addressed.

Dr. McKnight is part of the problem and should be held accountable.

She wasn't Super when all the events listed above happened. You really can't have it both ways.

So this is like how Obama didn't start the war in Afghanistan therefore he is not responsible for what happened there under his watch?

Exactly! She's just there to clean up the previous super's mess.

I have to believe this person is trolling, but it's also important to knock down disinformation when it rears its head.

Dr. McKnight served as Director of Secondary Leadership Development from 2016-2018, returning in 2019 as Deputy Superintendent. In both roles she would have been in the chain of commeand for the myriad complaints about the Beidleman matter.

She became Acting Superintendent in July 2021, and assumed the permanent role in February 2022. Beidleman was promoted to principal in June 2023, almost two years after Dr. McKnight assumed the Superintendent role.

That's not the case for the director of secondary leadership development position. That is not a supervisor of any principals, or in the chain of command. Principals report up to directors of school support/associate superintendents/chief of schools.

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/personnel/classification/descriptions/description.aspx?fn=0330-1024

Stop with all the facts and reason! Just because she had nothing to do with it doesn't mean we can't use it as an excuse to complain about her. If I'm being totally honest, most of us dislike her for unrelated and arbitrary reasons and just want her gone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If MCPS Central Office employees ignored the complaints regarding Beidleman for six years, isn’t it reasonable to assume complaints about other MCPS employees were equally ignored? Isn’t it also reasonable that for other cases, MCPS Administrators such as other OSSI Directors and higher MCPS Administrators equally failed to protect complainants?

There needs to be a broader investigation of what happened for other sexual harassment and bullying complaints MCPS received.

Same for BOE members and Ombudsman.

Did MCPS and the BOE ignore other written complaints because they were not on the correct form or anonymous despite enough details to warrant an investigation?

The CO doesn't have the personnel to handle the volume of these complaints. They must create a new division with a few hundred new employees to specifically handle these matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If MCPS Central Office employees ignored the complaints regarding Beidleman for six years, isn’t it reasonable to assume complaints about other MCPS employees were equally ignored? Isn’t it also reasonable that for other cases, MCPS Administrators such as other OSSI Directors and higher MCPS Administrators equally failed to protect complainants?

There needs to be a broader investigation of what happened for other sexual harassment and bullying complaints MCPS received.

Yes there needs to be a full Title IX investigation by the Department of Education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If MCPS Central Office employees ignored the complaints regarding Beidleman for six years, isn’t it reasonable to assume complaints about other MCPS employees were equally ignored? Isn’t it also reasonable that for other cases, MCPS Administrators such as other OSSI Directors and higher MCPS Administrators equally failed to protect complainants?

There needs to be a broader investigation of what happened for other sexual harassment and bullying complaints MCPS received.

Same for BOE members and Ombudsman.

Did MCPS and the BOE ignore other written complaints because they were not on the correct form or anonymous despite enough details to warrant an investigation?

The CO doesn't have the personnel to handle the volume of these complaints. They must create a new division with a few hundred new employees to specifically handle these matters.

If they terminated problematic employees instead of encouraging a toxic culture they wouldn’t have as many complaints, but that’s more of a long-term solution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New article from the Washington Post:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/09/28/montgomery-council-mcps-mcknight-beidleman/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=wp_local

Did any one else catch the mention of a twice a month sexual harassment report that allegedly fails to include details about who is doing it, who is affected and where it is happening? What’s the purpose of the report again?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New article from the Washington Post:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/09/28/montgomery-council-mcps-mcknight-beidleman/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=wp_local

Did any one else catch the mention of a twice a month sexual harassment report that allegedly fails to include details about who is doing it, who is affected and where it is happening? What’s the purpose of the report again?

Yes. It's just aggregate numbers without any specifics and is a routine part of the closed board sessions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New article from the Washington Post:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/09/28/montgomery-council-mcps-mcknight-beidleman/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=wp_local

Did any one else catch the mention of a twice a month sexual harassment report that allegedly fails to include details about who is doing it, who is affected and where it is happening? What’s the purpose of the report again?

Yes. It's just aggregate numbers without any specifics and is a routine part of the closed board sessions.

This is the standard entry in the reports of previous closed sessions on Board Docs:

"Received a briefing from the superintendent of schools regarding the Equal
Employment Opportunity Report and the Sexual Harassment Report, which
was an administrative function and outside the purview of the Open
Meetings Act, and to the extent any individual employee was discussed,
as permitted under Section 3-305(b)(1) of the General Provisions Article."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New article from the Washington Post:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/09/28/montgomery-council-mcps-mcknight-beidleman/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=wp_local

Did any one else catch the mention of a twice a month sexual harassment report that allegedly fails to include details about who is doing it, who is affected and where it is happening? What’s the purpose of the report again?

Sounds like it should be a public report that would be useful in tracking overall trends, but the BOE only discusses it in closed session.

[Anonymous]

I found it notable that McKnight said that she “was not aware that there was an internal investigation against Dr. Joel Beidleman at the time of his promotion.” Which is not the same thing as saying she was not aware of any of the complaints against him over the years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, she shouldn’t call him “babe” at school if she doesn’t want people to believe or spread rumors about their affair.

So you're saying you think she deserves it? Fine. Go ahead and justify your gossiping all you want. She can still sue you. She can sue the principal as well if he was part of the gossip mill.

It’s not gossip when it’s true. Maybe this will show mcps subordinates that they too will be held accountable for acting unprofessional in the work place.

You're working overtime to justify your behavior. Guess what. Gossip is gossip. You're the kind of coworker I try to avoid. Not because I have anything to hide, but because you're just not a nice person.

Hold yourself accountable as an adult and knowing how to act appropriately in the workplace.

Seems like a troll who is obsessed with spreading unsubstantiated rumors because it serves their crusade against McKnight.

No worries. McKnight is already in a ton of substantiated trouble.

Only because of imaginary evidence and gossip

So all the kids imagined being called hoes?
Or is Beidleman an imaginary person?

source?

I swear people love to spin stuff to fit their narrative. If you don’t like the man just leave it at that. If you’re mad he suspended your kid just leave it at that.

It's funny how so many people don't like this man and are angry he's still employed by MCPS (source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/08/11/joel-beidleman-montgomery-county-principal/ ):

- "MCPS treated Beidleman as a rising star. Despite six staff members’ reports to MCPS about his conduct in 2023, officials promoted him in June to run Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville, a position that oversees a larger staff than Farquhar’s and would have raised his salary by $32,000, to $191,000."
- “He is the most vindictive person I’ve ever met,” a Farquhar English teacher said. “Even teachers who left Farquhar are scared of him to this day,” said former Farquhar media assistant Cathy Stanton, who departed MCPS in 2021 because of what she called the school’s “toxic leadership.”
- "In July 2017, former Farquhar PTA president Chelsea Curtis said she hand-delivered a letter to the central office that carbon-copied the principal to request a change of schools for her younger children after Beidleman told her eighth-grade daughter: “Don’t be like [your friend]. She’s a whore.” MCPS granted the transfer."
- "During two Jan. 31, 2018, assemblies for seventh- and eighth-grade students and staff, Beidleman lamented that Farquhar girls were dressing and acting “like hos and thots” (both derogatory terms for promiscuous women), according to multiple witnesses."
- "When parents complained about the assembly, then-Director of School Support and Improvement Eric Minus, Beidleman’s boss, spoke with teachers. One told him about additional instances of workplace misconduct, the teacher said in an interview. But when another tried to do the same, Minus asked to confine the discussion to what Beidleman had said at the assemblies, she said. Several educators were aware that the two men were friends."
- "He berated, humiliated or yelled at staff frequently, according to more than two dozen educators. "
- "A Lakelands teacher said she left that school because of Beidleman, who on numerous occasions “screamed in my face.”
- "Teachers at Lakelands, Clemente and Farquhar said Beidleman often commented on women’s bodies and outfits. During two annual Farquhar staff presentations about professional attire, he showed a picture of a woman’s midsection in tight leggings and said, “Camel toe is not allowed,” several attendees said."
- "When a male science teacher told Beidleman his wife was pregnant, the principal replied that his wife would “change for the worse,” the teacher recounted in an email to Walker obtained by The Post."
- "A teacher told The Post that Beidleman said to her in front of a colleague, who confirmed the conversation in an interview: “You look like you peg your husband and that you do butt stuff.” When that teacher disagreed with Beidleman in discussions, she and a witness said the principal told her: “Maybe your husband needs lessons in bed so you can be calmed down.” The comments were memorialized in a list of aggressions toward staff compiled by Farquhar’s building union representative this year."
- "In April 2021, Beidleman invited an MCPS teacher who had worked with him previously to apply to be his assistant principal at Farquhar, she said....Beidleman told The Post the teacher’s candidacy was rejected “prior to any personal conversations.” But screenshots from the teacher’s phone show that he texted personal messages, including lewd ones, to her more than 400 times between the day he asked if she wanted the job and the date she was informed that she would not be considered for the role."

Yes, we know all this happened before McKnight was in charge. So glad she's cleaning up this mess.

How is Dr. McKnight cleaning up the mess? Her administration promoted Beidleman to Principal at Paint Branch. During McKnight’s tenure as Interim Superintendent and Superintendent, the allegations were reported but not addressed.

Dr. McKnight is part of the problem and should be held accountable.

She wasn't Super when all the events listed above happened. You really can't have it both ways.

So this is like how Obama didn't start the war in Afghanistan therefore he is not responsible for what happened there under his watch?

Exactly! She's just there to clean up the previous super's mess.

I have to believe this person is trolling, but it's also important to knock down disinformation when it rears its head.

Dr. McKnight served as Director of Secondary Leadership Development from 2016-2018, returning in 2019 as Deputy Superintendent. In both roles she would have been in the chain of commeand for the myriad complaints about the Beidleman matter.

She became Acting Superintendent in July 2021, and assumed the permanent role in February 2022. Beidleman was promoted to principal in June 2023, almost two years after Dr. McKnight assumed the Superintendent role.

That's not the case for the director of secondary leadership development position. That is not a supervisor of any principals, or in the chain of command. Principals report up to directors of school support/associate superintendents/chief of schools.

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/personnel/classification/descriptions/description.aspx?fn=0330-1024

Stop with all the facts and reason! Just because she had nothing to do with it doesn't mean we can't use it as an excuse to complain about her. If I'm being totally honest, most of us dislike her for unrelated and arbitrary reasons and just want her gone.

You are seriously deluded. She promoted the man. She definitely has something to do with it. I don't buy that she had zero knowledge of the complaints against him, but let's say she really had no idea. That does not inspire much confidence in her leadership. This was a serial sexual harasser.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If MCPS Central Office employees ignored the complaints regarding Beidleman for six years, isn’t it reasonable to assume complaints about other MCPS employees were equally ignored? Isn’t it also reasonable that for other cases, MCPS Administrators such as other OSSI Directors and higher MCPS Administrators equally failed to protect complainants?

There needs to be a broader investigation of what happened for other sexual harassment and bullying complaints MCPS received.

Same for BOE members and Ombudsman.

Did MCPS and the BOE ignore other written complaints because they were not on the correct form or anonymous despite enough details to warrant an investigation?

The CO doesn't have the personnel to handle the volume of these complaints. They must create a new division with a few hundred new employees to specifically handle these matters.

If they terminated problematic employees instead of encouraging a toxic culture they wouldn’t have as many complaints, but that’s more of a long-term solution.

But without adequate staff to investigate these complaints, they can't know so we're back to square one.