MOCO BOE update: Beidleman Report summary

[Anonymous]

Then what's the point? If the BOE is hellbent on protecting their super and their systems, then what difference does it make what the IG turns up? And for that matter, what's the point of the county council pressuring the BOE? If what you're saying is true, then MCPS just has to wait it out and it's business as usual unless the BOE does its job. In the meantime, more resources allocated for nothing. This is why journalists matter. The threat of public exposure is more effective than an IG report or the County Council.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the IG turns up issues with other situations ,will they investigate them? At the moment I think they’re just looking at beidleman and processes more generally, but they may unearth a whole lot more if they’re connecting all the dots. Beidleman is tip of iceberg.

Unfortunately the IG can only write a report (and any personnel related information can't be made public). Neither they nor the Council can force any terminations or changes to policies. Historically, school systems in Maryland have a nasty habit of ignoring IG findings.

Including this one. Their written responses to findings usually just tell the IG to go away.

[Anonymous]

MCPS is an expensive sh$t show of a school system because they have an Employee Code of Conduct that they can use to terminate employees for misconduct but they don’t enforce the Code of Conduct. If the County Council subtracted the legal expenses and settlements from the MCPS budget, then perhaps MCPS would feel financial pressure to enforce their Employee Code of Conduct to minimize their legal exposure. They had just cause to fire Beidleman years ago but they ignored the complaints. Now they are facing an IG investigation, staff lawsuits for sexual harassment, and probably Federal Title IX investigations (if someone files an OCR complaint). Many staff members are responsible for six years of ignoring complaints. All should have repercussions for ignoring the complaints. Is it likely that other complaints for other staff members were ignored? Most definitely YES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why can't MCPS just release that damn report?! It's not a good look.

Because the report will make MCPS look terrible. McKnight is all about maintaining a positive image

[Anonymous]

I used to teach in a different school district but moved over recently to MCPS because it has a stronger reputation. I have been shocked at the dysfunction in MCPS. Not impressed at all which is frankly disheartening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't MCPS just release that damn report?! It's not a good look.

Because the report will make MCPS look terrible. McKnight is all about maintaining a positive image

It's not McKnight's decision to make. The board can release it, but their lawyers have told them not to, so far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't MCPS just release that damn report?! It's not a good look.

Because the report will make MCPS look terrible. McKnight is all about maintaining a positive image

It's not McKnight's decision to make. The board can release it, but their lawyers have told them not to, so far.

Then redact the heck out of it, but unless they release it, no one is going to trust them ever again. I saw the county council meeting and even they're unanimous in releasing it. For once, I agree with all of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't MCPS just release that damn report?! It's not a good look.

Because the report will make MCPS look terrible. McKnight is all about maintaining a positive image

It's not McKnight's decision to make. The board can release it, but their lawyers have told them not to, so far.

At some point the BOE and Dr. McKnight needs to realize that no one is believing their spin. It’s hard to say MCPS is a great school system when every one knows that they were promoting a staff member with multiple complaints of sexual harassment and bullying. There is no transparency or accountability which is another example of the BOE and Dr. McKnight breaking their word to the Montgomery County community. This is a huge new low point in the school system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't MCPS just release that damn report?! It's not a good look.

Because the report will make MCPS look terrible. McKnight is all about maintaining a positive image

It's not McKnight's decision to make. The board can release it, but their lawyers have told them not to, so far.

Then redact the heck out of it, but unless they release it, no one is going to trust them ever again. I saw the county council meeting and even they're unanimous in releasing it. For once, I agree with all of them.

+1 Release the report and own up to all the failings. No one is going to believe you have a plan to fix and ensure this never happens again unless you own up to where the breakdown occurred to begin with.

The whole shambles of making the community to wait for the Jackson Lewis investigation then refusing to release the investigation with no word on the implementation of new procedures and enforcement of the Employee Code of Conduct gives everyone a bird’s eye view of the shell game the complainants were faced with. Hide the truth and pretend it never happened is the culture of MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Then what's the point? If the BOE is hellbent on protecting their super and their systems, then what difference does it make what the IG turns up? And for that matter, what's the point of the county council pressuring the BOE? If what you're saying is true, then MCPS just has to wait it out and it's business as usual unless the BOE does its job. In the meantime, more resources allocated for nothing. This is why journalists matter. The threat of public exposure is more effective than an IG report or the County Council.

What if the board is just out to get them for some completely random and unrelated reason like they simply never liked them and are looking for an excuse to find fault?

[Anonymous]

Yes that’s happened before, and look where we are now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't MCPS just release that damn report?! It's not a good look.

Because the report will make MCPS look terrible. McKnight is all about maintaining a positive image

It's not McKnight's decision to make. The board can release it, but their lawyers have told them not to, so far.

Then redact the heck out of it, but unless they release it, no one is going to trust them ever again. I saw the county council meeting and even they're unanimous in releasing it. For once, I agree with all of them.

Lynne Harris said she is open to releasing the redacted report. Maybe she can persuade her board colleagues to agree.

[Anonymous]

Well if MCPS had to pay $9+billion for the Damascus case, then how much do we predict they will pay out to teachers and parents Beidleman’s harassment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well if MCPS had to pay $9+billion for the Damascus case, then how much do we predict they will pay out to teachers and parents Beidleman’s harassment?

Don’t forget Beidleman’s upcoming payday if he decides to leave quietly. He’s going to get a very healthy severance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well if MCPS had to pay $9+billion for the Damascus case, then how much do we predict they will pay out to teachers and parents Beidleman’s harassment?

It was $9.7 Million, not Billion