Taylor "No Snow Delay" Apology Email

[Anonymous]

Its unsurprising tha dispiriting that so many of MCPScs public communicators are so illiterate that they make things worse by trying to talk about them. We see this all the time in the incoherent spam emails from CO and principals and other officials.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn't read this as Taylor saying they would stop doing these ridiculous closings for rain. I read it as they were sorry that parents were stressed by the closing. "i.e. I'm sorry you feel badly about what I did" which is a non-apology.

And a bit of mea culpa for overstepping and forcing private providers of before care to close when they should have let them decide for themselves.

Yeah, classic Taylor non-apology.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:He shouldn't have bothered apologizing. You people are relentless. Nothing will make you happy, ever. It's very sad.

I don't rely on MCPS to make me happy. That would be a horrible way to live. I would love for them to treat parents and teachers with a basic level of courtesy and honesty. Apparently, that is too much to ask.

+1. I'm actually very often happy with MCPS. This situation was a mistake and the letter from Taylor contains what very much looks like a lie (that the announcement was made in error and should have been a delay). It's fine to be unhappy about that. I can expect both reasonable decision making and honesty about those decisions. That's not "relentless."

How is that "a lie"? He's saying that cancelling morning child care was a mistake, that it should have been delayed instead.

No he isn't.

There's two parts to what happened. There's the substantive decision (to close morning childcare) and there's the communication of that decision (the announcement). Saying that "the announcement was made in error" describes a problem with the communication, that is that the announcement should not have been made in the way that it was. It indicates that the announcement is wrong and what the announcement should have been for a delay.

But we know that that isn't true. The announcement was explained by Cat Malchodi as meaning what it said. KAH also indicated that they heard from the county that they were not allowed to open. The odds that the message that was communicated was not the message that was intended are virtually zero.

What almost certainly happened was a mistake in the substantive decision. Central Office (and ultimately Taylor) made a bad decision. If you wanted to say "we made a the wrong decision," you'd say that. Stating that "the announcement was in error" makes it sound like there was a big mix up, which again, is highly improbable. I hedged a little and said "it very much looks like a lie," because there's a very small possibility that I'm wrong. I don't think there's a good case to be made that there was a problem with the announcement though with a decent amount of public information.

I'm a boss, and I think about this through that lens. If an employee of mine used that language to describe a bad decision. I'd investigate and we'd have a conversation about it. If it happened again, they'd be gone. I've had to do that before (only once thankfully), and I've never regretted that choice. Honesty is important, and I hold public officials to the same standards.

+1

If the error was only in the announcement, it would have been corrected much more quickly. Taylor made a decision that he didn't understand the implications of and now he has to walk it back.

Yes, that's correct. The error was in the decision *itself* to close childcare rather than delay opening by two hours - not that there was a miscommunication. Our aftercare provider said that MCPS would not allow them to open. Normally they open at 6:30am and they should have been allowed to open at 8:30am, rather than being totally closed all morning until school began at 11:25......

[Anonymous]

This was the dumbest e-mail to send. I get the apologizing for the confusion about before care, which just should have been 2-hour delayed liked school, but not about making the decision of 2-hour delay and then it only being rain/sleet. Like that is always a best guess hedged on safety.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Mistakes were made. Lessons were learned. Changes are being implemented.

By whom? Don't worry about that...

But it's normal for MCPS to have these ridiculous delays/closures when the weather is fine. Is Taylor saying that's actually going to change?

They have gotten increasing ridiculous under Taylor, which is an impressive achievement.

How have they? My youngest is a senior. I remember plenty of 2 hour delays when she was in elementary school - even when it turned out to only rain.

Until Taylor came, 2-hour delays allowed extended care to open on time -- not even with a delay. Now, they are not allowing extended care to open at all in the morning. That's different. I know a LOT of people who wrote to Taylor to complain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like the error was about childcare being closed.

+1 I read it as the next time there’s a two hour delay, beforecare will open with a two hour delay if at all possible.

But even then that is a backtrack from what they used to do. They used to allow before care to open on time, not on a delay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think I've ever gotten an apology email from MCPS about anything. Did Taylor get an earful from parents for closing down private before care and doing a delayed start for a bit of rain?

Dear MCPS Families,

I want to take a moment to acknowledge the frustration and disruption caused by this morning’s weather-related delay and the decision to delay the opening of both schools and offices. Making the call to delay or close sometimes means that we are working with late or imperfect information. And like today, this often means that there is disruption and inconvenience that follows when we have to make a call later than we’d like. I am writing to let you know that we take this seriously and that I would like to apologize for today’s disruptions and many inconveniences.

Today’s delay also meant that we canceled morning childcare for some families, where before school care is provided at some of our schools by community partners. This announcement was made in error and should have been a delay. Again, I deeply apologize for the added stress that this caused to an already chaotic morning. We are truly sorry for the confusion.

As always, we leaned heavily into one priority today: the safety of our students and all MCPS staff. The forecast called for the high probability of a wintry mix, including freezing rain, and a bit of snow—and in our area, even small amounts of ice and snow can make early-morning travel dangerous. Many of our employees commute from across the region, including areas where conditions may differ significantly from those in central Montgomery County. In the future, please count on us to continue to make inclement weather calls with safety and an abundance of caution as our top priority.

Going forward, we will work to be clearer about any deviation from our usual operating practices, strive to make decisions earlier when possible, and communicate more directly when something changes from what you typically expect. And as always, we will continue to center safety above all else.

Thank you for your patience with us and we are truly sorry for the disruption.

Sincerely,

Thomas W. Taylor, Ed.D, M.B.A.
Superintendent of Schools

There was ice on roads in communities where teachers live. None of our subs showed up. My coworker was in a three vehicle accident yesterday and didn’t make it to our school until 10:30 AM.

If parents want the schools open on time even if teachers and subs can’t make it at opening, they need to plan to be there to supervise kids.

MCPS didn't open on time though, are you in a different district? Our school had teachers call in because they could no longer drop their kids off for beforecare like they usually do. Flu is going around too.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Mistakes were made. Lessons were learned. Changes are being implemented.

By whom? Don't worry about that...

But it's normal for MCPS to have these ridiculous delays/closures when the weather is fine. Is Taylor saying that's actually going to change?

They have gotten increasing ridiculous under Taylor, which is an impressive achievement.

How have they? My youngest is a senior. I remember plenty of 2 hour delays when she was in elementary school - even when it turned out to only rain.

That's not the ridiculous part. In this case, the ridiculous thing was prohibiting child care from opening around the same time as high schools. And previously, Taylor kept schools closed until Thursday for a winter storm on Sunday.

I agree, but a similar situation occured with childcare not being allowed to open last winter when it otherwise would have. I recall KAH was caught off guard and complained about it.

Exactly my point. Why has it suddenly gotten so much worse under Taylor? Is it him? Is it Cat Malchodi? Is it a new budget or staffing issue?

Where I work, decisions regarding facilities are effectively made by the head of operations. For MCPS, I believe that’s Cat Malchodi. I just looked her up. She seems to live in a $3 million, 10,000 square foot mansion in Potomac. She might be a little too out of touch for that position…

Y'all. Stop. Cat makes no decisions. First off, Cat is not the head of operations. She's the Executive Director of Operations, which in MCPS basically means she's the top admin secretary for that division. The actual chief of operations for the system is Adnan Mamoon. But even he is blameless here as Taylor and Essie make all of the decisions.

Please stop looking for someone other than Taylor to blame here for this fumble.

+1. This is not Malchodi's fault; she is just the messenger.

Wow. Nice that “just the messenger” can live in a 3 million dollar house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mistakes were made. Lessons were learned. Changes are being implemented.

By whom? Don't worry about that...

But it's normal for MCPS to have these ridiculous delays/closures when the weather is fine. Is Taylor saying that's actually going to change?

They have gotten increasing ridiculous under Taylor, which is an impressive achievement.

How have they? My youngest is a senior. I remember plenty of 2 hour delays when she was in elementary school - even when it turned out to only rain.

That's not the ridiculous part. In this case, the ridiculous thing was prohibiting child care from opening around the same time as high schools. And previously, Taylor kept schools closed until Thursday for a winter storm on Sunday.

I agree, but a similar situation occured with childcare not being allowed to open last winter when it otherwise would have. I recall KAH was caught off guard and complained about it.

Exactly my point. Why has it suddenly gotten so much worse under Taylor? Is it him? Is it Cat Malchodi? Is it a new budget or staffing issue?

Where I work, decisions regarding facilities are effectively made by the head of operations. For MCPS, I believe that’s Cat Malchodi. I just looked her up. She seems to live in a $3 million, 10,000 square foot mansion in Potomac. She might be a little too out of touch for that position…

Y'all. Stop. Cat makes no decisions. First off, Cat is not the head of operations. She's the Executive Director of Operations, which in MCPS basically means she's the top admin secretary for that division. The actual chief of operations for the system is Adnan Mamoon. But even he is blameless here as Taylor and Essie make all of the decisions.

Please stop looking for someone other than Taylor to blame here for this fumble.

+1. This is not Malchodi's fault; she is just the messenger.

Wow. Nice that “just the messenger” can live in a 3 million dollar house.

Are you a stalker?

[Anonymous]

A bit creepy to be stalking someone and making remarks on their house. Both of which is irrelevant to the current conversation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A bit creepy to be stalking someone and making remarks on their house. Both of which is irrelevant to the current conversation.

+1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Malchodi had already sent a message, hadn't she?

She sent messages earlier in the day attempting to justify the closure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mistakes were made. Lessons were learned. Changes are being implemented.

By whom? Don't worry about that...

But it's normal for MCPS to have these ridiculous delays/closures when the weather is fine. Is Taylor saying that's actually going to change?

They have gotten increasing ridiculous under Taylor, which is an impressive achievement.

How have they? My youngest is a senior. I remember plenty of 2 hour delays when she was in elementary school - even when it turned out to only rain.

That's not the ridiculous part. In this case, the ridiculous thing was prohibiting child care from opening around the same time as high schools. And previously, Taylor kept schools closed until Thursday for a winter storm on Sunday.

I agree, but a similar situation occured with childcare not being allowed to open last winter when it otherwise would have. I recall KAH was caught off guard and complained about it.

Exactly my point. Why has it suddenly gotten so much worse under Taylor? Is it him? Is it Cat Malchodi? Is it a new budget or staffing issue?

Where I work, decisions regarding facilities are effectively made by the head of operations. For MCPS, I believe that’s Cat Malchodi. I just looked her up. She seems to live in a $3 million, 10,000 square foot mansion in Potomac. She might be a little too out of touch for that position…

Y'all. Stop. Cat makes no decisions. First off, Cat is not the head of operations. She's the Executive Director of Operations, which in MCPS basically means she's the top admin secretary for that division. The actual chief of operations for the system is Adnan Mamoon. But even he is blameless here as Taylor and Essie make all of the decisions.

Please stop looking for someone other than Taylor to blame here for this fumble.

+1. This is not Malchodi's fault; she is just the messenger.

Wow. Nice that “just the messenger” can live in a 3 million dollar house.

Are you a stalker?

I think the stalker is the PP who looked up and shared this info, not the poster above who commented on what was posted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mistakes were made. Lessons were learned. Changes are being implemented.

By whom? Don't worry about that...

But it's normal for MCPS to have these ridiculous delays/closures when the weather is fine. Is Taylor saying that's actually going to change?

They have gotten increasing ridiculous under Taylor, which is an impressive achievement.

How have they? My youngest is a senior. I remember plenty of 2 hour delays when she was in elementary school - even when it turned out to only rain.

That's not the ridiculous part. In this case, the ridiculous thing was prohibiting child care from opening around the same time as high schools. And previously, Taylor kept schools closed until Thursday for a winter storm on Sunday.

I agree, but a similar situation occured with childcare not being allowed to open last winter when it otherwise would have. I recall KAH was caught off guard and complained about it.

Exactly my point. Why has it suddenly gotten so much worse under Taylor? Is it him? Is it Cat Malchodi? Is it a new budget or staffing issue?

Where I work, decisions regarding facilities are effectively made by the head of operations. For MCPS, I believe that’s Cat Malchodi. I just looked her up. She seems to live in a $3 million, 10,000 square foot mansion in Potomac. She might be a little too out of touch for that position…

Y'all. Stop. Cat makes no decisions. First off, Cat is not the head of operations. She's the Executive Director of Operations, which in MCPS basically means she's the top admin secretary for that division. The actual chief of operations for the system is Adnan Mamoon. But even he is blameless here as Taylor and Essie make all of the decisions.

Please stop looking for someone other than Taylor to blame here for this fumble.

You are mistaken, an executive director is the right hand of the chief and frequently has loads of influence, depending on the chief. The EDs are the ones who are actually making things work. Malchodi is savy and smart and advises Mamoon accordingly. Whether Taylor and crew heed the advice is debatable.

In my experience, the EDs I've encountered have all behaved more like secretaries than decision makers. But I'm willing to believe you that as with all things in MCPS, there's significant variability.

EDs get paid about $180k. That would be an awful lot for a secretary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This was the dumbest e-mail to send. I get the apologizing for the confusion about before care, which just should have been 2-hour delayed liked school, but not about making the decision of 2-hour delay and then it only being rain/sleet. Like that is always a best guess hedged on safety.

It didn't apologize for the delay. It apologized for the child care closure.