MOCO BOE update: Beidleman Report summary

[Anonymous]

This morning's Post article has been updated with a statement from McKnight:

in a statement, Superintendent Monifa B. McKnight said: “In the coming days I’ll be announcing a series of swift and immediate actions I’ll be prepared to take to ensure accountability. I will also be working closely with my team to develop a comprehensive corrective action plan, as directed by the Board.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole case and thread is full of miserable vindictive vengeful people. It’s so sad.

There a nothing vindictive about wanting a workplace where harassment is discouraged and punished and victims are protected.

+1 Amen

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This morning's Post article has been updated with a statement from McKnight:

in a statement, Superintendent Monifa B. McKnight said: “In the coming days I’ll be announcing a series of swift and immediate actions I’ll be prepared to take to ensure accountability. I will also be working closely with my team to develop a comprehensive corrective action plan, as directed by the Board.”

Actions she’ll be prepared to take, not actions she’s actually going to take. Working closely with her team to make a plan, ie the senior leaders who failed in the first place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This morning's Post article has been updated with a statement from McKnight:

in a statement, Superintendent Monifa B. McKnight said: “In the coming days I’ll be announcing a series of swift and immediate actions I’ll be prepared to take to ensure accountability. I will also be working closely with my team to develop a comprehensive corrective action plan, as directed by the Board.”

And we're expected to just blindly accept that she's innocent in all this? That's some BS!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dumb question, but jsut to prove this isnt an after-the-fact, CYA attempt from the MCEA, do they have the supposed sent emails?

They need to release them (redacted to protect members and others). Nowhere does the Jackson Lewis report say the superintendent’s or BOE’s emails were among the 30,000 documents.

It’s really not about the emails though. If neither the superintendent nor the board knew, they should have known.

It says: "After searching the MCPS servers and interviewing several witnesses, Jackson Lewis found that neither the Superintendent nor the Board received an alleged May 3, 2022 anonymous email and a May 9, 2022 email from an MCEA representative containing anonymous allegations."

Where does that specify that Jackson Lewis had access to or searched the emails accounts of McKnight or the BOE members? Remember this is a report prepared by their defense lawyer. MCPS could have scoped those email accounts out of the search.

There would be no way for them to say that the Super or the BOE DID NOT receive an email if those email accounts were scoped out of the search.

I'm not saying that Jackson Lewis isn't in the business of making the BOE or Monifa look good, but they pretty clearly state that they did not find evidence of those emails to Monifa or the Board, after searching through MCPS servers. That's very clear.

They could have just looked at emails sent from other MCPS accounts (like the general superintendent mailbox) to her personal account on the MCPS email server but not searched her own account. In that case, if MCEA emailed her personal MCPS account directly, the message wouldn’t have come up in the search. Same with the board members.

Saying you didn’t find evidence is different from saying you searched her account. In fact saying you didn’t find evidence without explaining how you searched is totally meaningless.

Of course their emails were out of scope. Duh. Jackson Lewis works for them!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Prediction: this will be blamed on recently departed administrators, such as the former chief of schools and the former acting head of HR.

That doesn’t clear other key administrators in Central Office.

What about:

- the Directors who were his supervisors and part of the selection process for the Paint Branch job

- What about the current Acting Chief?

- What about Dr. McKnight herself. If she didn’t know (despite MCEA emails) why was she so out of touch?

- What about the Board of Education and the lack of transparency?

There needs to be a true independent investigation not just a coverup.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi Alexandra and Nicole,
I hope you will go back and look into all the other existing “informal” or anonymous complaints against folks in MCPS that have never been investigated or that have been inadequately or improperly investigated. MCPS waits it out and sees if complainers go away, then decide what to do about a situation, which only protects the problem people, not the victims.

Please keep the pressure on! It has already made a difference.

This is not the only mismanaged case--it is a larger problem. Another principal was demoted this summer after 2+ years in the job that included being placed on leave several times for a total of close to 6 expensive months. Sexual harassment complaints were filed there too but he was still reassigned as an assistant principal in another school. Now he has disappeared from the directory on the MCPS website--but other administrators are still seeing him at their union office. Still being paid? Who knows?

So name that principal? Blast his name all over social media. I bet he is white so you all will protect him and not run him in the ground.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Prediction: this will be blamed on recently departed administrators, such as the former chief of schools and the former acting head of HR.

That doesn’t clear other key administrators in Central Office.

What about:

- the Directors who were his supervisors and part of the selection process for the Paint Branch job

- What about the current Acting Chief?

- What about Dr. McKnight herself. If she didn’t know (despite MCEA emails) why was she so out of touch?

- What about the Board of Education and the lack of transparency?

There needs to be a true independent investigation not just a coverup.

Do we really need another investigation? Even with the flaws of this investigation, it seems to have turned up more than ample evidence to dismiss a number of senior MCPS leaders for cause, including the superintendent. The only question remaining is whether the board actually did know. It seems they didn’t but even so the board is responsible for the systemic failures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This morning's Post article has been updated with a statement from McKnight:

in a statement, Superintendent Monifa B. McKnight said: “In the coming days I’ll be announcing a series of swift and immediate actions I’ll be prepared to take to ensure accountability. I will also be working closely with my team to develop a comprehensive corrective action plan, as directed by the Board.”

And we're expected to just blindly accept that she's innocent in all this? That's some BS!

Her statement is insulting. Ensuring accountability starts at the top. She needs to go as do several others in MCPS leadership in order to restore trust. A broader, independent investigation is needed to reveal how systemic the corruption/negligence really is as well as identify real solutions (not band aids to protect her job).

[Anonymous]

Dr. McKnight is protected by the same system and processes that protected Dr. Beidleman and probably many others as well. Maybe Montgomery County could see if they could retain a well-respected and independent law firm that does corporate investigations all the time to do pro bono work and uncover what's been going on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This morning's Post article has been updated with a statement from McKnight:

in a statement, Superintendent Monifa B. McKnight said: “In the coming days I’ll be announcing a series of swift and immediate actions I’ll be prepared to take to ensure accountability. I will also be working closely with my team to develop a comprehensive corrective action plan, as directed by the Board.”

And we're expected to just blindly accept that she's innocent in all this? That's some BS!

Her statement is insulting. Ensuring accountability starts at the top. She needs to go as do several others in MCPS leadership in order to restore trust. A broader, independent investigation is needed to reveal how systemic the corruption/negligence really is as well as identify real solutions (not band aids to protect her job).

+1 The Board hired Jackson Lewis to limit the scope of the investigation and to withhold information. An independent investigation needs to be conducted to determine exactly who knew what and what they did.

This case also puts into question how MCPS handled similar allegations. For Beidleman, double digit complaints were ignored. MCPS acknowledges that they didn’t even investigate all of the complaints. Are there other employees like Beidleman still in the school system? What about student complaints? Are those also ignored and not investigated?

The problem is broader than just just one predatory employee. It’s a corporate culture that breeds coverups.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This morning's Post article has been updated with a statement from McKnight:

in a statement, Superintendent Monifa B. McKnight said: “In the coming days I’ll be announcing a series of swift and immediate actions I’ll be prepared to take to ensure accountability. I will also be working closely with my team to develop a comprehensive corrective action plan, as directed by the Board.”

Your team is what created this problem! No way you should be creating the solution!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS only retains email for a year. If MCEA sent something in May of 2022, it most likely was no longer accessible on the servers.

That makes no sense. What is your source for this?

It is true but I would venture to guess somewhere on some server there are backups.

I wonder the same. Just because the emails automatically delete after a year doesn’t mean they aren’t backed up somewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This morning's Post article has been updated with a statement from McKnight:

in a statement, Superintendent Monifa B. McKnight said: “In the coming days I’ll be announcing a series of swift and immediate actions I’ll be prepared to take to ensure accountability. I will also be working closely with my team to develop a comprehensive corrective action plan, as directed by the Board.”

Reading this makes me feel we are fortunate to have a courageous leader like McKnight running our schools!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This morning's Post article has been updated with a statement from McKnight:

in a statement, Superintendent Monifa B. McKnight said: “In the coming days I’ll be announcing a series of swift and immediate actions I’ll be prepared to take to ensure accountability. I will also be working closely with my team to develop a comprehensive corrective action plan, as directed by the Board.”

Reading this makes me feel we are fortunate to have a courageous leader like McKnight running our schools!

Pffffft. It makes me feel like I’m watching a spin doctor on the Sunday am talk shows.