Board Fires Dr. McKnight

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It still bothers me that so few (if any) principals came forward publicly as all of this was going on. All of the principals who had been there for the last several years knew. They talked about it with one another.

You mean like how McKnight knew one of besties in CO was also sleeping with Beidleman? It’s kill or be killed in McPS. Many toxic leaders still in place in schools and nobody bats an eye.

[Anonymous]

How will McKnight's departure affect the operating budget process that they were in the midst of? After all, it's the Superintendent's Recommended Budget. Will whoever the new interim superintendent is get a do-over?

[Anonymous]

Let’s hope the new superintendent will not waste budget on consultant after consultant. Use the budget on the students.

BOE messed up and our property tax bail them out. BOE should take full responsibility

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How will McKnight's departure affect the operating budget process that they were in the midst of? After all, it's the Superintendent's Recommended Budget. Will whoever the new interim superintendent is get a do-over?

Even more pressing is how will anyone fix the budget freeze? Why do some teachers still not know while others were told they had to start copying elsewhere and apply for exceptions? Rumors that MCPS can barely make payroll these days

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's how I see it.

Giant school districts are always "plagued by scandals" and sexual harassment claims. Often for cause. Nothing extraordinary happened on Dr. McKnight's watch that didn't happen before. Except recovering from covid.

So, the black woman took a job that no one else wanted at an impossible time, shepherded the MoCo school system through it, wanted to keep her job after... And some yahoos at Fox, happily continuing their work to dismantle public education, decided she was a soft target to rally the base.

I don't have any particular opinion about McKnight's competence or lack thereof. But this smells like a political hit job, and the way the posters here talk about her: using her first name (which by the way, Jeff, you could have stopped a lot earlier), referring to her with usual coded words you people like to use to talk about women, especially Black women... And the way you're nominating these two cut-rate journalists for "breaking a story" that you can't even explain?

Yeah. This is a hit job. You people are gross, and we've all seen this play before.

What makes them "cut-rate journalists", exactly?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's how I see it.

Giant school districts are always "plagued by scandals" and sexual harassment claims. Often for cause. Nothing extraordinary happened on Dr. McKnight's watch that didn't happen before. Except recovering from covid.

So, the black woman took a job that no one else wanted at an impossible time, shepherded the MoCo school system through it, wanted to keep her job after... And some yahoos at Fox, happily continuing their work to dismantle public education, decided she was a soft target to rally the base.

I don't have any particular opinion about McKnight's competence or lack thereof. But this smells like a political hit job, and the way the posters here talk about her: using her first name (which by the way, Jeff, you could have stopped a lot earlier), referring to her with usual coded words you people like to use to talk about women, especially Black women... And the way you're nominating these two cut-rate journalists for "breaking a story" that you can't even explain?

Yeah. This is a hit job. You people are gross, and we've all seen this play before.

Lucy Hayes or whichever NAACP McKnight acolyte this is, give it up. It's not a hit job. She took the job and fumbled out of the gate. The failures are too numerous to count.

Including the first school shooting happening in MCPS history at Magruder in 2022. Yes, the first black superintendent's abysmal leadership and failed security strategy led to a young black boy getting shot and permanently injured. His black mother is currently suing McKnight and the district over it too.

She is nobody's savior or champion. Go away.

Why do ya’ll keep bringing up the Magruder shooting? Did you somehow think that MoCo was immune from a decidedly U.S. phenomenon?? When Uvalde happens here then this can continue to be drag into conversation, but until then thank the steadfast staff and officers who handled it appropriately.

You think the Magruder shooting didn’t represent any failings of the system or McKnight? That’s nice.

The Magruder community and the rest of us with functional brains think otherwise. You should read the debrief where MCPS admitted and failed and should’ve done better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's how I see it.

Giant school districts are always "plagued by scandals" and sexual harassment claims. Often for cause. Nothing extraordinary happened on Dr. McKnight's watch that didn't happen before. Except recovering from covid.

So, the black woman took a job that no one else wanted at an impossible time, shepherded the MoCo school system through it, wanted to keep her job after... And some yahoos at Fox, happily continuing their work to dismantle public education, decided she was a soft target to rally the base.

I don't have any particular opinion about McKnight's competence or lack thereof. But this smells like a political hit job, and the way the posters here talk about her: using her first name (which by the way, Jeff, you could have stopped a lot earlier), referring to her with usual coded words you people like to use to talk about women, especially Black women... And the way you're nominating these two cut-rate journalists for "breaking a story" that you can't even explain?

Yeah. This is a hit job. You people are gross, and we've all seen this play before.

+1000

I think there have been some significant structural changes and shifting of focus behind the scenes in MCPS that were necessary and are just starting to show progress. There is real organizational skill needed to make process improvement a real thing in a district our size, and I think Dr. McKnight has been a good leader in this regard.

Most of the high profile stories that people want to vilify Dr. McKnight about aren’t things she caused, but rather are things she needed to react to. It’s easy to second guess how things should have been handled in each situation, but managing PR crises is a different skill set than managing a school system.

In the age of social media it seems like MCPS needs someone who is both a great showman and a skilled manager, but I think that’s two entirely different skill sets and I don’t think we are going to find such a person.

WHAT? She knew he was a serial sexual harasser and still promoted him. She absolutely continued poisoning the system.

As for the "significant structural changes", none of that has helped the students. All academic levels are down; violence is up. What changes has she made that helped our kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How will McKnight's departure affect the operating budget process that they were in the midst of? After all, it's the Superintendent's Recommended Budget. Will whoever the new interim superintendent is get a do-over?

No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's how I see it.

Giant school districts are always "plagued by scandals" and sexual harassment claims. Often for cause. Nothing extraordinary happened on Dr. McKnight's watch that didn't happen before. Except recovering from covid.

So, the black woman took a job that no one else wanted at an impossible time, shepherded the MoCo school system through it, wanted to keep her job after... And some yahoos at Fox, happily continuing their work to dismantle public education, decided she was a soft target to rally the base.

I don't have any particular opinion about McKnight's competence or lack thereof. But this smells like a political hit job, and the way the posters here talk about her: using her first name (which by the way, Jeff, you could have stopped a lot earlier), referring to her with usual coded words you people like to use to talk about women, especially Black women... And the way you're nominating these two cut-rate journalists for "breaking a story" that you can't even explain?

Yeah. This is a hit job. You people are gross, and we've all seen this play before.

+1000

I think there have been some significant structural changes and shifting of focus behind the scenes in MCPS that were necessary and are just starting to show progress. There is real organizational skill needed to make process improvement a real thing in a district our size, and I think Dr. McKnight has been a good leader in this regard.

Most of the high profile stories that people want to vilify Dr. McKnight about aren’t things she caused, but rather are things she needed to react to. It’s easy to second guess how things should have been handled in each situation, but managing PR crises is a different skill set than managing a school system.

In the age of social media it seems like MCPS needs someone who is both a great showman and a skilled manager, but I think that’s two entirely different skill sets and I don’t think we are going to find such a person.

Let me summarize all of these posts from McKnight apologists. All the bad stuff she’s being blamed for is not her fault and is stuff she had to react to. All the good stuff happening in MCPS can be directly tied back to her skills and vision. She just was bad at publicly showing everyone how great of a job she was doing.

No. The PP had it right.

Y'all want a showman and a competent manager... rarely the same skill set, because to be a competent manager, you need to be doing a lot of work, not giving press release speeches.

Right, so she was an incompetent manager.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's how I see it.

Giant school districts are always "plagued by scandals" and sexual harassment claims. Often for cause. Nothing extraordinary happened on Dr. McKnight's watch that didn't happen before. Except recovering from covid.

So, the black woman took a job that no one else wanted at an impossible time, shepherded the MoCo school system through it, wanted to keep her job after... And some yahoos at Fox, happily continuing their work to dismantle public education, decided she was a soft target to rally the base.

I don't have any particular opinion about McKnight's competence or lack thereof. But this smells like a political hit job, and the way the posters here talk about her: using her first name (which by the way, Jeff, you could have stopped a lot earlier), referring to her with usual coded words you people like to use to talk about women, especially Black women... And the way you're nominating these two cut-rate journalists for "breaking a story" that you can't even explain?

Yeah. This is a hit job. You people are gross, and we've all seen this play before.

Lucy Hayes or whichever NAACP McKnight acolyte this is, give it up. It's not a hit job. She took the job and fumbled out of the gate. The failures are too numerous to count.

Including the first school shooting happening in MCPS history at Magruder in 2022. Yes, the first black superintendent's abysmal leadership and failed security strategy led to a young black boy getting shot and permanently injured. His black mother is currently suing McKnight and the district over it too.

She is nobody's savior or champion. Go away.

Why do ya’ll keep bringing up the Magruder shooting? Did you somehow think that MoCo was immune from a decidedly U.S. phenomenon?? When Uvalde happens here then this can continue to be drag into conversation, but until then thank the steadfast staff and officers who handled it appropriately.

I don’t think people blame her for the shooting since as you correctly point out guns are a massive problem in our society. The issue was that she delayed reunification of scared parents and kids so that she could hold a press conference.

I think the Magruder admin are to blame for this as well. If I were the admin at the school, I would have let the students go with their parents asap, regardless if Central Office wanted the photo op.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's how I see it.

Giant school districts are always "plagued by scandals" and sexual harassment claims. Often for cause. Nothing extraordinary happened on Dr. McKnight's watch that didn't happen before. Except recovering from covid.

So, the black woman took a job that no one else wanted at an impossible time, shepherded the MoCo school system through it, wanted to keep her job after... And some yahoos at Fox, happily continuing their work to dismantle public education, decided she was a soft target to rally the base.

I don't have any particular opinion about McKnight's competence or lack thereof. But this smells like a political hit job, and the way the posters here talk about her: using her first name (which by the way, Jeff, you could have stopped a lot earlier), referring to her with usual coded words you people like to use to talk about women, especially Black women... And the way you're nominating these two cut-rate journalists for "breaking a story" that you can't even explain?

Yeah. This is a hit job. You people are gross, and we've all seen this play before.

Lucy Hayes or whichever NAACP McKnight acolyte this is, give it up. It's not a hit job. She took the job and fumbled out of the gate. The failures are too numerous to count.

Including the first school shooting happening in MCPS history at Magruder in 2022. Yes, the first black superintendent's abysmal leadership and failed security strategy led to a young black boy getting shot and permanently injured. His black mother is currently suing McKnight and the district over it too.

She is nobody's savior or champion. Go away.

Why do ya’ll keep bringing up the Magruder shooting? Did you somehow think that MoCo was immune from a decidedly U.S. phenomenon?? When Uvalde happens here then this can continue to be drag into conversation, but until then thank the steadfast staff and officers who handled it appropriately.

You think the Magruder shooting didn’t represent any failings of the system or McKnight? That’s nice.

The Magruder community and the rest of us with functional brains think otherwise. You should read the debrief where MCPS admitted and failed and should’ve done better.

Sure there are issues and sure the district admits failure. What sane district/security head wouldn’t. That’s PR. My problem is this idea of holding up the Magruder shooting as a failure of the Superintendent, when regardless of who had been leading the same would have happened. MoCo is not magically shielded from reality. The fact that there had never been a school shooting in MoCo was a function of luck. Given how large the district is the question was always not will a school shooting happen but When. If you aren’t aware of that then that’s naivety on your part.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It still bothers me that so few (if any) principals came forward publicly as all of this was going on. All of the principals who had been there for the last several years knew. They talked about it with one another.

Come forward to be retaliated against?! Have you been reading the papers? From what I hear, some principals knew he was a cad but had no idea about all of this craziness. Other.principals had no idea and were watching this s-show from the sidelines and just embarrassed and saddened by the spectacle. No one wants to be grouped with those involved in.the shenanigans when they weren't involved but the general public grouped everyone together due to the shared title.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That garbage, self-serving, self-praise statement from McKnight just reaffirms how poor of a leader she is. She fails to read the room or hold herself accountable. She's just worried about looking like she did a great job as superintendent when her tenure has been nothing but an ongoing dumpster fire.

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rumor is three years salary.

Hush money

Taxpayers should know what was spent on this

Why hush money? She should be paying them to hush

[Anonymous]

BOE won’t hire an internal candidate again for at least 10 years…the consultant that recommended BOE shou,d give us a refund