Is Taylor Cleaning House????

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The salaries of these positions are way too high in my opinion. I know MCPS started paying all these folks like this under Dr. McKnight but the experience and responsibilities needed to do these jobs does not require people paid this much.

+1 agree

So what would you set their salary at then? Keep in mind that at a certain point Teachers and Principals are making 6figures.

IMO, a teacher's job is a lot harder than an administrator's job.

I'm not a teacher, but even I know that an admin job is a lot easier and cushy than a teacher's job. Maybe those admins should teach for a year to get a sense of how their policies are really impacting teachers and kids.

You don't pay based on how "hard" a job is to perform- you pay based on how hard it is to fill with a qualified candidate.

Given the state of MCPS, I'd say they haven't been hiring qualified candidates.

They should go teach for a year.

I know a district that requires their administrators to sub 1x/month. Many are out of touch, haven’t taught in decades, and when they were in classroom were horrible teachers. Essentially they became administrators to get out of the classroom.

This is why they need to go into the classroom for a time, so they know exactly what the "boots on the ground" teachers are dealing with.

Admins who are completely out of touch with the "worker bees" and what the ground game looks like are not effective managers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an admin and couldn't be happier with our new superintendent. He was very clear that offices aren't speaking to one another and there needs to be an overhaul. He's walking the talk by having all of these people reapply for their positions. We're drowning in school buildings while some central office people still Zoom into meetings from home.

This is what I'm hearing from other administrators as well. They are happy with Taylor, and very happy with the reorg.

At a certain point, there are elements on this board and in the broader community who are just never going to be happy. They will snipe and they will harass and they will mock, and some of it is just trolling and some of it is bad feelings from a job they lost a decade ago, but the rest of us need to ignore the noise and listen to folks like PP who have actual skin at the game at this point.

The insiders who know all the names of the people at the CO and follow know all the semi-true drama aren't all that credible. They're always looking to find fault and discover conspiracies that don't exist.

Then let’s just focus on the disasters that do exist. No need to secrets. The MCPS health insurance system is crashing. That’s a fact, not a secret. MCPS is in financial trouble on multiple fronts. What is Superintendent Taylor doing about these known disasters?

The health insurance system isn’t crashing, BUT its financial stability does need to be constrained. And MCPS needs to have some very real and frank conversations with current staff, retirees, the county and state about this. They also need to get real clear with their insurance company about what they can eliminate to help while still making the insurance comparable to other jobs. Because this is having a big impact on the larger available budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an admin and couldn't be happier with our new superintendent. He was very clear that offices aren't speaking to one another and there needs to be an overhaul. He's walking the talk by having all of these people reapply for their positions. We're drowning in school buildings while some central office people still Zoom into meetings from home.

This is what I'm hearing from other administrators as well. They are happy with Taylor, and very happy with the reorg.

At a certain point, there are elements on this board and in the broader community who are just never going to be happy. They will snipe and they will harass and they will mock, and some of it is just trolling and some of it is bad feelings from a job they lost a decade ago, but the rest of us need to ignore the noise and listen to folks like PP who have actual skin at the game at this point.

The insiders who know all the names of the people at the CO and follow know all the semi-true drama aren't all that credible. They're always looking to find fault and discover conspiracies that don't exist.

Then let’s just focus on the disasters that do exist. No need to secrets. The MCPS health insurance system is crashing. That’s a fact, not a secret. MCPS is in financial trouble on multiple fronts. What is Superintendent Taylor doing about these known disasters?

The health insurance system isn’t crashing, BUT its financial stability does need to be constrained. And MCPS needs to have some very real and frank conversations with current staff, retirees, the county and state about this. They also need to get real clear with their insurance company about what they can eliminate to help while still making the insurance comparable to other jobs. Because this is having a big impact on the larger available budget.

The problem is that this is also a pillar of staff retention. Some staff are putting up with all the other garbage they have to deal with because they need the good insurance. If that gets downgraded, then more people will feel free to leave because it's not appreciably better than they would get at another job and doesn't balance the other stuff they are barely tolerating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an admin and couldn't be happier with our new superintendent. He was very clear that offices aren't speaking to one another and there needs to be an overhaul. He's walking the talk by having all of these people reapply for their positions. We're drowning in school buildings while some central office people still Zoom into meetings from home.

This is what I'm hearing from other administrators as well. They are happy with Taylor, and very happy with the reorg.

At a certain point, there are elements on this board and in the broader community who are just never going to be happy. They will snipe and they will harass and they will mock, and some of it is just trolling and some of it is bad feelings from a job they lost a decade ago, but the rest of us need to ignore the noise and listen to folks like PP who have actual skin at the game at this point.

Umm parents and students do have actual skin in the game. And some of us agree that there is some folk at CO who should go. We also agree there are some teachers/paras/APs/counselors who should go. We also understand that some of then problems is not personnel but regulations. We also know that many people live in a fantasy land and can’t accept reality.

For examples, people are clamoring for smaller class size but are not clamoring for a district wide boundary study to be done as quickly as possible to realign boundaries in a way that would help. Because they want their kid to go to the school in their neighborhood. Great, but when there’s more kids in the zone than space in the school that want doesn’t matter. Folks want more rigor. Okay then stop complaining when your kid gets a C. Accept they aren’t a genius or at least not a genius at this subject and get to work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an admin and couldn't be happier with our new superintendent. He was very clear that offices aren't speaking to one another and there needs to be an overhaul. He's walking the talk by having all of these people reapply for their positions. We're drowning in school buildings while some central office people still Zoom into meetings from home.

This is what I'm hearing from other administrators as well. They are happy with Taylor, and very happy with the reorg.

At a certain point, there are elements on this board and in the broader community who are just never going to be happy. They will snipe and they will harass and they will mock, and some of it is just trolling and some of it is bad feelings from a job they lost a decade ago, but the rest of us need to ignore the noise and listen to folks like PP who have actual skin at the game at this point.

The insiders who know all the names of the people at the CO and follow know all the semi-true drama aren't all that credible. They're always looking to find fault and discover conspiracies that don't exist.

Then let’s just focus on the disasters that do exist. No need to secrets. The MCPS health insurance system is crashing. That’s a fact, not a secret. MCPS is in financial trouble on multiple fronts. What is Superintendent Taylor doing about these known disasters?

The health insurance system isn’t crashing, BUT its financial stability does need to be constrained. And MCPS needs to have some very real and frank conversations with current staff, retirees, the county and state about this. They also need to get real clear with their insurance company about what they can eliminate to help while still making the insurance comparable to other jobs. Because this is having a big impact on the larger available budget.

The problem is that this is also a pillar of staff retention. Some staff are putting up with all the other garbage they have to deal with because they need the good insurance. If that gets downgraded, then more people will feel free to leave because it's not appreciably better than they would get at another job and doesn't balance the other stuff they are barely tolerating.

Its not sustainable in its current form so it’s going to need to be dealt with if staff want to see relief in other areas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an admin and couldn't be happier with our new superintendent. He was very clear that offices aren't speaking to one another and there needs to be an overhaul. He's walking the talk by having all of these people reapply for their positions. We're drowning in school buildings while some central office people still Zoom into meetings from home.

This is what I'm hearing from other administrators as well. They are happy with Taylor, and very happy with the reorg.

At a certain point, there are elements on this board and in the broader community who are just never going to be happy. They will snipe and they will harass and they will mock, and some of it is just trolling and some of it is bad feelings from a job they lost a decade ago, but the rest of us need to ignore the noise and listen to folks like PP who have actual skin at the game at this point.

Umm parents and students do have actual skin in the game. And some of us agree that there is some folk at CO who should go. We also agree there are some teachers/paras/APs/counselors who should go. We also understand that some of then problems is not personnel but regulations. We also know that many people live in a fantasy land and can’t accept reality.

For examples, people are clamoring for smaller class size but are not clamoring for a district wide boundary study to be done as quickly as possible to realign boundaries in a way that would help. Because they want their kid to go to the school in their neighborhood. Great, but when there’s more kids in the zone than space in the school that want doesn’t matter. Folks want more rigor. Okay then stop complaining when your kid gets a C. Accept they aren’t a genius or at least not a genius at this subject and get to work.

well said. I agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an admin and couldn't be happier with our new superintendent. He was very clear that offices aren't speaking to one another and there needs to be an overhaul. He's walking the talk by having all of these people reapply for their positions. We're drowning in school buildings while some central office people still Zoom into meetings from home.

This is what I'm hearing from other administrators as well. They are happy with Taylor, and very happy with the reorg.

At a certain point, there are elements on this board and in the broader community who are just never going to be happy. They will snipe and they will harass and they will mock, and some of it is just trolling and some of it is bad feelings from a job they lost a decade ago, but the rest of us need to ignore the noise and listen to folks like PP who have actual skin at the game at this point.

The insiders who know all the names of the people at the CO and follow know all the semi-true drama aren't all that credible. They're always looking to find fault and discover conspiracies that don't exist.

Then let’s just focus on the disasters that do exist. No need to secrets. The MCPS health insurance system is crashing. That’s a fact, not a secret. MCPS is in financial trouble on multiple fronts. What is Superintendent Taylor doing about these known disasters?

The health insurance system isn’t crashing, BUT its financial stability does need to be constrained. And MCPS needs to have some very real and frank conversations with current staff, retirees, the county and state about this. They also need to get real clear with their insurance company about what they can eliminate to help while still making the insurance comparable to other jobs. Because this is having a big impact on the larger available budget.

It is crashing. Making national news today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an admin and couldn't be happier with our new superintendent. He was very clear that offices aren't speaking to one another and there needs to be an overhaul. He's walking the talk by having all of these people reapply for their positions. We're drowning in school buildings while some central office people still Zoom into meetings from home.

This is what I'm hearing from other administrators as well. They are happy with Taylor, and very happy with the reorg.

At a certain point, there are elements on this board and in the broader community who are just never going to be happy. They will snipe and they will harass and they will mock, and some of it is just trolling and some of it is bad feelings from a job they lost a decade ago, but the rest of us need to ignore the noise and listen to folks like PP who have actual skin at the game at this point.

The insiders who know all the names of the people at the CO and follow know all the semi-true drama aren't all that credible. They're always looking to find fault and discover conspiracies that don't exist.

Then let’s just focus on the disasters that do exist. No need to secrets. The MCPS health insurance system is crashing. That’s a fact, not a secret. MCPS is in financial trouble on multiple fronts. What is Superintendent Taylor doing about these known disasters?

The health insurance system isn’t crashing, BUT its financial stability does need to be constrained. And MCPS needs to have some very real and frank conversations with current staff, retirees, the county and state about this. They also need to get real clear with their insurance company about what they can eliminate to help while still making the insurance comparable to other jobs. Because this is having a big impact on the larger available budget.

It is crashing. Making national news today.

Another WaPo story?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an admin and couldn't be happier with our new superintendent. He was very clear that offices aren't speaking to one another and there needs to be an overhaul. He's walking the talk by having all of these people reapply for their positions. We're drowning in school buildings while some central office people still Zoom into meetings from home.

This is what I'm hearing from other administrators as well. They are happy with Taylor, and very happy with the reorg.

At a certain point, there are elements on this board and in the broader community who are just never going to be happy. They will snipe and they will harass and they will mock, and some of it is just trolling and some of it is bad feelings from a job they lost a decade ago, but the rest of us need to ignore the noise and listen to folks like PP who have actual skin at the game at this point.

The insiders who know all the names of the people at the CO and follow know all the semi-true drama aren't all that credible. They're always looking to find fault and discover conspiracies that don't exist.

Then let’s just focus on the disasters that do exist. No need to secrets. The MCPS health insurance system is crashing. That’s a fact, not a secret. MCPS is in financial trouble on multiple fronts. What is Superintendent Taylor doing about these known disasters?

The health insurance system isn’t crashing, BUT its financial stability does need to be constrained. And MCPS needs to have some very real and frank conversations with current staff, retirees, the county and state about this. They also need to get real clear with their insurance company about what they can eliminate to help while still making the insurance comparable to other jobs. Because this is having a big impact on the larger available budget.

It is crashing. Making national news today.

Another WaPo story?

They have lost their credibility imo

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an admin and couldn't be happier with our new superintendent. He was very clear that offices aren't speaking to one another and there needs to be an overhaul. He's walking the talk by having all of these people reapply for their positions. We're drowning in school buildings while some central office people still Zoom into meetings from home.

This is what I'm hearing from other administrators as well. They are happy with Taylor, and very happy with the reorg.

At a certain point, there are elements on this board and in the broader community who are just never going to be happy. They will snipe and they will harass and they will mock, and some of it is just trolling and some of it is bad feelings from a job they lost a decade ago, but the rest of us need to ignore the noise and listen to folks like PP who have actual skin at the game at this point.

The insiders who know all the names of the people at the CO and follow know all the semi-true drama aren't all that credible. They're always looking to find fault and discover conspiracies that don't exist.

Then let’s just focus on the disasters that do exist. No need to secrets. The MCPS health insurance system is crashing. That’s a fact, not a secret. MCPS is in financial trouble on multiple fronts. What is Superintendent Taylor doing about these known disasters?

The health insurance system isn’t crashing, BUT its financial stability does need to be constrained. And MCPS needs to have some very real and frank conversations with current staff, retirees, the county and state about this. They also need to get real clear with their insurance company about what they can eliminate to help while still making the insurance comparable to other jobs. Because this is having a big impact on the larger available budget.

It is crashing. Making national news today.

Another WaPo story?

They have lost their credibility imo

WaPo lost its credibility years ago. Almost impossible to find unbiased news sources at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems more like he's doing a partial reorg. Several of these are new position titles.

Chief Equity and Development Officer

Chief Student Support Officer

Chief Academic Officer

Chief Operations Officer

Chief Technology Officer

General Counsel

Sorry, plus two more:

Chief Talent Management Officer

Chief School Leadership Officer

I like how he just said that the budget is unsustainable and 90% of it is personnel and then he decides to hire more overhead Chiefs and their subs.

Not to mention he notes hiring more experienced staff which means higher salaries. So is he planning to hire less experienced staff for Special Education or pay the less. An area where it’s already hard to hire.

They should look at jobs that probably became unnecessary when the world computerized like counselors. They used to meet eithbstudents, administer tests, manually enter courses, etc. Now most of their job can be done by the students and their families. They could probably cut half of them.

Wow! We need more counselors, not less. Do you have any idea how overworked they are? DS’s counselor has been a huge help to him. He is constantly seeking her out as one of the few adults in the building he can count on to offer academic advice and navigate stress. No matter how busy she is she makes time for him. She is an absolute rockstar.

What school is this? My kid's HS counselor has something like 400 kids, so I agree he is overworked. But, he has also provided very little help/advice for my HS Junior.

[Anonymous]

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/speech-therapist-shortage-in-montgomery-county-schools-affects-students-in-need/3769633/

See prime example of what I’m talking about. Complaints but no one has a suggestion for how to resolve. MCPS can’t just change the pay scale for this position. Plus,they are in competition against a bunch of other entities for people. Even if they gave a voucher in the amount they would spend they would get complaints that it doesn’t cover the total cost of private practice SLPs. Then someone will file a lawsuit for not delivering on the IEP. And round and round the merry go round.

What should happen is since the staff isn’t there, MCPS refers it out to private practice and then the county/state/insurance makes the appropriate payment. Then states and Congress would be forced to pay attention to the true cost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an admin and couldn't be happier with our new superintendent. He was very clear that offices aren't speaking to one another and there needs to be an overhaul. He's walking the talk by having all of these people reapply for their positions. We're drowning in school buildings while some central office people still Zoom into meetings from home.

This is what I'm hearing from other administrators as well. They are happy with Taylor, and very happy with the reorg.

At a certain point, there are elements on this board and in the broader community who are just never going to be happy. They will snipe and they will harass and they will mock, and some of it is just trolling and some of it is bad feelings from a job they lost a decade ago, but the rest of us need to ignore the noise and listen to folks like PP who have actual skin at the game at this point.

The insiders who know all the names of the people at the CO and follow know all the semi-true drama aren't all that credible. They're always looking to find fault and discover conspiracies that don't exist.

Then let’s just focus on the disasters that do exist. No need to secrets. The MCPS health insurance system is crashing. That’s a fact, not a secret. MCPS is in financial trouble on multiple fronts. What is Superintendent Taylor doing about these known disasters?

The health insurance system isn’t crashing, BUT its financial stability does need to be constrained. And MCPS needs to have some very real and frank conversations with current staff, retirees, the county and state about this. They also need to get real clear with their insurance company about what they can eliminate to help while still making the insurance comparable to other jobs. Because this is having a big impact on the larger available budget.

I think you're exaggerating the problem. Healthcare is a mess overall in this country, but MCPS mostly just needs to donate couple things. They need to slightly reduce the employer share of premiums to be closer to other government jobs. And they need to get rid of whatever corrupt entity low-balled the medical costs in order to keep employee-premiums artificially low. Related to that, rhey need to change their practices so there's a carryover fund to make up for differences between the expected and actual health cRe costs, and adjust premiums to refill that fund when there's a shortfall in previous years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an admin and couldn't be happier with our new superintendent. He was very clear that offices aren't speaking to one another and there needs to be an overhaul. He's walking the talk by having all of these people reapply for their positions. We're drowning in school buildings while some central office people still Zoom into meetings from home.

This is what I'm hearing from other administrators as well. They are happy with Taylor, and very happy with the reorg.

At a certain point, there are elements on this board and in the broader community who are just never going to be happy. They will snipe and they will harass and they will mock, and some of it is just trolling and some of it is bad feelings from a job they lost a decade ago, but the rest of us need to ignore the noise and listen to folks like PP who have actual skin at the game at this point.

The insiders who know all the names of the people at the CO and follow know all the semi-true drama aren't all that credible. They're always looking to find fault and discover conspiracies that don't exist.

Then let’s just focus on the disasters that do exist. No need to secrets. The MCPS health insurance system is crashing. That’s a fact, not a secret. MCPS is in financial trouble on multiple fronts. What is Superintendent Taylor doing about these known disasters?

The health insurance system isn’t crashing, BUT its financial stability does need to be constrained. And MCPS needs to have some very real and frank conversations with current staff, retirees, the county and state about this. They also need to get real clear with their insurance company about what they can eliminate to help while still making the insurance comparable to other jobs. Because this is having a big impact on the larger available budget.

I think you're exaggerating the problem. Healthcare is a mess overall in this country, but MCPS mostly just needs to donate couple things. They need to slightly reduce the employer share of premiums to be closer to other government jobs. And they need to get rid of whatever corrupt entity low-balled the medical costs in order to keep employee-premiums artificially low. Related to that, rhey need to change their practices so there's a carryover fund to make up for differences between the expected and actual health cRe costs, and adjust premiums to refill that fund when there's a shortfall in previous years.

You think the entity low-balled the medical costs on their own? They were likely instructed to do so by their MCPS counterparts. The entity in question is AON, btw. And they were likely instructed to lowball by Brian Hull, who feigned surprised and shock when the bill came due.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an admin and couldn't be happier with our new superintendent. He was very clear that offices aren't speaking to one another and there needs to be an overhaul. He's walking the talk by having all of these people reapply for their positions. We're drowning in school buildings while some central office people still Zoom into meetings from home.

This is what I'm hearing from other administrators as well. They are happy with Taylor, and very happy with the reorg.

At a certain point, there are elements on this board and in the broader community who are just never going to be happy. They will snipe and they will harass and they will mock, and some of it is just trolling and some of it is bad feelings from a job they lost a decade ago, but the rest of us need to ignore the noise and listen to folks like PP who have actual skin at the game at this point.

The insiders who know all the names of the people at the CO and follow know all the semi-true drama aren't all that credible. They're always looking to find fault and discover conspiracies that don't exist.

Then let’s just focus on the disasters that do exist. No need to secrets. The MCPS health insurance system is crashing. That’s a fact, not a secret. MCPS is in financial trouble on multiple fronts. What is Superintendent Taylor doing about these known disasters?

The health insurance system isn’t crashing, BUT its financial stability does need to be constrained. And MCPS needs to have some very real and frank conversations with current staff, retirees, the county and state about this. They also need to get real clear with their insurance company about what they can eliminate to help while still making the insurance comparable to other jobs. Because this is having a big impact on the larger available budget.

I think you're exaggerating the problem. Healthcare is a mess overall in this country, but MCPS mostly just needs to donate couple things. They need to slightly reduce the employer share of premiums to be closer to other government jobs. And they need to get rid of whatever corrupt entity low-balled the medical costs in order to keep employee-premiums artificially low. Related to that, rhey need to change their practices so there's a carryover fund to make up for differences between the expected and actual health cRe costs, and adjust premiums to refill that fund when there's a shortfall in previous years.

You think the entity low-balled the medical costs on their own? They were likely instructed to do so by their MCPS counterparts. The entity in question is AON, btw. And they were likely instructed to lowball by Brian Hull, who feigned surprised and shock when the bill came due.

Or just stop what the crackpot ideas. AON recommend 9-13% which MCPS accounted for and the actual came in much higher. Further, they didn’t have a large reserve to draw from because the county council made them include it as part of the budget for last year instead of it being a reserve. Even further, as was already mentioned, healthcare as been part of staff retention so moving the premiums 15% to where they probably need to be creates additional challenges.

What you’re witnessing is school systems near breaking point from the weight of a whole bunch of constraints that leave them very little room to maneuver.