Reply to Who (in particulr) is to blame for the idea of 2.0?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Jerry Weast, Pat O'Neil and Barclay (the BOE guy that got caught stealing money to buy stuff at Target and PopEye chicken) were responsible for hatching the bad idea. The plan was to ignore university peer reviewed curriculums and partner with Pearson to make up their own and resell it. Terrible mistake for Pearson and MCPS believing that unqualified MCPS employees could just come up with a curriculum.

The most blame lands on Starr though who took this mistake to a whole new level demonstrating what true incompetence can do to a system. He was so unqualified himself for the job that he didn't recognize how unqualified Marty and Eric Lang were as well. Lang got to staff up his office and filled it with more unqualified people. Rather than providing a shred of quality control or review, they all kept barreling forward. There was a HUGE outpouring of complaints from parents and teachers. Did Starr look into any of the complaints? Nope he hired more PR people and just behaved arrogantly.

It really escalated the creation of a toxic environment where the only ideas allowed in the central office were yes men who fanned over each other. The central office became increasingly insular never learning or addressing its own mistakes-just demonizing anyone that disagreed with them. Starr had a history in Connecticut in always focusing on you scratch my back and I'll scratch your back and punishing staff that rock the boat. He took this to another level in MCPS both with hiding the sex offenders and ignoring all the obvious signs of problems within the curriculum.

I honestly think that Weast would have done something or at least stopped the 30% errors in the materials that were coming out of the central office. [/quote]

You basically say that it’s Weast’s initiative but somehow Starr should get more blame. That doesn’t make any sense. I’m always amazed at the venom toward Starr. I work for MCPS and worked with him directly on two projects, which was unusual because I’m not in management.  I always felt that what people saw as arrogance was actually a bit of social awkwardness. He was a supportive employer, and many other colleagues feel the same way. I don’t have any power or influence and could do nothing for him, and he made a point of recognizing my efforts and encouraging me. I know a lot of people who feel the same way, and who also felt that he genuinely cared about kids and his heart was in the right place. I agree that he could hold a grudge—he was  into loyalty. I am sure he knows exactly who wrote the BOE to ask them to keep him on! He also was rough around the edges. But I do think he was misunderstood and I bet that if you polled mcps teachers and principals, a lot of them would rather he be in charge right now, myself included. This monster you paint who wanted to hide cases of child abuse is not the superintendent I dealt with on a personal level. He also was superintendent so long ago at this point that I’m surprised at the level of interest in him all these years later.  [/quote]

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