I think that a change in leadership would be HUGE mistake. PGCPS has not had stable leadership for the past few decades and now we are finally getting things moving in the right direction.

I think the push by the NAACP to remove Dr. Maxwell is a huge joke. How does the NAACP add any value to PGCPS except for getting in front of a camera?

If anyone is interested, here is another interesting history lesson on our board. It might put into perspective why there may be some conflict with the board and CEO. Also, it speaks to some of the poor leaders that have been in place in the past which may have allowed this culture of abuse to continue unreported.

https://pgcabs.org/2015/05/18/a-dozen-years-of-changes-in-pgcps-governance-structure/

I vote to keep Maxwell

Dr. Maxwell is bringing a culture of professionalism and accountability to the school district. He definitely should be encouraged to stay.

Abuse hasn't increased, nor is it worse than anywhere else. PG county just wasn't reporting it enough or dealing with it properly before.

I agree with the points above. But my concern is that, while there is a need to "clean house," removing the Ceo would be largely symbolic, as he himself was not the problem.

Some board members and lower level staff need to be removed. And yes, Maxwell should start planning his succession. But abruptly leaving during a time of crisis, without addressing the root cause and without an adequate replacement lined up (i.e. Just an "acting" during a year+ long search) could be catastrophic.

A CEO's failure to uphold the responsibilities of his office can result in legal actions from shareholders. It doesn't matter how forthcoming Dr Maxwell is about his shortcomings or how willingly he accepts the blame for mistakes. What matters is that the entire school system was (and may still be) inches away from several serious civil litigations by its shareholders (parents and taxpayers). That cannot be overlooked or brushed aside or taken lightly just because the CEO is a nice guy. If PG County Public Schools are to remain true to their motto then they need to make the choice to get a new CEO.

Our school system is huge. One person cannot do everything. It takes the CEO, board support, parents and the community to move things forward in a positive way. My opinion is that Dr. Maxwell has accomplished some great things. He appears to be trying to make improvements. Has anyone attended any of the board meetings or watched some of the videos? They can be quite telling in terms of the dynamics between the board and the CEO. One of the board members is the liaison for Head Start and she still has her job. Should she be fired too? I think that some of the board members should be fired before Maxwell. He at least admits when the organization has shortcomings and talks about opportunities for change. I don't necessarily see him blaming others. He takes accountability and appears as though he is working to make improvements.

Anonymous wrote:PG got stripped of a $6.5 million Head Start program grant following allegations of abuse and although they've managed to throw something together at the last minute after mass panic to continue the services provided by Head Start, it will have to be funded by the school system.

That's the type of stuff CEO's are supposed to get canned for.

I have a friend who works there. He is not a good administrator. His number 2 didn't even tell him that Headstart was having issues and he kept her. I would have fired them both.

Anonymous wrote:I believe that Maxwell should be removed. Yes the test scores have went up. Yes the graduation rate went up. However, the safety of the children have went down. To me, that is way more important. It does not matter that this stuff started before him. It continued with him and that is horrible

Your grammar is terrible.

PG got stripped of a $6.5 million Head Start program grant following allegations of abuse and although they've managed to throw something together at the last minute after mass panic to continue the services provided by Head Start, it will have to be funded by the school system.

That's the type of stuff CEO's are supposed to get canned for.

I believe that Maxwell should be removed. Yes the test scores have went up. Yes the graduation rate went up. However, the safety of the children have went down. To me, that is way more important. It does not matter that this stuff started before him. It continued with him and that is horrible

Agreed. He is very well respected in the education community and I think the advances the county has made under him could slide back if he left so abruptly.

I think so, yes.
IMO, a lot of the issues that we are hearing about now have likely been going on long before Maxwell got the job. I have found him to be VERY responsive to parent concerns.

Is the call for Dr. Maxwell to step down unfair? Seems like PGCPS has made important strides under his leadership and steps are being taken to identify and report abuse in the system.