Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, for all the mistakes that Dr. McKnight has made, she has still been light years better than Smith.

For 2 years, when the community needed him most, he just didn't seem to care. At all. Almost like he just couldn't be bothered.

I would give McKnight a C-. Lots to improve on, but she's working.

Smith got a failing grade: F

+1 million

Agree completely. Smith did not care AT ALL.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, for all the mistakes that Dr. McKnight has made, she has still been light years better than Smith.

For 2 years, when the community needed him most, he just didn't seem to care. At all. Almost like he just couldn't be bothered.

I would give McKnight a C-. Lots to improve on, but she's working.

Smith got a failing grade: F

She also effectively stood up to Elrich on behalf of the students after her self-imposed color coding mistake. Course-correcting on that mistake in the first place was impressive leadership. Many leaders would arrogantly carry on. We saw that phenomenon last year with MCPS and DHHS leadership.

She what now? I’m going to need a link or some proof. What did Elrich have to do with that dumb system?

The missteps, miscommunication, and backtracking around the color-coding system are big reasons why Elrich said things were chaotic and the district needed to take a pause. But she/MCPS didn't buckle and kept nearly the entire district in-person.

NP, and I agree. She’s been much better than Smith. She made a mistake and moved past it—I’m not saying she’s done everything well, but what did Smith do well, exactly?

Elrich is a fool. He should have stayed the f out of the school issues, especially since he wasn’t doing a damn thing to control spread in the community. Bars and restaurants were open but he thought schools should “take a pause”? Bite me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, for all the mistakes that Dr. McKnight has made, she has still been light years better than Smith.

For 2 years, when the community needed him most, he just didn't seem to care. At all. Almost like he just couldn't be bothered.

I would give McKnight a C-. Lots to improve on, but she's working.

Smith got a failing grade: F

She also effectively stood up to Elrich on behalf of the students after her self-imposed color coding mistake. Course-correcting on that mistake in the first place was impressive leadership. Many leaders would arrogantly carry on. We saw that phenomenon last year with MCPS and DHHS leadership.

I agree.

First, I appreciated, at the start of the year, making it clear that in-person school was the standard. No hemming or hawing or trying to be vague in order to please both sides.

The change in policy wasn't necessarily bad. The initial bad policy was a mistake, but addressing it and changing it quickly was fine with me. Doubling down on a problem isn't good leadership. Acknowledging mistakes and correcting (which is what she did) is the problem.

I think, she could quickly move that grade up to a B if she improved the communication arm of MCPS, which might involve being more firm with her staff (which I'm not sure the culture of MCPS supports).

But she has made her position clear. Tried to execute to that goal. Failed at times, but succeeded at other.

With Smith, he just seemed like he always had some place better to be and was fine with the status quo for as long as possible. And he got defensive and angry whenever the board (or anyone, for that matter) questioned him. His retirement was one of the best things that ever happened to MCPS

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, for all the mistakes that Dr. McKnight has made, she has still been light years better than Smith.

For 2 years, when the community needed him most, he just didn't seem to care. At all. Almost like he just couldn't be bothered.

I would give McKnight a C-. Lots to improve on, but she's working.

Smith got a failing grade: F

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, for all the mistakes that Dr. McKnight has made, she has still been light years better than Smith.

For 2 years, when the community needed him most, he just didn't seem to care. At all. Almost like he just couldn't be bothered.

I would give McKnight a C-. Lots to improve on, but she's working.

Smith got a failing grade: F

She also effectively stood up to Elrich on behalf of the students after her self-imposed color coding mistake. Course-correcting on that mistake in the first place was impressive leadership. Many leaders would arrogantly carry on. We saw that phenomenon last year with MCPS and DHHS leadership.

She what now? I’m going to need a link or some proof. What did Elrich have to do with that dumb system?

The missteps, miscommunication, and backtracking around the color-coding system are big reasons why Elrich said things were chaotic and the district needed to take a pause. But she/MCPS didn't buckle and kept nearly the entire district in-person.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, for all the mistakes that Dr. McKnight has made, she has still been light years better than Smith.

For 2 years, when the community needed him most, he just didn't seem to care. At all. Almost like he just couldn't be bothered.

I would give McKnight a C-. Lots to improve on, but she's working.

Smith got a failing grade: F

She also effectively stood up to Elrich on behalf of the students after her self-imposed color coding mistake. Course-correcting on that mistake in the first place was impressive leadership. Many leaders would arrogantly carry on. We saw that phenomenon last year with MCPS and DHHS leadership.

She what now? I’m going to need a link or some proof. What did Elrich have to do with that dumb system?

Anonymous wrote:She's made plenty of mistakes, but keeping schools open isn't one of them. I say this as a teacher. I still don't think she should get the job, as she's a horrible communicator and lost the confidence of nearly every principal and teacher in the system. Happy parents seem to be few and far between as well. I would be happy if they brought back Dr. Starr, but the board would never do that because they parted ways so acrimoniously. I do wonder if the principals who vocally opposed Dr. Starr bac in the day would rather have him than Dr. McKnight right now. Certainly his desire to focus on mental health might mean kids would have more support. Either way, let's learn from the past several years of mistakes and hire someone who has a proven record as a super and is a good communicator. I fear that few have applied for the job though. I mean, who would want it?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, for all the mistakes that Dr. McKnight has made, she has still been light years better than Smith.

For 2 years, when the community needed him most, he just didn't seem to care. At all. Almost like he just couldn't be bothered.

I would give McKnight a C-. Lots to improve on, but she's working.

Smith got a failing grade: F

She also effectively stood up to Elrich on behalf of the students after her self-imposed color coding mistake. Course-correcting on that mistake in the first place was impressive leadership. Many leaders would arrogantly carry on. We saw that phenomenon last year with MCPS and DHHS leadership.

Anonymous wrote:She's made plenty of mistakes, but keeping schools open isn't one of them. I say this as a teacher. I still don't think she should get the job, as she's a horrible communicator and lost the confidence of nearly every principal and teacher in the system. Happy parents seem to be few and far between as well. I would be happy if they brought back Dr. Starr, but the board would never do that because they parted ways so acrimoniously. I do wonder if the principals who vocally opposed Dr. Starr bac in the day would rather have him than Dr. McKnight right now. Certainly his desire to focus on mental health might mean kids would have more support. Either way, let's learn from the past several years of mistakes and hire someone who has a proven record as a super and is a good communicator. I fear that few have applied for the job though. I mean, who would want it?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, for all the mistakes that Dr. McKnight has made, she has still been light years better than Smith.

For 2 years, when the community needed him most, he just didn't seem to care. At all. Almost like he just couldn't be bothered.

I would give McKnight a C-. Lots to improve on, but she's working.

Smith got a failing grade: F

Really? They seem about the same to me. In fact, McKnight is maybe a bit more playable by the entitled parents. She did cancel the COVID policy despite the advice of experts to placate that vocal minority of parents.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, for all the mistakes that Dr. McKnight has made, she has still been light years better than Smith.

For 2 years, when the community needed him most, he just didn't seem to care. At all. Almost like he just couldn't be bothered.

I would give McKnight a C-. Lots to improve on, but she's working.

Smith got a failing grade: F

She also effectively stood up to Elrich on behalf of the students after her self-imposed color coding mistake. Course-correcting on that mistake in the first place was impressive leadership. Many leaders would arrogantly carry on. We saw that phenomenon last year with MCPS and DHHS leadership.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, for all the mistakes that Dr. McKnight has made, she has still been light years better than Smith.

For 2 years, when the community needed him most, he just didn't seem to care. At all. Almost like he just couldn't be bothered.

I would give McKnight a C-. Lots to improve on, but she's working.

Smith got a failing grade: F

Really? They seem about the same to me. In fact, McKnight is maybe a bit more playable by the entitled parents. She did cancel the COVID policy despite the advice of experts to placate that vocal minority of parents.

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, for all the mistakes that Dr. McKnight has made, she has still been light years better than Smith.

For 2 years, when the community needed him most, he just didn't seem to care. At all. Almost like he just couldn't be bothered.

I would give McKnight a C-. Lots to improve on, but she's working.

Smith got a failing grade: F

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, for all the mistakes that Dr. McKnight has made, she has still been light years better than Smith.

For 2 years, when the community needed him most, he just didn't seem to care. At all. Almost like he just couldn't be bothered.

I would give McKnight a C-. Lots to improve on, but she's working.

Smith got a failing grade: F