It’s a good thing MCPS spent all that money on PR. I can’t remember the last time MoCo 360 wrote a story that long about MCPS. I was skeptical but now I can see the PR hires are paying off.

Anonymous wrote:An absolutely shocking report.

Sad to see the Post not running this, and its only local moco360. This has been amazing reporting.
Heads need to roll. Ignore the trolls, and maybe this thread won't get locked like the 5 other ones.

That should tell you something immediately about the credibility of the claim. Real newspapers don't think it's worth covering.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My prediction is that Dr. McKnight might fire Brian Hull and/or April Key over this. Depending on how much traction this story gets.

But I don't know. She fired Dr. Murphy and a bunch of associate directors involved in the Beidleman scandal, and she clearly made an agreement with her chief of staff Brian Stockton to have him bow out gracefully, but I don't think she can keep pointing the finger at everyone else. If the culture is this toxic, what does that say about her as its leader?

The BOE needs to hold her accountable.

And what if THEY are the source of the problem?

Or...what if it's actually the Superintendent who is the problem???

Or...what if it's actually the Board of Education that refuses to fire Beidleman?

The board can't fire him. Only McKnight can.

They tell her what to do. They approve her hires/fires. Just like they could override Smith on firing of sex offenders.

Okay, but the BoE can't directly fire MCPS staff. They could, however, demand that Dr. McKnight come sit in front of them in open hearing, and answer questions about why she has not done so.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My prediction is that Dr. McKnight might fire Brian Hull and/or April Key over this. Depending on how much traction this story gets.

But I don't know. She fired Dr. Murphy and a bunch of associate directors involved in the Beidleman scandal, and she clearly made an agreement with her chief of staff Brian Stockton to have him bow out gracefully, but I don't think she can keep pointing the finger at everyone else. If the culture is this toxic, what does that say about her as its leader?

The BOE needs to hold her accountable.

And what if THEY are the source of the problem?

I think that depends on the BOE member. Shebra Evans and Brenda Wolff are definitely staunch McKnight defenders. I can't tell which way Silvestre and Smondroski lean. Lynne Harris is largely aligned with McKnight but willing to go even more left than McKnight when it comes to LGBT and environmental issues. And Grace Rivera-Oven and Julie Yang don't seem to be infatuated with McKnight at all. Grace is probably the most openly critical of McKnight out of all the BOE members.

Smondrowski doesn't like her. Silvestre does. But this is such a mess though. Imagine having two C-Suite leaders go this far to defend a principal. What is so special about him to go to these lengths, including clear-cut retaliation? If I'm a principal, staff member, or anyone in MCPS, I have zero -- no, negative -- trust in anything that comes from McKnight or her team. If they won't follow the rules, why should we? House must be cleaned, as this firmly affects the district's already tanking reputation.

Anonymous wrote:Ever since McKnight came in there has been disfunction. Her comments never clarify anything.

I know a lot this predates her leadership but she has been in central office a long time before her current appointment. She has been able to make change but hasn’t.

The longer this goes on the weaker it makes her look. Fire the damn guy.

+1 Look, I wanted to see McKnight succeed for a number of reasons, but it is clear that she's just not a good fit. She lacks the vision that it would take to make a plan and see it through, and she has consistently obfuscated and engaged in PR-speak when clear answered were needed.

Here's the deal - Dr. McKnight is a long-time MCPS administrator, assistant superintendent, acting superintendent, and superintendent. If she were going to clean house, she would have done so already. This was her shot at "the big job" and she took it, and she failed. Okay, time to move on. Pretending that she's some smol bean who had no idea what was going on and no power to change things is an insult to MCPS staff and parents, and ultimately to her.

Smondroski and Joel have a long history

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My prediction is that Dr. McKnight might fire Brian Hull and/or April Key over this. Depending on how much traction this story gets.

But I don't know. She fired Dr. Murphy and a bunch of associate directors involved in the Beidleman scandal, and she clearly made an agreement with her chief of staff Brian Stockton to have him bow out gracefully, but I don't think she can keep pointing the finger at everyone else. If the culture is this toxic, what does that say about her as its leader?

The BOE needs to hold her accountable.

And what if THEY are the source of the problem?

Or...what if it's actually the Superintendent who is the problem???

Or...what if it's actually the Board of Education that refuses to fire Beidleman?

The board can't fire him. Only McKnight can.

They tell her what to do. They approve her hires/fires. Just like they could override Smith on firing of sex offenders.

Ever since McKnight came in there has been disfunction. Her comments never clarify anything.

I know a lot this predates her leadership but she has been in central office a long time before her current appointment. She has been able to make change but hasn’t.

The longer this goes on the weaker it makes her look. Fire the damn guy.

Anonymous wrote:This was very good work done by Alexandra Robbins. Interestingly she did it with MoCo 360 and not the WaPo. I wonder why that's the case?

Either way, I believe every word Khalid Walker says and I knew they were scapegoating him. Good for him for fighting back. Brian Hull has got to go.

Oh my God, I just read the article. I am floored. I hope Walker sues. Just unbelievable that this was allowed to happen. Where was the voice of reason and the leadership to say, this has got to freaking stop. Was it really worth all this just to protect Beidleman?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My prediction is that Dr. McKnight might fire Brian Hull and/or April Key over this. Depending on how much traction this story gets.

But I don't know. She fired Dr. Murphy and a bunch of associate directors involved in the Beidleman scandal, and she clearly made an agreement with her chief of staff Brian Stockton to have him bow out gracefully, but I don't think she can keep pointing the finger at everyone else. If the culture is this toxic, what does that say about her as its leader?

The BOE needs to hold her accountable.

And what if THEY are the source of the problem?

Or...what if it's actually the Superintendent who is the problem???

Or...what if it's actually the Board of Education that refuses to fire Beidleman?

The board can't fire him. Only McKnight can.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My prediction is that Dr. McKnight might fire Brian Hull and/or April Key over this. Depending on how much traction this story gets.

But I don't know. She fired Dr. Murphy and a bunch of associate directors involved in the Beidleman scandal, and she clearly made an agreement with her chief of staff Brian Stockton to have him bow out gracefully, but I don't think she can keep pointing the finger at everyone else. If the culture is this toxic, what does that say about her as its leader?

The BOE needs to hold her accountable.

And what if THEY are the source of the problem?

Or...what if it's actually the Superintendent who is the problem???

Or...what if it's actually the Board of Education that refuses to fire Beidleman?

They can't. McKnight can.

Anonymous wrote:The article reads like a horror story for anyone who works at MCPS, especially the central office. What a mess of an organization. These weren't middling underlings doing this either - I was surprised to see how the head of HR, direct reports to the Super, etc. were all in on it. Not surprising that they're so incompetent that they can't even do their cover-up right.

The head of HR seems toxic, nasty, and unprofessional.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My prediction is that Dr. McKnight might fire Brian Hull and/or April Key over this. Depending on how much traction this story gets.

But I don't know. She fired Dr. Murphy and a bunch of associate directors involved in the Beidleman scandal, and she clearly made an agreement with her chief of staff Brian Stockton to have him bow out gracefully, but I don't think she can keep pointing the finger at everyone else. If the culture is this toxic, what does that say about her as its leader?

The BOE needs to hold her accountable.

And what if THEY are the source of the problem?

Or...what if it's actually the Superintendent who is the problem???

Or...what if it's actually the Board of Education that refuses to fire Beidleman?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My prediction is that Dr. McKnight might fire Brian Hull and/or April Key over this. Depending on how much traction this story gets.

But I don't know. She fired Dr. Murphy and a bunch of associate directors involved in the Beidleman scandal, and she clearly made an agreement with her chief of staff Brian Stockton to have him bow out gracefully, but I don't think she can keep pointing the finger at everyone else. If the culture is this toxic, what does that say about her as its leader?

The BOE needs to hold her accountable.

And what if THEY are the source of the problem?

Or...what if it's actually the Superintendent who is the problem???

The article reads like a horror story for anyone who works at MCPS, especially the central office. What a mess of an organization. These weren't middling underlings doing this either - I was surprised to see how the head of HR, direct reports to the Super, etc. were all in on it. Not surprising that they're so incompetent that they can't even do their cover-up right.