Anonymous wrote:This is such a weird post.

"I'm from the Midwest, where people aren't political"

....

"I'm going to link this political story FROM THE MIDWEST as an example of what I fear is happening in the mid-Atlantic."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our principal holds a get together in the spring for incoming parents of K students. At this event, in response to an at best tangentially related question, she stated that she would never go to an MD beach to spite the current R governor. (The governor mandated that schools start after Labor Day in large part to help businesses at the MD beaches.)

Regardless of what you think of starting school later, or the governor more broadly, it is crazy that she would make such a sharp political jab at a welcoming event. Either she didn't care, or she just assumed every would agree with her, neither of which is really ok.

I will bet you dollars to donuts she didn't mention "Republican" - that she just said she would never go to the beaches to spite the Governor, or that she would never go to the beaches because of the Governor's EO. That's not partisan politics, that's disagreement with a policy that the governor implemented (that is contrary to all educational research, and makes life harder for innumerable people).

FWIW, I feel the same way as she does, and I'm voting for Hogan.

Anonymous wrote:We are transplants coming from Midwest. Mostly apolitical middle 'flyover' America (but a bluish leaning state)...

School systems were much smaller but fairly good. Nowhere near the resources of MCPS but smaller so not necessarily needing such resources. Overall MCPS schools seem pretty good but we've noticed a Democrat leaning favoritism in the schools we've been (IE going to the Library and seeing President Books displayed... all Dems with the lone Republican being Teddy Roosevelt). No real biggie as most schools tend towards the Left side of the political spectrum. Kind of a given.

Maryland is a bit of a conundrum for us, MoCo seems very Liberal (Baltimore too) I.E. neighbors have 'hate has no home here' signs, impeach trump placards, the many language welcome sign, yet the state elected a Republican Governor. Except for a few days before elections, back home you would never see lawn placards.

Anyway the point of all this is... there is definitely a partisan vibe here even though it seems a blue state open minded enough to elect a 'red' governor. Then I read this:

http://www.startribune.com/rosemount-educator-on-leave-after-tweeting-kill-kavanaugh/495903561/

(essentially a School teacher from mild mannered Minnesota tweeting assassination recommendations. A school teacher!.)

My impression of MCPS is despite its bias towards the Dems, everyone seems pretty amiable and reasonable.

Please reassure me we don't have teachers like this here... because if this can happen in Minnesota... (close to my home and we don't see any of the partisanship displayed on the streets as we see here) could such be here within MCPS? We want my children to be exposed to all kinds of peoples, beliefs, and political view points... but not radical view points... so whats your feelings regarding MCPS? Does everyone get a fair shake or are the children taught to hate (right or left)?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm from the Midwest, and I think your first mistake is to assume that the leanings in Montgomery County are "political" in nature. In case it really hasn't sunk in yet, this area is one of the most diverse in the country - in every dimension (race, religion, SES, etc.) You really have a hard time living around here if you somehow believe certain people are "less than" other people. If you think immigrants should go back to where they came from, this is not the county for you. Teachers in the school system especially have to value each and every student for who they are. If that is not a core value, you can't be a good teacher here. So yes, most teachers in this county will be able to say "black lives matter" because they understand the historical and current systemic oppression happening to people of color. That doesn't make them radicalized, nor does it make them Democrats. It makes them empathetic and caring about the needs of others (typically a core value of teachers.)

You also have to consider that there are two traditional axes on the political spectrum - socially liberal or conservative, and fiscally liberal or conservative. I would say there is a definite socially liberal slant in the county (diversity again) but a slight lean towards fiscally conservative (depends on the year and the issues.) As to why we have Hogan - Democrats didn't vote that year because they weren't very inspired by their nominee for governor, and assumed everyone else would vote. There were a lot of surprised (and pissed) people when they woke up with a Republican governor. It hasn't had a huge effect because there is a democratic super-majority in the Assembly, so Hogan can't veto a lot of legislation. But irritatingly, he takes credit for things he has opposed, and people who don't understand how the government works or follow the details think he is responsible. That's why he is still popular. MoCo broadly hates him, because Hogan has made no secret that he hates MoCo. He has withheld funding for school buildings that was approved by the general assembly, he has shifted transportation funds away from MoCo towards the Eastern Shore (real nice new 4 lane highway out there). He made a pretty close to unworkable mandate about school year start and end dates, and followed up with scathingly nasty letters to the BOE when they asked for clarifications or modifications. Hope that quick history gives you some sense of why we are where we are. For more, you can head to the Politics Forum, if you dare.

OP here. My first mistake? I didn't express political beliefs just my very general observation (yes perhaps stereotyped midwest vs east coast) of the local scene... but from a neutral perspective. Why are you projecting belief systems on me? Perhaps because the the article called out a teacher radicalized to the Left. it could have been an article about a rightwing radical but my guess is such a teacher would have been ID'd and rooted out sooner in this area.

Let me simplify this. In Midwest... people are less outwardly political yet in Minnesota this, perhaps disturbed, teacher thought such comments were perfectly OK
Maryland is more outward politically (yet I think a open minded state... thus the traditional blue state did elect a red governor) So the question is; is this an environment where there could be more teachers like the one in Minnesota, or less, or is it a non issue and that teacher is a one and done.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our principal holds a get together in the spring for incoming parents of K students. At this event, in response to an at best tangentially related question, she stated that she would never go to an MD beach to spite the current R governor. (The governor mandated that schools start after Labor Day in large part to help businesses at the MD beaches.)

Regardless of what you think of starting school later, or the governor more broadly, it is crazy that she would make such a sharp political jab at a welcoming event. Either she didn't care, or she just assumed every would agree with her, neither of which is really ok.

I will bet you dollars to donuts she didn't mention "Republican" - that she just said she would never go to the beaches to spite the Governor, or that she would never go to the beaches because of the Governor's EO. That's not partisan politics, that's disagreement with a policy that the governor implemented (that is contrary to all educational research, and makes life harder for innumerable people).

FWIW, I feel the same way as she does, and I'm voting for Hogan.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our principal holds a get together in the spring for incoming parents of K students. At this event, in response to an at best tangentially related question, she stated that she would never go to an MD beach to spite the current R governor. (The governor mandated that schools start after Labor Day in large part to help businesses at the MD beaches.)

Regardless of what you think of starting school later, or the governor more broadly, it is crazy that she would make such a sharp political jab at a welcoming event. Either she didn't care, or she just assumed every would agree with her, neither of which is really ok.

She's probably angry because the Gov put beach business over student welfare. This condensed calendar is not in the best academic interest of students. Maybe the way it came out wasn't the most appropriate, but I don't know that I'd call that political. Her ability to help students learn and retain info is directly affected by Hogan's (& Franchot's -- a Dem) policy.

I may not have described it in the best way. It was very clearly and unambiguously a political statement and stated a dislike for the governor beyond simply this policy point, although that was the focus.

It is not as clear cut as you present it that the slight delay to the start of school has any impact on students or their education. But let's say it were. I still do not think it is is appropriate for a principal at a welcoming event to make pointedly political remarks.

The idea of a welcoming event is to make the incoming parents feel welcome. For all she knows, someone who works with the governor could be a parent. She certainly should assume that, even in this area, there would be a few Republicans. There are almost certainly people who like the policy, or don't view it as a big deal, in the crowd.

Think what would (and should) occur if almost any other group or view point had been criticized at "welcome" event.

Anonymous wrote:Hogan laughed at MoCo over the opposition to the Ocean City school calendar policy. He hates MoCo and does not respect the school’s here.

Anonymous wrote:When my son was in first grade, his MOCO teacher wore an Obama shirt with his picture and a raised fist to school. I had a conference with her that afternoon and she spent 20 minutes talking about Obama. She was also a horrible teacher. Zero classroom control. Inappropriate language in the classroom. She threatened to smack a child. I was there and heard it. I complained to the principal. He told he he had expressed his concerns about her to his leadership and was told that she was "untouchable".

I am a liberal Dem. Needless to say, we moved to Fairfax.

Anonymous wrote:We are transplants coming from Midwest. Mostly apolitical middle 'flyover' America (but a bluish leaning state)...

School systems were much smaller but fairly good. Nowhere near the resources of MCPS but smaller so not necessarily needing such resources. Overall MCPS schools seem pretty good but we've noticed a Democrat leaning favoritism in the schools we've been (IE going to the Library and seeing President Books displayed... all Dems with the lone Republican being Teddy Roosevelt). No real biggie as most schools tend towards the Left side of the political spectrum. Kind of a given.

Maryland is a bit of a conundrum for us, MoCo seems very Liberal (Baltimore too) I.E. neighbors have 'hate has no home here' signs, impeach trump placards, the many language welcome sign, yet the state elected a Republican Governor. Except for a few days before elections, back home you would never see lawn placards.

Anyway the point of all this is... there is definitely a partisan vibe here even though it seems a blue state open minded enough to elect a 'red' governor. Then I read this:

http://www.startribune.com/rosemount-educator-on-leave-after-tweeting-kill-kavanaugh/495903561/

(essentially a School teacher from mild mannered Minnesota tweeting assassination recommendations. A school teacher!.)

My impression of MCPS is despite its bias towards the Dems, everyone seems pretty amiable and reasonable.

Please reassure me we don't have teachers like this here... because if this can happen in Minnesota... (close to my home and we don't see any of the partisanship displayed on the streets as we see here) could such be here within MCPS? We want my children to be exposed to all kinds of peoples, beliefs, and political view points... but not radical view points... so whats your feelings regarding MCPS? Does everyone get a fair shake or are the children taught to hate (right or left)?