Anonymous wrote:Ya’ll are calling for firing of a lot of people, including people not implicated in anything yet. Be careful, because once they’re gone they are going to need to be replaced, and the replacements may not be better. Particularly since a lot of people are not going to be looking to be their replacement.

You better start identifying replacements first.

Whether they’re implicated in wrongdoing doesn’t matter because they’re also bad at their jobs.

Anonymous wrote:Ya’ll are calling for firing of a lot of people, including people not implicated in anything yet. Be careful, because once they’re gone they are going to need to be replaced, and the replacements may not be better. Particularly since a lot of people are not going to be looking to be their replacement.

You better start identifying replacements first.

Yeah let’s keep letting these people run MCPS into the ground because their replacements might be worse. Good strategy.

Ya’ll are calling for firing of a lot of people, including people not implicated in anything yet. Be careful, because once they’re gone they are going to need to be replaced, and the replacements may not be better. Particularly since a lot of people are not going to be looking to be their replacement.

You better start identifying replacements first.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

The Post isn't interested in local news for the most part, which is why the reporter went to MOCO 360 with the story. Hats off to her for continuing to pursue the story. Parents Coalition, which is followed by international media, will pick it up the story, as will local TV news. The Post may belatedly run the story.

Anonymous wrote: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.

Is all that extra PR money why all accounts were frozen today? Thanks, MCPS!

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Someone's going to have to pry that $320K salary per year out of her clenched fist to get her to go.

^^^ 100%

ALEXANDRA ROBBINS: Thank you for your continued reporting on this.

Like many MCPS parents, we are not positioned financially to extract our kid from public school. But our child is old enough to have a grasp of what is going on, and to be perplexed that the "values" being taught in MCPS's "leadership development" programs are so absent in the district's actual leadership.

The fact that you are staying on this situation is making it possible for us to express the expectation that corruption doesn't persist forever--especially when people who are incorruptible decide to address it.

We owe you a big one. Thank you for all of this work.

Guys. McKnight basically admitted she knew Biedleman was a creep when she say she did not know there was an active investigation at the time of the promotion. If she didn't know anything about the complaints, she would have said so. Not to mention that she admitted to Jackson Lewis that she knew there was something "swirling around" about him. She knew there were complaints. She probably knew she was promoting him to placate the Faruquar teachers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

why not monifa too?

McKnight*. I haven't seen any evidence she knew what was going on. In a huge school district like MCPS, I would see how she's out of touch with things like this.

The two people implicated in this reporting answer directly to her. They are the chief human resources officer and the chief operations officer. This was handled, badly, at the highest levels of MCPS and by several people who are McKnight's direct reports.

If she wasn't aware that two people who report to her directly were instructing someone directly under them to commit fraud. Just as a breaking news story was coming out, then she's incompetent, which is not a better quality in a leader than just being corrupt. Either could be true at this point though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

why not monifa too?

McKnight*. I haven't seen any evidence she knew what was going on. In a huge school district like MCPS, I would see how she's out of touch with things like this.

What is your relationship to Dr. McKnight that you have an excuse for every mistake she makes? I’m intrigued.

What is your beef with McKnight because I agree with the PP.

Firing McKnight would be a PR move unless someone can prove she had knowledge of the situation. I have not seen anywhere she’s implicated in covering something up or signing off on something in bad faith. In a large organization responsibility and accountability have to be delegated out or nothing gets done. Does the highest person take the hits in the limelight, yes, becuase they are the face of the organization. But they also deserve a chance to clean things up.

It’s like some of ya’ll believe that had someone else been at the helm this wouldn’t have happened.

DP. You and I have much different standards for leaders. The person in charge is responsible for everything the organization does or doesn’t do. In this case, if she knew we both agree she should be fired. I think not knowing about misconduct this outrageous is even worse. Maintaining a culture where all of this happened is worst of all. Leaders set the tone and establish the culture. MCPS is toxic. She needs to go.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

why not monifa too?

McKnight*. I haven't seen any evidence she knew what was going on. In a huge school district like MCPS, I would see how she's out of touch with things like this.

What is your relationship to Dr. McKnight that you have an excuse for every mistake she makes? I’m intrigued.

What is your beef with McKnight because I agree with the PP.

Firing McKnight would be a PR move unless someone can prove she had knowledge of the situation. I have not seen anywhere she’s implicated in covering something up or signing off on something in bad faith. In a large organization responsibility and accountability have to be delegated out or nothing gets done. Does the highest person take the hits in the limelight, yes, becuase they are the face of the organization. But they also deserve a chance to clean things up.

It’s like some of ya’ll believe that had someone else been at the helm this wouldn’t have happened.

My beef is that too many people have been hurt because she either willfully or negligently abdicated her responsibilities as leader. I could go on, but this person sums up my frustrations well, so I’ll put it here again.
“She really has no successes or wins during her tenure to tout. Principals are resigning in huge numbers, test scores and achievement are abysmal, absenteeism is hugely problematic and way higher than other jurisdictions, she got no confidence votes from the teachers, her anti-racism platform hasn’t solved or reduced incidents of hate and bias and has instead incited tribalism into identity groups rather than bringing people together, there was the first school shooting in the district and numerous other violent incidents that are being handled in unsatisfactory ways, don’t forget the whole bus driver fiasco of last year and the year prior, and she’s got a whole cache of retirees in top level acting positions because everyone else either resigned, or was placed on administrative leave. I really wanted to see this person succeed because she comes off to me as bright and positive and thoughtful. But actions speak louder than words, and she has repeatedly failed to deliver really anything good or notable on behalf of the entire school community.”

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

why not monifa too?

McKnight*. I haven't seen any evidence she knew what was going on. In a huge school district like MCPS, I would see how she's out of touch with things like this.

What is your relationship to Dr. McKnight that you have an excuse for every mistake she makes? I’m intrigued.

What is your beef with McKnight because I agree with the PP.

Firing McKnight would be a PR move unless someone can prove she had knowledge of the situation. I have not seen anywhere she’s implicated in covering something up or signing off on something in bad faith. In a large organization responsibility and accountability have to be delegated out or nothing gets done. Does the highest person take the hits in the limelight, yes, becuase they are the face of the organization. But they also deserve a chance to clean things up.

It’s like some of ya’ll believe that had someone else been at the helm this wouldn’t have happened.

I mean, Walker begged her on Dec 1st to get his position back and he's still waiting for a response. You'd think she had the chance then to at least get to the bottom of things but clearly she didn't want to do that. She either knew the real story or she's a fool. Either one shows bad leadership.

Anonymous wrote:Either McKnight knew and is involve or didn’t know and is a fool. Either way is worse than the other

+1 this is really the bottom line.

And P.S. She really has no successes or wins during her tenure to tout. Principals are resigning in huge numbers, test scores and achievement are abysmal, absenteeism is hugely problematic and way higher than other jurisdictions, she got no confidence votes from the teachers, her anti-racism platform hasn’t solved or reduced incidents of hate and bias and has instead incited tribalism into identity groups rather than bringing people together, there was the first school shooting in the district and numerous other violent incidents that are being handled in unsatisfactory ways, don’t forget the whole bus driver fiasco of last year and the year prior, and she’s got a whole cache of retirees in top level acting positions because everyone else either resigned, or was placed on administrative leave. I really wanted to see this person succeed because she comes off to me as bright and positive and thoughtful. But actions speak louder than words, and she has repeatedly failed to deliver really anything good or notable on behalf of the entire school community.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

why not monifa too?

McKnight*. I haven't seen any evidence she knew what was going on. In a huge school district like MCPS, I would see how she's out of touch with things like this.

What is your relationship to Dr. McKnight that you have an excuse for every mistake she makes? I’m intrigued.

What is your beef with McKnight because I agree with the PP.

Firing McKnight would be a PR move unless someone can prove she had knowledge of the situation. I have not seen anywhere she’s implicated in covering something up or signing off on something in bad faith. In a large organization responsibility and accountability have to be delegated out or nothing gets done. Does the highest person take the hits in the limelight, yes, becuase they are the face of the organization. But they also deserve a chance to clean things up.

It’s like some of ya’ll believe that had someone else been at the helm this wouldn’t have happened.