Council President To Address Why 'Bad Actors' At MCPS Were Not Stopped

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — With the departure of Superintendent Monifa McKnight, the Montgomery County Board of Education is expected to name an interim superintendent on Tuesday.

Until the interim superintendent is named, Brian Hull, chief operating officer of Montgomery County Public Schools, will serve as acting superintendent.

After weeks of tension and public debate about her job performance, the Board of Education said Friday it had reached an agreement with McKnight for her step down as superintendent.

“The Board is grateful to Dr. McKnight for her many years of service to MCPS and public education,” the Board of Education said. “We wish her well in her next chapter. The Board will work together with staff to ensure a smooth transition.”

Montgomery County Council President Andrew Friedson said Friday that the council respects the board and McKnight's "mutual agreement to separate."

READ ALSO: Embattled MOCO Superintendent Monifa McKnight Leaves School District

"Public schools are our most indispensable resource. As MCPS navigates through this leadership transition, we must ensure that educational outcomes, workplace culture, and public trust are at the forefront," Friedson said.

On Thursday, the Montgomery County Council will hold a joint audit and education and culture oversight committee meeting to discuss a Montgomery County’s Office of the Inspector General report issued last month that found several deficiencies in the way Montgomery County Public Schools deals with employee complaints.

Friedson told DC News Now on Monday that the issues that the county council and the Board of Education need to address are not about the performance of one MCPS superintendent. The problems "go back many years and reflect many challenges that we face," he said.

"The inspector general report suggests there are a number of issues that were previously reported that were identified that have not been fixed, that corrective actions were not taken," Friedson said. "That’s what we should be focused on. ... How is it possible that one or two, or a small number of bad actors who are doing horrible things couldn’t have been addressed by a system set up to stop it. That’s what we need to know. That’s what we need to focus on."

An investigation by The Washington Post published in August said the school system had received at least 18 written or verbal complaints about former principal Joel Beidleman dating back to 2016. But last year he was promoted to become principal of Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville. An investigation by the Jackson Lewis law firm of Baltimore found seven more complaints.

The OIG “initiated this review in response to assertions that the inadequate response to alleged misconduct committed by former principal Dr. Joel Beidleman was caused in part by shortcomings in how complaints of employee wrongdoing are handled by Montgomery County Public Schools,” the inspector general’s office said in the report issued last month.

The Montgomery County chapter of the NAACP sent a letter last month to the Board of Education, expressing its support for McKnight.

On Friday, after the announcement of McKnight's departure, Del. Jheanelle Wilkins, who represents part of Montgomery County and serves as chair of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland, said in a statement that the Board of Education "acted without accountability or transparency in ushering the departure of Dr. Monifa McKnight."

"It raises serious concerns about their leadership and the future direction of our school system," Wilkins said. "Dr. McKnight courageously launched an Antiracist System Action Plan to combat systemic racial issues in our schools and support our most marginalized students. Her departure is a loss for our school system at a time that we need strong leadership to tackle the many challenges our system faces."

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