School Officials Trying To 'Scapegoat' Superintendent McKnight: NAACP

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — The Montgomery County chapter of the NAACP sent a letter to the Board of Education, expressing its support for Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Monifa McKnight.

Last week, McKnight said she was asked to step down as superintendent by members of the Board of Education. She said the school board has provided “no justification for their request.”

In the letter last Thursday, Linda Plummer, president of the Montgomery County Branch of the NAACP, said the civil rights organization finds it “deeply troubling” that the request for McKnight to resign “would be made without a full and fair opportunity for Dr. McKnight to address any concerns which may have led to this action.”

Plummer said if no explanation of any deficiencies in her performance were provided, “it would appear that such a request is based on factors which are external to Dr. McKnight’s performance and comprise a politically expedient solution to address press reports about systemic failure in the MCPS’s process for handling employee complaints — a process which predates her tenure and for which the Board shares responsibility.”

“In essence, it appears that the Board is attempting to scapegoat Dr. McKnight,” Plummer said.

The NAACP branch urged the Board of Education to abandon its efforts to oust McKnight and instead focus on empowering her efforts to address the “systemic failures of the MCPS process for handling complaints,” Plummer added.

Last week, Montgomery County’s Office of the Inspector General issued a report that found several deficiencies in the way Montgomery County Public Schools deals with employee complaints.

The OIG was asked by the Montgomery County Council to investigate how the school district handles sexual misconduct complaints after former principal Joel Beidleman was promoted despite being accused of sexual harassment and bullying over several years.

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.

RELATED:

• MoCo Schools Superintendent In Battle For Job With School Board
• MoCo Schools In Disarray As Report Faults Handling Of Staff Misconduct