Alexandra Robbins substitute-teaches in Montgomery County Public Schools, in a cluster separate from the ones described in this article; she last subbed in November 2023. Robbins, a freelance journalist, is the author of “The Teachers: A Year Inside America’s Most Vulnerable, Important Profession” and other books about education. This reporting was supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Howard G. Buffett Fund for Women Journalists.
Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Monifa McKnight announced Oct. 13 in an email to employees that, “Effective immediately, a multi-faceted background check will be put in place to ensure that all decision-makers are fully informed about each candidate.” The commitment was among “key updates on our response” to the school board-commissioned report on the district’s handling of sexual harassment and workplace bullying allegations against principal Joel Beidleman. The action plan, McKnight wrote to staff, would lead MCPS “toward a safe and welcoming work environment for employees.”
In the same email, McKnight announced the five interim appointees — four of them MCPS retirees — who would accompany her “Framework for Change.” According to five current and former district leaders, at least one of the appointees was involved with Beidleman’s prior promotions and at least one was the subject of complaints of workplace bullying.
According to interviews with more than three dozen current and former central office employees and school administrators, allegations of cronyism and a lack of accountability, collaboration and clear communication have been ongoing themes of McKnight’s superintendency that have eroded educators’ trust in MCPS leadership, as a disproportionately high number of district officials and principals have left the school system. McKnight announced on Jan. 22 that the school board had asked her to resign and that she would fight the ouster.
The district did not reply to MoCo360’s questions for this story.
LaVerne Kimball, a retiree whom McKnight appointed in October as acting chief in the Office of School Support and Well-Being (OSSWB), may be one of the MCPS employees responsible for the rise of Joel Beidleman. Kimball was the community superintendent who oversaw the schools at which McKnight, Beidleman, Chief of Districtwide Services and Supports Dana Edwards and Chief of Strategic Initiatives Stephanie Sheron were administrators in the early 2010s. In that supervisory position, Kimball would have played a role in recommending Beidleman for promotion three times: to be an assistant principal at Lakelands Park Middle School in 2009, an assistant principal at Roberto Clemente Middle School in 2012 and principal intern at Clemente in 2013, according to three current and former central office leaders who spoke on condition of anonymity because they fear retribution from the school system.
Kimball did not respond to a request for comment.
Lance Dempsey, another of McKnight’s October appointees, was the Northwest High School principal — another position overseen by Kimball — during a period that overlapped with McKnight, Beidleman, Edwards and Sheron’s time as middle school administrators. Dempsey retired in 2020 from her role as the associate superintendent of human resources and development. Her retirement came after several employees submitted workplace bullying complaints about her, according to three former district officials who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation from MCPS. “There wasn’t a week or two that went by without someone calling because of the way Lance talked to them,” said Sue Gindes, who at that time was the director of representation programs for SEIU Local 500, the union for MCPS support staff. “Lance was bullying. A lot of people quit because of her.”
Jill Ortman-Fouse, a school board member at the time, confirmed to MoCo360 that “we received emails voicing these concerns [regarding Dempsey]. The communication we received voiced fear, frustration and bullying complaints.”
In 2020, then-central office staff member Sandy, who requested to be identified by her first name because she fears retaliation from the school system, emailed a complaint, obtained by MoCo360, about a “hostile working environment” under Dempsey to McKnight, then-Superintendent Jack Smith and other officials. Under Dempsey, Sandy alleged in her complaint, “MCPS employees are concerned about the low employee morale, unfair hiring practices, authoritative leadership and overall unethical practices in HR” and the resulting “high turnover in the Office of Human Resources and Department.”
Dempsey, whom McKnight appointed in October as acting associate superintendent in OSSWB, told MoCo360, “I did not engage in any work place bullying while at OHRD.”
At a breakout session during an Oct. 19 Administrator and Supervisory meeting — a meeting for principals and central office administrators — principals raised concerns that McKnight had quickly appointed people from her network rather than employees who might be more likely to improve climate and morale, according to two principals who were present. The principals recalled that a central office representative replied that the appointees wouldn’t have contact with the principals. “What process was used to select the people Monifa selected for the acting positions? Why wasn’t that a joint decision? It happened in a couple days,” one of the principals told MoCo360.
‘The climate … within the system is broken’
At an anti-racist training session for MCPS central office senior leaders in March 2023, facilitators gave a presentation about psychological safety in the workplace. Psychological safety, according to a handout distributed at the meeting and obtained by MoCo360, is “A condition in which you feel (1) included, (2) safe to learn, (3) safe to contribute, and (4) safe to challenge the status quo—all without fear of being embarrassed, marginalized, or punished in some way.” The facilitators surveyed the approximately 60 leaders with the question “Which one better describes your perspective of MCPS?”: psychological danger or psychological safety.
According to four attendees of that session and two central office employees who attended a later session at which facilitators shared the survey results, 80% of the leaders said their workplace was characterized by “psychological danger.”
An attendee explained to MoCo360 that leaders didn’t feel psychologically safe because “When we spoke up, we were dismissed and there were repercussions. [Leadership] silenced us in meetings, shot down initiatives, bullied us in front of subordinates, excluded us from important meetings and questioned our work publicly,” said the official, who said they left MCPS because of this treatment and spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution by the school system. “It was awful because all the leaders of color had several burdens, the burden of the lived trauma of racism in our work daily, the burden to help the system deal with it while also traumatized ourselves and the burden to keep quiet [in] a hostile and unsafe [work] environment.”
A “lengthy list” of central office leaders have left the school system in the last two years, said Montgomery County Councilmember Dawn Luedtke (D-Dist. 7). “When this many people exit leadership roles in such a short period of time, it signals that the climate and culture of employment within the system is broken.”
Since September alone and for reasons they did not publicize, central office employees including Deputy Superintendent Patrick Murphy, Chief of Staff Brian Stockton, Ombudsperson Ryvell Fitzpatrick, Assistant General Counsel Danielle Miller and MCPS Chief Safety Officer Pamela Wheeler-Taylor—who had been in MCPS for less than five months—left the district.
The former employees did not respond to requests for comment on the reasons they left MCPS.
MCPS spokesperson Chris Cram told MoCoShow on Jan. 6 that “Brian Stockton was recently married (in October) and tried to maintain a long distance relationship, but ultimately has decided to join his new wife in a new city, and we wish him well as he begins this new chapter. His wife, who is also a leader in education, has convinced him to bring his talents to a new community.”
According to the Bellwood School District 88 website, Stockton’s wife is the superintendent of a school system in Illinois. On Jan. 25, the Arlington County School Board, in Virginia, enthusiastically announced that Stockton would be the Arlington Public Schools chief of staff effective Feb. 5.
‘This is unprecedented’
Principals, too, are leaving the district in high numbers. On Dec. 15, the MCPS Jobs website had listings posted for 18 principal positions in the county: six high schools, five middle schools and seven elementary schools. Walter Johnson High School Principal Jennifer Baker, Seneca Valley High School Principal Marc Cohen, Clarksburg High School Principal Edward Owusu and North Chevy Chase Elementary School Principal Renee Wallace Kimbrue left the district mid-year.
Damascus High School Principal Kevin Yates informed his community Jan. 11 that he would retire at the end of the year. This week, Montgomery Blair High School Principal Renay Johnson, John T. Baker Middle School Principal Louise Worthington and Gaithersburg Middle School Principal Ann Dolan also announced they will retire at the end of the school year.
If all the positions are filled, at least 30% of high schools will have first-year principals in the fall. (The district considers formerly acting principals first-year principals when they are hired into the role.)
None of the principals cited district problems in announcing their exits.
Both the number of posted principal positions and the mid-year departures are unusually high, said Debra Munk, president of the Montgomery County Public Schools Retirees Association. “I can’t recall ever losing four principals in the middle of the year before—this is unprecedented.” Munk said that the concerns her members have mentioned regarding central office’s top leadership have included: “The leadership has been confusing, communication hasn’t been good and there hasn’t been clarity of expectations.”
In testimony Oct.12 to the school board, MCAAP President Christine Handy said, “I’ve been informed by our leaders that morale is low.”
An elementary school principal wept when she explained to MoCo360 that principals feel unsupported by central office leadership. “We can’t speak up because of intimidation and retaliation. There’s so much mistrust with administrators and central office,” she said. “It’s lonely because nobody in your building gets it; central office is too busy letting it all roll downhill. It’s the loneliest feeling I’ve ever had in my life, being an administrator right now in the county.”
On Oct. 16, some central office staff also indicated that their morale was low in feedback to leadership on the interim appointments, district communications and other issues. MCPS leaders invited central office employees to a “Central Services Zoom with Dr. McKnight” during which “Dr. McKnight will discuss recent staffing changes and assignments, as well as the district’s path moving forward,” according to an email obtained by MoCo360. When McKnight didn’t show — the district later announced she was on medical leave — following a brief update on the new staffing changes, employees divided into breakout rooms. In at least one room, central office staff could provide feedback on a shared Google doc.
Comments from that internal document, obtained by MoCo360, included:
- “We keep changing personnel and bringing retired MCPS staff back, when are we going to get to the root of the issue?”
- “What are the students going to think about bullying when it[’]s actually happening within the leadership, etc. of MCPS. W[e] must do better.”
- “Many heard the news in the media not straight from MCPS. This brings a lack of trust and transparency. While MCPS is trying to address the failures, it feels more like damage control.”
- “…people at MCPS fear retaliation. This is a real thing to the employees at MCPS. I hope that leadership investigates, and makes changes to make our staff feel safe again, and not afraid to do their jobs without fear of retaliation.”
- “Trust within central office seems more fractured now.”
The document “really shows how the central office masses feel. Lots of people feel the same,” said a central office employee. “Central office leadership — non-exec staff, director and below — do not feel safe or supported. There are a lot of really, really unhappy MCPS people in Central Office.”
One of the central office feedback comments included, “It[’]s WHO you know when it comes to MCPS.” Similarly, 38 current and former central office employees and administrators told MoCo360 that McKnight appears to exhibit a pattern of promoting friends and longtime colleagues.
In May 2021, then-acting superintendent McKnight shook up the school system’s executive leadership structure by creating five new “chief” positions above the associate superintendents. Associate Superintendent of Human Resources and Development Helen Nixon’s role was re-titled Chief of Human Resources and Development. Despite the chiefs being the highest ranked positions under the superintendent’s office, the other four jobs were posted for approximately two weeks before McKnight filled them, according to two central office officials present at the time.
The MCPS Twitter account on May 25, 2021 announced the appointments of Dana Edwards, Stephanie Sheron, Ruschelle Reuben (chief of teaching, learning and schools) and Jeanie Dawson (chief of finance and operations) to the four additional chief roles.
Three of the chiefs’ tenures as middle school principals overlapped with McKnight’s, and Sheron, who was a middle school principal from 2018-2020, was McKnight’s assistant principal at Ridgeview Middle School from 2013-2016, according to Board of Education reports.
“It did not go unnoticed that a bunch of middle school principals were suddenly promoted to very high levels at the beginning of her tenure,” said Jennifer Martin, president of the Montgomery County Education Association, the teachers union. “It did certainly raise eyebrows.”
In FY2023, employees in the chief roles were among the top 10 salary earners in MCPS, at $226,244 per year, according to data obtained by MoCo360 via a Maryland Public Information Act request.
MCPS placed Edwards on administrative leave beginning Tuesday, according to a screenshot of an internal central office email obtained by MoCo360. MCPS spokesman Chris Cram confirmed the leave on Wednesday.
‘Observed deficiencies’
Several central office employees said the Jan. 24 Montgomery County Inspector General’s report about failings in the Department of Compliance and Investigation demonstrated McKnight’s lack of accountability. In a statement that day, McKnight called the OIG’s report “an important step… so no one within the MCPS family ever has to endure unchecked abuse, harassment, bullying or retaliation again.” She added, “As I’ve said from day one, these issues may not have started on my watch, but as superintendent, they will end on my watch.”
According to the same OIG report, MCPS’s internal findings of significant problems in DCI occurred in January 2022. McKnight was the interim MCPS superintendent during that period. “Although informed of the concerns, MCPS failed to implement appropriate corrective actions,” Inspector General Megan Davey Limarzi wrote.
Even basic warnings appear to have gone unheeded at the time. According to the OIG report, when the MCPS Office of Human Resources and Development (OHRD) reviewed DCI in 2022, its findings included that the qualifications “represented in the job descriptions for the [DCI] director and coordinator positions seem inadequate to lead and meet the charge of the office.” But the MCPS website indicates that the job description of the DCI director position was not revised until September 2023 and that of DCI coordinator was not revised until August 2023. MCPS learned about upcoming media coverage of the Beidleman allegations in July 2023, according to the board-commissioned report by Baltimore-based law firm Jackson Lewis.
In 2022, OHRD separately discussed directly with McKnight the need for DCI to better track cases, a former OHRD official told MoCo360 on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation by McKnight. A second OHRD employee at the time told MoCo360 that the office raised additional concerns to McKnight that DCI director Michaele Simmons might not be the best fit for the job. To the employees’ recollections, the concerns were not addressed. Simmons, according to the Jackson Lewis report, violated the MCPS Employee Code of Conduct during the internal investigation of a 2023 formal complaint against Beidleman.
Simmons retired from the district Nov. 30, according to her attorney, Rene Sandler. Sandler told MoCo360 in a written statement, “The erroneous information flowing from ‘sources’ at MCPS and public officials who should know better are not fact or evidenced based; rather the information is intended to publicly smear a dedicated public school employee who told the truth. In reality, my client was too good a fit for the position in that she demanded that due process and ethical standards be maintained each and every day.”
Limarzi wrote in the OIG report, “Not taking action on observed deficiencies and choosing not to implement recommendations contributes to MCPS’s inability to appropriately respond to serious employee health and safety risks, degrades confidence in MCPS, and may leave staff vulnerable to other employees’ misconduct.”
Ray Frappoli, who directed a previous iteration of the MCPS compliance department, the Department of Performance Evaluation and Compliance, for 12 years until he retired in 2013, said his department followed strict procedures and protocols, used a database to track complaints and never received a concerned phone call from the inspector general. “We didn’t have complaints [that] we handled allegations improperly. I don’t know what happened with that department.”
Ortman-Fouse said the OIG report was the latest in a string of developments that have spotlighted problems in the school system. “The board is entrusted with confidential data and information to provide oversight and make tough decisions,” she said. “We know large numbers of senior leaders have left MCPS, many staff have voiced fear of retribution in interviews and there’s clear evidence in the OIG report that recommended actions were not taken to keep staff and students safer. [By asking McKnight to resign], the board may be responding to these major culture issues, and perhaps more.”
MCEA Vice President Nikki Woodward told MoCo360, “It’s clear that the board of education believes Dr. McKnight is not the leader who can rebuild staff morale and the trust of the community in MCPS. It’s apparent they are not taking this step lightly. Dr. McKnight joined top leadership in MCPS in 2019, so she has had over three years to address longstanding problems staff have faced.”
In her Jan. 22 statement in which she announced that the school board had asked her to resign, McKnight said she “will defend my reputation and my decades-long commitment to the students and families of MCPS.”
McKnight did not specify staff.
MoCo360 Executive Editor Anne Tallent contributed to this article.