By Adam Pagnucco.
The University of Maryland (UMD) has hired former MCPS Superintendent Monifa McKnight as “its inaugural Dean’s Fellow and Superintendent in Residence,” an event which was covered by the Washington Post. McKnight left MCPS in the wake of a crushing scandal over sexual harassment that was the school system’s worst crisis in recent memory.
The University of Maryland announces its hire of McKnight on X.
The question on a lot of people’s minds is: why? One of my readers put that question directly to UMD’s leadership and forwarded the response to me. The reader wrote, “This is in response to an email that I sent to the president of UMD, where I expressed my astonishment that McKnight had been hired in spite of her record at MCPS.”
I reprint the reply sent by UMD’s dean of its College of Education below.
*****
Dear [Redacted]:
The President’s office shared your message with me. I appreciate your feedback and understand your concern. While your message was not addressed to me, I hope you’ll allow me to respond.
The College of Education aims to become more strategic and impactful in our work, and to do so, we must build stronger and sustained partnerships with school leaders, elected officials, and other members of the education community. These goals are aligned with Dr. McKnight’s expertise and experience, and it’s my hope that our consultation and collaboration will allow us to make connections and better align our work with the real needs of schools and educators in this critical moment. My leadership of the college is rooted in my commitments to care, community, and impact, and I can assure you that I will stay closely connected to this work as it evolves and I will work hard to advance our collective success.
Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.
Sincerely,
Kimberly
—
Kimberly A. Griffin, Ph.D.
kgriff29@umd.edu
Professor and Dean
College of Education, University of Maryland
education.umd.edu
Pronouns: she, her, hers
*****
In a related development, a local resident started a Change.org petition on Wednesday calling on UMD to not hire McKnight, citing her handling of MCPS’s sexual harassment scandal. The petition has so far attracted hundreds of signatures, including from UMD graduates.
It will be interesting to see whether the university, which is (like MCPS) funded by tax dollars, responds to these petitioners. If any signer gets a response, please pass it along.