By Adam Pagnucco.
Dr. Thomas Taylor, MCPS’s new superintendent, has apologized to parents for the school system’s handling of the Montgomery Virtual Academy, which is being eliminated this year as part of the school board’s recently approved operating budget. That budget was approved before Taylor joined MCPS.
In the video below from WUSA-9, Taylor said this in a forum with MVA parents: “I’m sorry that this happened. This is not the way that we should do business. And that you should be communicated with in a more respectful way, in a more proactive way, and I’m just sorry that that happened.”
MoCo360 also reported these remarks by Taylor:
“You should have been talked to, consulted and respected in a different way, and I’m sorry that that didn’t happen,” Taylor told the crowd of roughly 50 gathered in the Rockville High School auditorium for a listening session with the superintendent focused on the now-closed Montgomery Virtual Academy. “Looking at how this all played out in the sequence of events, that’s not what I would like MCPS to be known for.”
Apologies from MCPS superintendents have been unusual in the recent past. I don’t recall Taylor’s predecessor, Monifa McKnight, ever issuing a formal public apology over her handling of the Beidleman scandal. She could have done that in a recent interview with the Washington Post but did not. Instead, the school board apologized for the scandal shortly after forcing out McKnight. Ironically, McKnight did apologize for poor communications and school disruptions in January 2022, issues that paled besides the Beidleman issue that eventually ended her tenure.
Taylor’s apology for an issue in which he had no role in creating is a breath of fresh air. It reinforces the positive first impressions my source network reports about him. Is this the start of a new era of honesty and humility at MCPS?