Last week, we reported that The University of Maryland College of Education had named former MCPS superintendent Dr. Monifa McKnight as its inaugural Dean’s Fellow and Superintendent in Residence, effective August 23. According to the University of Maryland, the new position has been created “to help strengthen partnerships between the college and PK-12 schools across the state.”
McKnight and the Montgomery County Board of Education (BOE) mutually agreed to separate on February 2, 2024 after multiple controversies arose during her tenure as superintendent.
On Saturday, WTOP reported that a change.org petition was created asking the university to reverse its decision to hire Dr. McKnight. The petition has over 1,400 signatures as of Monday, July 15.
Per https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-university-of-maryland-from-hiring-monifa-mcknight: “On July 8th, 2024, the University of Maryland School of Education announced that they were hiring Dr. Monifa McKnight. Dr. McKnight is the former Superintendent of Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland. During her tenure, Dr. McKnight refused to take action against Principal Joel Biedleman, who, over the course of many years, sexually harassed and bullied numerous teachers
According to an investigation conducted by Alexandra Robbins, “between 2016 and March 2023, educators and parents submitted to the school system at least 18 complaints of Beidleman’s sexual harassment and workplace bullying.” According to MCPS procedure, Monifa McKnight should’ve been briefed on many of these complaints. And yet, on June 27th, Monifa McKnight approved the promotion of Joel Biedleman to be the Principal of Paint Branch High School.
Dr. McKnight’s administration actively covered up the allegations against Joel Biedleman. While an internal investigation by Khalid Walker found that Biedleman violated sexual harassment policy, Khalid Walker was later instructed to change his findings that Biedleman didn’t violate policy. It is highly likely that McKnight was involved in this decision, as her name was mentioned multiple times in an outside investigation conducted by a law firm.
There is no place in higher education for a woman like her. Hiring her teaches the wrong lesson to students at the School of Education. It teaches them that if they’re bullied and or sexually harassed by administration or a fellow teacher, they won’t have any recourse. It teaches that bad actors get rewarded with large payouts and cushy academia jobs.
The hiring of Dr. McKnight by the University of Maryland is unacceptable and immoral. She has no place near our future educators and the University must reverse course.”