It’s been a whirlwind of a week at Montgomery County Public Schools after Superintendent Monifa McKnight refused to step down after the Board of Education asked her to resign. Many are wondering about the next steps for the embattled superintendent who has about two more years left on her contract.
“I will defend my reputation and my decades-long commitment to the students and families of MCPS and will demand that any considerations of my role as superintendent are made through a fair, legitimate, and legal process — anything less would be unacceptable,” McKnight said in a statement Monday.
The Board of Education has made one statement about the dispute that cited the situation as a “personnel matter” that members would not be commenting on further at this time. School board members have not articulated to the public their next steps in the employment dispute.
So, what’s next for the superintendent? McKnight has hired attorney Jason Downs—a former chief deputy attorney general for Washington, D.C.—and continues to attend school board work sessions and public hearings discussing the superintendent’s recommended $3.32 billion fiscal year 2025 operating budget.
At meetings in the past week, neither McKnight nor school board members have acknowledged or commented on the dispute. At the meetings McKnight supporters filled the board room seats and rallied outside school board headquarters with signs supporting the superintendent.
Downs has not responded to MoCo360’s multiple calls and emails requesting comment on the matter.
According to one expert, McKnight may continue to ride out the rest of her term unless the Board of Education decides to terminate her employment contract. Her contract states her employment can be terminated based on:
- Material breach of the terms and conditions of the contract by either party
- Mutual agreement of the parties; retirement or resignation by the superintendent
- Permanent disability
- Upon written recommendation by the board to the Maryland State Board of Education
- Death of the superintendent
“If the board wants her out, she’s out. But it may cost them a great deal of money,” said David Super, a professor of law at Georgetown Law, referring to district legal fees and severance paid to McKnight.
McKnight earned $342,400 in 2023. Her contract expires June 30, 2026.
“Asking her to step down is not the same thing as firing. I think many of us have had bosses that would be thrilled if we would step down but are not prepared to fire us—and she clearly has an employer that doesn’t want her anymore but that doesn’t mean they will fire her,” he added.
If the school board and its lawyers cannot find any legal justification for her termination, then McKnight may stay superintendent as long as she wants to until 2026, Super told MoCo360. But, if the board does find that it has grounds to terminate her and follow through, McKnight can also sue the board for breach of contract, he said.
“It’s really going to come down to whether they [the board members] can show misconduct of some kind. And if so, then they would be able to defend their actions if they attempt to fire her and found that they were not justified for breach of contract,” Super added.
According to Super, most courts wouldn’t force the board to rehire McKnight, if that were the case—because the relationship is already broken—but the board could be liable for her salary for the remainder of the contract. And, he said, if the board damaged McKnight’s reputation, the court could find that she is entitled to additional damages for that reason.
He added that if her contract is terminated, the superintendent could also file a lawsuit against the school board.
Though the school board has not publicly articulated its reasoning for asking McKnight to step down, many believe that fallout after the sexual misconduct scandal involving former Farquhar Middle School Principal Joel Beidleman and the district’s mishandling of complaints against him have caused the board to act. More than 20 complaints were filed against the principal alleging sexual misconduct, bullying and retaliation.
Earlier this month, MoCo360 reported on allegations by Khalid Walker, a compliance investigator, who said he had been told to reverse a finding that Beidleman had engaged in sexual misconduct and that he was retaliated against by two senior-level MCPS officials. During McKnight’s tenure, MCPS has also struggled with chronic absenteeism, a spike in antisemitic incidents and staffing shortages.
Since word surfaced late Monday that McKnight was fighting the ouster, light has been cast on more problems: MoCo360 reported Monday evening that a law firm’s report showed that McKnight did not immediately inform the board about an internal investigation into Beidleman, and that there were numerous instances when her deputies should have informed her of complaints against him. Wednesday’s OIG report faulted the district for failing to clean up its investigative processes despite four warnings since 2019.
Beidleman is no longer employed by the district as of Wednesday, MCPS spokesman Chris Cram said in a statement that day. Walker will be restored to his original position, as of Monday.
According to McKnight, the school board has provided her with no justification for its request, “has never written, documented or communicated any concerns about [her] performance” and has affirmed that she has met expectations.
In an interview with Fox 5 on Wednesday, McKnight, who is the first Black woman at the helm of the state’s largest school system, said she believes she is being treated differently than the men who led the district before her.
But McKnight is not the district’s only superintendent to face ouster by the board. Joshua Starr was the superintendent from 2011 until he resigned in 2015.
According to Starr, he was forced to resign at the completion of his contract after he did not have enough votes from school board members to renew his contract.
“When it became clear I was being forced to resign, I agreed rather than go through four months of lame duck status,” Starr told MoCo360. “I didn’t want to leave, but the board has the right to choose who they want as superintendent, and I wasn’t going to fight it. I served at their pleasure, and I served at the community’s pleasure. If you know you’re going down, it’s their call. No superintendent has the right to the job.”
For Starr, who is also an MCPS parent, the dispute calls into question the ability of the school system to serve its students while there is turmoil at the top.
“When there is fighting between the superintendent and the board—broadly, in general, this is not about MCPS—does it hinder the ability to move the system forward in ways that it needs to be done?” he said. “And you know, that’s the question that public servants are obligated to ask, and the board and the superintendent are public servants.”
Starr declined to comment on his opinion of McKnight fighting against her ouster.
Coming up on Feb. 8, the County Council is holding a joint oversight meeting with the Audit and Education and Culture committees to discuss the findings of the latest OIG report. The meeting will be open to the public.
At a previous Council hearing related to the Beidleman investigation, council members grilled McKnight and Board President Karla Silvestre about the allegations and MCPS processes. Council members also urged the board to release the investigative report from Baltimore-based law firm Jackson Lewis to the public. A heavily redacted version of the report was released about a week after.
This week, council leaders and County Executive Marc Elrich expressed disappointment in how the district has handled the entire situation.
Board members are elected and are not part of the county’s executive branch. However, the council does have power over the school system’s funding. Adam Pagnucco of Montgomery Perspective noted that state law allows the council to remove school board members.
Additionally, Parents’ Coalition of Montgomery County—an MCPS watchdog group—pointed out that Montgomery County Code states that the council has the power to issue subpoenas and administer the oath to any witness examined before the council.
Unions, parents, advocacy groups and other observers have staked out varying positions this week on appropriate next steps.
The county’s teachers’ union, the Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA), said the school board was justified in seeking McKnight’s resignation and called out “serious problems” with the superintendent’s leadership.
MCEA stated that McKnight was “more concerned with protecting herself and her close associates than with doing right by front-line staff and students” and “threatens to furth damage not only her own future, but also the board’s efforts to restore the public’s trust.”
Concern is also growing in the Montgomery County Council of Parent-Teacher Associations (MCCPTA), according to a statement from the group on Wednesday. MCCPTA urged the district to pursue “system-wide accountability and transparency, including prompt disclosure and resolution of these issues” so focus can be returned to safe working, teaching and learning environments.
Suzanne Hickey, a retired MCPS paraeducator of 25 years, said she thinks McKnight should “step aside” gracefully.
“It’s irresponsible of her to drag down the MCPS community,” Hickey said. “That being said, I don’t know the insides and outsides of the personnel situation—that is not my business to know that. But it’s a stain. It’s a stain on our county, the things that have happened in the last few years.”
Hickey said that while working at an elementary school during the pandemic, she felt that McKnight and school leaders did not prioritize the social-emotional well-being of students. She said that she also felt that the school board ignored the teachers’ and principals’ unions votes of “no confidence” before appointing McKnight.
However, Hickey agrees with the board’s request to resign. “It makes perfect sense to me that they have to stem the tide of this nonfunctioning situation,” she said.
The Montgomery County chapter of the Nation Association for the Advancement of Colored People (MC/NAACP) has received more than 15 letters written to the school board expressing support for McKnight, according to President Linda Plummer.
In a letter to the board, Plummer urged the members to abandon efforts to oust the superintendent and support her work to repair the school system.
“It appears that the Board is attempting to scapegoat Dr. McKnight. We note that expediency is rarely a means to justice and often compromises principle,” Plummer wrote. “…We believe that implementation of a fair and efficient complaint process will benefit the staff and students of [MCPS] and bring about greater public trust and individual accountability.”
MoCo360 contributor Alexandra Robbins contributed to this report. Robbins substitute-teaches in Montgomery County Public Schools, in a cluster separate from the ones described in this article.