The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

Opinion Montgomery County Public Schools failed its staff

December 11, 2023 at 1:57 p.m. EST
William Farquhar Middle School in Olney. (Robb Hill for The Washington Post)

Regarding the Dec. 2 Metro article “Watchdog identifies evidence of misconduct”:

The Montgomery County Public Schools system should be humiliated. It took a Post investigation to uncover the facts about an allegedly unsavory middle school principal, Joel Beidleman, whom the school system was ready to promote to high school principal.

So let me understand: Seven years and 18 complaints from staff members were apparently not enough to convince Montgomery County Public Schools that Mr. Beidleman was not a good staff member to keep, never mind promote. I wonder what the threshold of complaints needed to be for the school board to have acted.

If I were a staff member in that system, and especially if I had complained, I would be contemplating where else I could work to be listened to and respected.

Jan Ruttkay, Chesapeake Beach, Md.