Mental health therapist (LCPC) spec in kids/fams & schools. Mom & fierce advocate. Outspoken & liberal. 🇮🇹 A little sugar, but mostly spice. Opinions my own🟦
Picked up my son Tanner from his private school today. First thing he said: “Mom! It was a great day!” Me: “What happened buddy?” Him: “We are going mask optional as of Monday!!” The joy on his face was indescribable! Thank you
@ADWCathSchools
for allowing my son this joy!
🧵1/
This is a very disappointing article from
@washingtonpost
. So much drama & embellishment. As someone who isn’t conservative at all & wholeheartedly disagrees w/ masking, the headline is nothing more than a feeble attempt at furthering division. Pathetic.
@heymrsbond
I’m not Jewish & have said this for a long time (and I didn’t grow up or go to college or grad school w/ anyone Jewish). I have a friend who is Greek Orthodox & she’s always said it too. I don’t think that wanting someone’s memory to be a blessing is only a Jewish sentiment.🤷🏻♀️
@proftinkerbell
@vlal42
School is more than academics. Kids were cut off from their peer & team/club support systems. For many, it’s about the building itself bc for some, the bldg is the only safe place they have. The only warm place. The only place they get/feel love. You can’t get that on a screen.
@AmerAcadPeds
You should probably stay in your lane on this one AAP.
Though, I’m not sure what your lane is at this point because it sure has hell isn’t kids or the science behind what’s best medically for them (read: pediatrics).
I testified at today’s
@mocoboe
meeting. 2 teachers who were victims of Beidelman entrusted me to deliver their words bc they can’t do it themselves publicly. I was honored they allowed me to do it, but sad that I had to. Listen to & read the testimonies. They are powerful.
Here’s the video proof that
@mocoboe
prez
@brendawolff1
ignored a student request for a moment of silence for the families of
@MCPS
who have lost a child to a disease of despair. We will not forgive or forget your callousness tonight Ms. Wolff.
@EbonyJHilton_MD
What if you had Covid in April 2020? Is it still “long Covid” even though it was 2+ yrs ago?🙄 As an MD it’s irresponsible & dangerous for you to post things like this on social media. This is the like ppl DXing themselves via Google based on some SXs. It ⬆️ anx & never ends well
@sarahbeth345
@JReinerMD
The fact that he even used the word “convince” is very telling.
When has anyone ever had to “convince” the majority of people to get a vaccination? Reflect on *why* he had to use the word for this vaccine/booster, and I think we will all have our answer.
@proftinkerbell
@vlal42
Seems you were a lucky one to live in a place that didn’t keep schools closed for over a year. Kids here are paying the price for schools being closed basically until the 21-22 school year. I’m willing to let closures from March-June 2020 slide. Anything beyond that was criminal.
My
@mocoboe
testimony from today. This was my most powerful one yet. I shook for several mins after and shook again watching it back. I don’t think any of them were really listening, but I won’t stop trying.
Yup. That just happened.
@mocoboe
prez
@brendawolff1
ignored an
@MCPS
student’s request to take a moment of silence for the families who don’t have their kids w/ them anymore bc of recent student suicides. She cut the young girl off & called the next speaker.
#bully
#nocompassion
I want to sincerely thank everyone that supported me & had my back during my
@mocoboe
run. It’s sad that MoCo just wants more of the same, but I did my best, was true to myself & didn’t let the haters get me down! (Though it felt AMAZING to block all of them now!) Thank you all❤️
This statement is a load of BS. “Taking immediate action, claiming to be “appalled”- they knew about this & they said & did nothing until it came out publicly. This is their MO. Always has been. Cover it up. Shuffle ppl around. Here are numerous (13) links which prove this:
🧵
@LadyFairfaxVA
Quite possibly the best tweet thread I’ve ever read. Every word resonates w/ me. I feel all of it in my soul. Let’s not forget the smears & terrible things we were called simply bc of our advocacy to get our kids back in school. It was all worth it though & I’d/I’ll do it again.
.
@MCPS
/
@mocoboe
is paying McKnight $1.3M & she agrees not to sue? SUE FOR WHAT?? She did a💩job & got caught covering for a sexual predator. There are kids still not getting IEP services bc of SpEd shortage & she gets over a million!
DISGUSTING! SHAMEFUL!
Are we seriously celebrating that 25% of 3rd-8th graders are proficient? Up a whopping 3% from the 22% of last year? This is not cause for celebration. This is a goddamn embarrassment. How about instead of celebrating you apologize & offer all kids in-person, intensive tutoring?
Climbing back from the impact of the pandemic, MCAP math scores are on the road to recovery! 25% of students in grades 3-8 tested proficient which surpasses the 22% of students proficient in 2022.
Learn more: <
@freyas_house
@Campbels12
I’m a MH therapist & I work in early childhood. I’ve made more referrals for speech, OT, and other evals than ever before. The damage done to kids, especially our littlest learners, is unforgivable & cruel. We have to keep fighting so that something like this never happens again.
@DrJBhattacharya
It’s the same w/ the hashtag “bring back masks.” No one took them away or banned them, they are here if people want them.
Notice, too, that the people who use the “Covid isn’t over” hashtag, usually follow it up w/ the “bring back masks hashtag.”
They’re all in the same cult.
This is what
@mocoboe
meetings should look like! Packed room of parents, grandparents, students, & community members all standing up for the students! But this is exactly what our BOE doesn’t want, which is why they have their meetings when most people are at work & can’t attend
His face fell again. It broke me to say that to him, but I’m always up front w/ my boys. I told him I’d cont to fight for him & his friends who want
#maskchoice
& he gave me a hug. This is how masks are affecting some kids-it’s breaking their spirit & I won’t have it anymore!
End
We tried to tell anyone who would listen & it fell on deaf ears.
Now imagine how bad it is in
@MCPS
where schools were closed the longest in MD (and MD was the 2nd to last state to open schools). This is on
@mocoboe
& the unions & it will be a stain on all of you forever.
“The school closures…at the start of the pandemic may prove to be the most damaging disruption in the history of American education. It also set student progress in math and reading back by two decades and widened the achievement gap that separates poor and wealthy children.”
@MontCoExec
We must NEVER go back to zoom school! That would put the students in
@MCPS
in even more jeopardy! Their mental health has suffered enough. There S/E dev has suffered enough. Their academic progress has suffered enough. As a former educator I can’t believe you’d consider VL again!
When did it ever become ok for a parent to isolate a child & not snuggle & take care of them when they’re sick. When did it become ok for a parent to make their child feel like they’d done something wrong & caused harm to their fam. This is what 2 yrs of fear mongering has done!
Fully vax'd 10 year old tests positive for covid. Parents plan to keep her isolated in her room away from other household members, all of whom are fully vaccinated and/or boosted.
I think I'm done with pediatric nursing in Portland for a while. 💔
Sure looks like this
@MCPS
employee is breaking the code of conduct. Central office &
@mocoboe
should look into this, especially coming from an MCPS DEI leader.
Not only is what she posted antisemitic, it’s clearly conspiracy theory type nonsense. Please investigate!
@keetmuise
No one *wants* to be sick/get Covid. That’s like saying, “I want pink eye or strep throat.” We’ll all probably get both at some point in our lives. Doesn’t mean we want it. Doesn’t mean we won’t survive. Doesn’t make us any less virtuous when we do. Just makes it the🌎we live in.
This article is insane. The level of corruption is disgusting. The culture of bullying & intimidation runs deep. High level staff are fleeing; others are being put on admin leave. .
@MCPS
is going to implode. What’s it going to take to end this madness?
@JenniferSey
@Stanford
“[Masks]… not required when doing physical activity or eating or drinking….”
Because when you do physical activity or eat or drink, you are safe. But when doing anything else, you’re not.
Such nonsense, but especially in 2023.
This is quite possibly the worst idea
@MCPS
could be considering. Teletherapy does have its place, but it doesn’t work in crisis situations & shouldn’t be the main solution to the current crises in schools. This would be like a bandaid on a hemorrhage.
This is an excellent point & one I hadn’t considered for some reason. There’s a reason sports were separated & this is it. There’s a genetic/bio diff btwn males & females that makes a physical competition btwn the 2 unfair. I support the LGBTQ community, but sports need to be sep
I’m currently in Sterling, VA at my youngest son’s wrestling championship. Both my husband and I are allowed to be here. The place is packed with families, most of whom are maskless (incl us). It’s so sad what the decisions of
@MontCoExec
&
@MoCoCouncilMD
have done to our kids.
Well, if this isn’t
@mocoboe
(the pot) calling the kettle black.
AKA: a double standard; being two-faced; or just plain ol' hypocrisy.
They’re all complicit in the recent wrongdoings. They’re all corrupt. They’re all hypocrites.
THEY ALL NEED TO GO!
@7NewsDC
I don’t have any issue w/ educating subs on words they may hear or see during the school day or how to deal w/ different identities of students, but you must correct the inaccurate % at the end of the article. There aren’t 45% of students in MCPS identifying as gender non-binary.
The irony that she wears a 😷 in '24 “to keep herself & others safe,” yet doesn’t care about actual threats to safety.
Also, ppl don’t have licenses bc of “limited resources,” yet somehow have 🚗 to drive which needs gas to run, and license plates & insurance to be road ready.🤦🏻♀️
CM Mink believes that negligent drivers who don’t have a driver license shouldn’t receive stiff penalties & fines because they already don’t have the resources to get a drivers license? The incoherence is astonishing to me. Maybe a Mink supporter can shed more light to this logic
We’re living in the upside down. McKnight helps promote a sexual predator & stands by as
@MCPS
goes to 💩, gets paid $1.3M to leave after the mess she made (meanwhile, teachers can’t get pencils) & now we have to pay her salary again. Just when you think things can’t get worse…
This is the part I found particularly ridiculous. The school did not keep kids inside for recess out of fear or some extra precaution bc of “backlash.” They were required to keep the kids inside bc of the damn heat index! Talk about fear mongering & taming creative liberties.
Just a reminder that this woman, a current
@mocoboe
member, emphatically raised her hand to vote in favor of promoting Beidelman- a sexual predator & serial harasser- and ignored emails sent to her (& the other BOE members) when reporting his behavior & pleading for help.
#Nope
The students testifying at the
@mocoboe
meeting right now are on 🔥!! So well spoken and spot on with their testimonies. Their parents should be so damn proud! They’re not even my kids and I’m damn proud of them! Gives me hope for the future.
@mocoboe
@brendawolff1
@MCPS
It was really hard to watch. As I started to bow my head, Wolff just plowed through. The girl & her mom
@jenreesman
walked past me & I said aloud “I guess not.” My heart broke for her daughter who had bravely spoken at the podium & asked for a moment of silence & was dismissed.
I was also really disappointed in what Raskin said. I’m not a “Covid denier”, nor am I “right wing”. I know it’s real. But I also know 😷 don’t work & mask mandates (esp for schools) are unnecessary & cruel & there’s certainly nothing “sensible” or “science-based” about them.
4 yrs ago today: the last day of school in
@MCPS
to “close for 2 weeks to flatten the curve.”
2 weeks turned into over a year that kids were “educated” via a screen.
My son got 14 days of in-person learning for the 20-21 school year & 😷 until March '22.
#NeverForget
#NeverAgain
What is happening in
@MCPS
!? The time has come to put real mental health clinicians in schools! MCPS needs a School Mental Health Program NOW! Partner with
@MoCoDHHS
& get it done! Model it after the UMD SMHP. I worked there for 12+ years & I’m happy to help get it going. DM me.
I’ve been saying this forever.
.
@MCPS
/
@mocoboe
are so worried about their supposed elite reputation, that they’ve left the teachers/staff out to dry & students woefully ill-prepared for life after graduation. Shameful.
Now that CC finally recognizes this, let’s see if they act.
My testimony to
@mocoboe
on the culture of fear and distrust they have caused within the
@MCPS
community.
Video here and written transcript in thread below because I ran out of time and had to cut a few things out.
Heather is correct. This is exactly the bullying, threatening & retaliatory behavior that
@MCPS
is known for &
@mocoboe
constantly covers up. We’ve seen the report. Even w/ redactions you can see McKnight isn’t innocent in this. But neither is the BOE. They all need to resign.
#truth
The teachers have no one to turn to. They get no
@mceanea
union support & are ignored by
@mocoboe
, the superintendent & other upper level
@MCPS
admin. It shouldn’t be me doing this. I’m just a parent w/ a loud mouth. But I’ll cont to speak out/support them as long as nec.
One year ago today
@mocoboe
voted to make😷optional in
@MCPS
. (My older son’s private school was😷opt already.) When I told my son he’d never have to wear😷at school again he cheered & gave me a huge hug. We burned a kid KN95 in celebration.
But sure, “kids didn’t mind” wearing😷
The more I think about this, the angrier I become.
I’m baffled by this & the people congratulating and defending her. Did they have their eyes and ears shut the last couple of years? She willingly and knowingly stood by as a sexual predator and bully was promoted.
1/
Former Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Monifa McKnight will become the inaugural dean’s fellow and superintendent in residence at the University of Maryland College of Education.
Finally. A message at 4:30. After the school day is over. 🙄
And now all of a sudden VL is only for consecutive weather closures.
Apparently, no one knew that, including the staff that told (my) kids tomorrow would be purple and gave out zoom schedules.
@MCPS
communication 👎🏻
So my 7th grader just got home and said, “thank goodness it’s not going to be code purple tomorrow because zoom school made me stupider.” 😂😂
Truth from the mouths of babes…
“Caught off guard?”
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
We tried to tell people.
We were dismissed.
We testified about it at school board meetings.
We were dismissed.
Caught off guard, my ass. We saw this coming a mile away…
Teenagers in the U.S. are experiencing a mental health crisis.
Why has the issue become so widespread, and why have many people been caught off guard? Listen to today’s episode of The Daily.
@sarahbeth345
@Jackie_Pepper
What I don’t understand is why she (and so many others) feel the need to share this. She can do what she wants, but this is a “this isn’t an airport, no need to announce your departure” situation. She even has “COVID cautious” in her bio. 🙄🙄
@ThisteacherOn
@MmeBlackBalloon
It’s a big deal bc my kids HATED it & I HATED it. It impedes dev in young kids. It hinders the forming of connections & relationships & the dev of a robust immune system. But back to my original reason- my fam HATED wearing 😷& being forced to do something you HATE is a BIG deal.
Well, there you have it. The rumors were true. .
@mocoboe
is voting to appoint a woman with a sketchy past to be interim superintendent of
@MCPS
. Clearly, they have learned nothing.
And why even hold a vote? Everyone knows it will be unanimous as usual.
Thank you
@lzhengtv
@fox5dc
for speaking w/ me today about former
@MCPS
superintendent McKnight & her new position w/
@UMDCollegeofEd
. It’s important the community speak out about this bc it’s wrong on every level. Tax payers shouldn’t be paying her again.
This right here is what MoCo needs more of. Strong women from different backgrounds w/ different beliefs coming together to support & uplift each other. I’m proud & privileged to have run on a slate w/
@EstherLWells
. No matter how this election plays out my friend-you’re a winner.
Why is Chris Cram and
@MCPS
refusing to answer the simple question of “what is a DEI teacher”? If our taxes are paying her salary shouldn’t we have the right to know her job description and whether or not that job is being done properly? It’s a simple question, so why skirt it?
Montgomery County Public Schools declined to condemn her comments and said it would not tell the public even if she were disciplined. It would not explain what a "DEI teacher" does or how 'inclusion' could include demonizing Jews.
@SickoftheSwamp
@adamcarolla
It’s not just elem school. It’s from preschool settings all the way to HS & college. So many of us (esp those of us in mental health) shouted it from the rooftops & testified at school board mtgs, that schools needed to be open. They didn’t listen & now we have a youth MH crisis.
I have so many questions for
@MCPS
after reading this. They’re more corrupt than I realized. Why are so many people beholden to Beidelman? Who cares if they’d have had to fire him if the report was filed in its original form?
1/
The 🕳️ keeps getting bigger and bigger…
Important fact: McKnight & Beidelman were longtime friends.
The amount of shady dealings that Beidelman had going on at FMS is staggering & it goes way beyond what’s been covered publicly…
1/
@MCPS
Thanks for finally making a decision, but not everyone has Twitter. No text or email has come through yet. That probably should have been first. 🙄
Today
@MoCoCouncilMD
discussed monkey pox which will be the newest topic of hysteria for many in MoCo. They need focus on being the county council & stop trying to be in charge of health/medical things they know nothing about. It's absurd that they sit as the board of health.
🧵1
What kind of BS message is this? Kids were “playing” in the bathroom & one pulled out a knife. But hey don’t worry, they weren’t in a conflict or a fight, so it was determined the knife wasn’t being used to cause harm. This time…It’s high time
@MCPS
takes these things seriously.
Let’s be clear
@MCPS
. This wasn’t just an “incident of gun violence.” This was a school shooting. No amount of sugarcoating or your famous rug sweeping is going to change that. If safety and security are your top priority, it should be “in the hours and days ahead…”, not months!
.
@MCPS
settles with Jane Doe for $300,000 by
@AdamPagnucco
.
This could’ve been settled for free if CO &
@mocoboe
had taken complaints seriously & investigated rather than ignore & rug sweep.
Read the quote from her lawyer- no truer words have been spoken.
I’m at
@MCPS
@mocoboe
meeting. If anyone goes over their time & attempts to finish their testimony,
@brendawolff1
signals the security guard who goes over & turns off the mic. There’s a reason they decreased the time from 3 mins to 2 mins. They don’t really want to hear from us.
THIS IS LUDICROUS! Elrich has declared that County employees can’t travel to professional conferences (that would help us do our jobs better) in states that have abortion bans, but Elrich & Glass can go across the🌎 to countries that don’t support choice?
I can’t believe people didn’t know this. This is
@MCPS
’s MO- happens all the time. It’s The Central Office Shuffle.
It’s sweep, shuffle, repeat.💃🏻🕺
I’m quite sure this is what would’ve happened w/ Beidelman had the situation not blown up the way it did.
@KellyTKPK
This infuriates me. Telehealth should be an option, but never the default. It’s not even developmentally appropriate for younger kids. To only offer teletherapy is unethical in my opinion bc it does a disservice to patients or potential patients as not all can access it.
Will
@MCPS
&
@mocoboe
truly be held accountable for 💩 like this? Their history of rug sweeping & doing the Central Office Shuffle has caused countless students & staff to suffer unnecessarily. Once again, they have blood on their hands. (I’m getting really tired of saying that.)
@MoCo360Media
This is the same crew who vetted the security guard at Wood middle school who showed sexually explicit videos to children- had a sexual solicitation conviction in DC and had served extensive time in prison- MCPS has a history of placing failed administrators into central office
How did ppl not think this would happen? Bc I work in early childhood, this was a main concern of mine from the beginning & how/why I began my advocacy to get
@MCPS
to open & resume in-person therapies for kids w/ IFSP/IEPs. The damage has been done. 😢
I want to know how exactly he sees said smiles? In my county,
@MCPS
still requires anyone in a school to be masked, so definitely not able to see smiles here. And having to wear the masks makes many kids scowl and frown, so again, no smiles to see.
#maskchoicenow
Today’s
#LoveTeaching
theme is “Tremendous Tuesday” where we are challenged to tell a 6-word story that describes why you
#LoveTeaching
. Mine is:
The smile on a student's face.
@Shenandwow
@unheardparent
This is really how Covid has destroyed lives. This is the “long Covid” we really need to be worried about- the irrational behavior of many which led to this. It’s the new survival of the fittest whereby they put their 02 mask on first & leave the child alone to fend for themself.
WTF is going on
@MCPS
? Who in CO is making these decisions, telling principals to downplay assaults? The Clarksburg HS principal was also instructed to not suspended any more students bc suspension #’s are too high.
So MCPS, what is more important- safety/lives or reputation?
Crazy that ppl are saying she didn’t know about Beidelman before his promotion. It’s a fact that she knew. WJLA should ask all the complainants. Oh wait, they can’t bc they fear retaliation from
@MCPS
, which is justified. Look at what they did to Walker.
I knew about this. It’s disgusting. But this is what I mean every time I say
@MCPS
has a history of rug sweeping and doing the Central Office shuffle.
Keep in mind, we, the tax payers are paying these gross humans. It’s time for people to revolt.
This is
@MontgomeryCoMD
& their high prices & extra taxes. I got gas in AA Cnty for $3.27/gal today. Driving home it’s $3.79/gal at the station near my house. That’s 52¢ a gal more! Same state, same day, same octane. Ridiculous. I wonder why people are moving out of MoCo.🙄
Get the tissues ready. This is a must read. So much evidence that decisions made, especially here in
@MCPS
by
@mocoboe
contributed to learning loss/educational disruption. Don’t want to read the whole thing? Then just look at the pics which give a summary.
Do the right thing
@mocoboe
& eliminate all 3 from
@MCPS
. The virtual academy isn’t needed & it’s a failure, just like Leader in Me. Testimony at the last BoE meeting indicated the innovative school calendar isn’t working either. This is one vote that should be a unanimous ‘yes’.
Well, you can add my family to the list of crime victims in
@MontgomeryCoMD
. Came out to the window of my husband’s car having been smashed sometime overnight. Someone then reached in and rifled through the console, found nothing, and thankfully didn’t move on to my car.
@mcpnews
My personal joy for my older son was diminished when my younger son, Brennan, who is in
@MCPS
, got home from school and his face fell when he found out his older brother would no longer have to mask in school & because then I had to lay some truth on him because he told me…
2/
This is what integrity & humility looks like. Something many of the other BOE candidates do not have. MoCo, once again, votes for the machine & it will lead to the continued demise of our school system.
“You reap what you sow,” is the MoCo way & kids end up the collateral damage
“I never lose. I either win or learn.” Nelson Mandela
The people have spoken. Vox Populi, Vox Dei!
With grace and humility, I want to respectfully congratulate my opponents on their victory.
I want to thank my sponsors, who have enthusiastically supported our endeavors for
This is ridiculous. .
@MCPS
/
@mocoboe
can pay McKnight millions to leave, hire more CO staff that make $200k+ a year, pay lawyers big $ to fight SpEd parents, but they can’t fund basic supplies. It’s disgusting the way they mismanage funds, never funding what’s actually important.
@Dawn_LCPC
I’d love for all my students to get to experience the eclipse, but I can’t buy one more thing out of pocket for a school district (MCPS) that’s been on a spending freeze for months and will remain so through the end of the year. I’ve spent way too much for pencils,basic supplies.
JFC. The
@mocoboe
and
@MCPS
are even more corrupt than I thought (and I didn’t think that was possible). Teachers can’t buy needed supplies & SpEd students can’t get their required resources, but they can pay a sexual predator’s legal fees? What in the actual f*ck is going on?!
@houmanhemmati
“Mask up”
“Where’s your mask”
“Don’t forget your mask”
“Wear a mask to save lives”
“Mask mandate”
And anything else mentioning masks.
The word “mask” has ruined Halloween for me forever!
The irony of Beidelman doing his dissertation on school psychological safety, which then resulted in him getting his PhD…
He should have it revoked, along with his teaching and admin certifications.
Read it here:
What’d
@MCPS
expect? They &
@mocoboe
showed kids that schl wasn’t important by keeping them closed for over a yr. Kids weren’t even required to keep their cameras on, which also showed that making connections didn’t matter. They reap what they sow & the kids are collateral damage
Chronic absenteeism among students at Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) dropped 2.7% when compared to this time during the last school year, officials said during Thursday’s Board of Education business meeting.
Bravo,
@jmglcsw
. “The county is more invested in protecting their reputation than they are about their students or employees,” “This was all preventable. All of it was preventable. And that should disgust and infuriate every single one of your viewers.” 🙋🏻♀️
The best thread to ever grace Twitter. I’m proud to call
@MSmelkinsonPhD
a friend & to have fought along side her & so many others who knew this was coming. We were (are) called “racist” “over-privileged” “uncaring” “selfish”but turns out we were the ones who were right all along
New data about remote learning being a big fail.
Uh, yeah, of course. Pre-pandemic research showed that even SHORT closures were bad, let alone a YEAR!
Many of us tried DESPERATELY to reverse this impending disaster, but were largely ignored and often disparaged.
🧵🧵🧵