Dr. Deborea Montgomery has departed her position as principal of John Archer School effective Monday, and will now work in the special education department of the Harford County Public Schools’ central office, school officials said.
Montgomery’s departure follows allegations earlier this month that she dragged a student through the school’s lobby and outside onto concrete in 2009. That claim was among several allegations concerning abuse of students at the school made public at a March 12 board meeting.
In a letter to parents, vice principal Mary Gernand said Montgomery had “moved onto other endeavors.” In response to questions from The Dagger, Harford County Schools spokeswoman Teri Kranefeld said Montgomery had moved to the position at the central office. The letter did not specify a reason for the transfer, and Kranefeld declined to provide details.
Gernand said she will serve as acting principal while the Harford County Board of Education conducts a search for a permanent replacement.
Montgomery was appointed principal of John Archer School for special education in June 2009. She first came to HCPS in 2008 and served as the coordinator of non-public placements and inter-agency supports.
HOLLA!
Thank goodness the sun will shine on JAS again
I hope her removal from HCPS altogether is not far behind. We don’t want her making any decisions regarding our children.
Oh you people who think this will solve the problem…THINK AGAIN. Removing one person does not solve the problem that you all claim has been going on. If she had been involved do ya think they would have retained her at another job? She would have been suspended without pay and charged. By removing her, the school system has taken action and removed one of the “problems”.
Parent: I agree with you that removing one person does not solve problem. There is a lot of work to do at JAS to repair the damage that has been done, over the past 3 years as well as the last few weeks. I disagree with your statement that if she was “involved” she would have been suspended without pay and charged instead of being moved. I think that her being moved removed, or at least weakened the possibility for her to sue the school system. We live in a very litigious society. And who is to say that after this school year her “new position” will not be “eliminated” and she will then be able to “move on to other endeavours”. Whatever the reason, whatever happens to Dr. Montgomery from here, the outcome for JAS staff and students is that they now have the opportunity to “move on to other endeavours” as well. Onward and upward from here…..as I said to the Board last night….I am looking forward to working with Mary Gernand for the remainder of this school year and whomever is principal next year in returning JAS to the wonderful school it was when my daughter started there 17 years ago.
Beth, If you want JAS to move on then stop talking. All you are doing now is opening old wounds from the past month. The staff doesn’t feel like you are defending them. Now the public sees us all as possible abusers. The staff do not want you speaking for them. Enough is enough. So please stop.
Why should she stop talking if you have nothing to be guilty of then don’t worry about it ,only the guilty have to be worried.
You are a sad person, you should move on and stop starting trouble. You haven’t been to JAS for years and for good reason!
Removed the biggest problem!!!! Let’s move on and once again focus on teaching our wonderful children.
She was obviously involved…and yes, this kind of thIng hap
She was obviously involved…and yes, this kind of thIng happens all the time. (Removing the teacher/principal without actually admitting any wrongdoing.) At least she’s out and everyone can breathe a sigh of relief! Those that stood up for these kids should be proud… It’s not an easy thing to do when it didn’t happen to your own child. So many times people just don’t want to get involved.
Is this why central office administration keeps growing? Because they make a place for people they don’t know what else to do with?
Here we go again Harford County. Someone messes up and they get a nice comfy job in central office. WTF
Whatever happened to firing instead of moving an employee around. Same old same old!
It’s the usual HCPS Dance of the Lemons!
This is just a long line of people that do the wrong thing and go to Central Office. Build a bathroom or solicited a lady of the evening go to Central Office. How many creeps are they going to put there until enough, is enough.
Did she move to a vacant spot at HCPS or was this position created for her? Who held her new position previously?
She got moved to a special education position at the Central Office??? Are they going to teach her about special ed??? Or is she going to be just filing old special ed paperwork?? She certainly doesn’t understand it enough to be in charge of it!
Wow! You hit the nail on the head with that! Well said!
Welcome to dealing with Unions. Only people unions every protect are the bad apples. The good apples dont need/want them.
Hi Staff,
How was your 2nd day of freedom. I hope getting back to normal was the first agenda.
It was wonderful! No looking over your shoulder…no heart racing when someone opens the classroom door…no tip-toeing by the office door to see if the #@$%! is in… Instead, we could teach our students without fear! I so enjoyed working with my students today! So wonderful to see a pleasant and sweet smile from Mary Gernand when walking down the hall or as she entered the classroom! So wonderful to see her interact with staff and students. Today, I felt blessed!
If you are doing your job, you shouldn’t have to look over your shoulder or worry when the door opens. Do you hear how that sounds?
That’s just it my friend. The last principal created a horrible atmosphere of fear…no one could do ANYTHING right in her eyes. The “looking over our shoulders” was for HER. Her administration “style” was to stand inside the classroom, not say hello to the teacher or students…just stand and stare and if she didn’t like what she saw she would actually sneer…no kidding! Today we so enjoyed the visits from our parents into our classrooms. Even they commented on how things already were beginning to feel warm and welcoming again.
Stand and stare was what she did best. At our first IEP meeting during her time at Archer, she came in late, started criticizing right away even though she had missed a lot of what was already said, never made eye contact with us. Then when the meeting was over, she left immediately without ever introducing herself even though we had never had the opportunity to meet her. Never spoke a word directly to us. She has ZERO people skills and is downright RUDE!
Hmmmm, it sounds like someone who loves their job and is happy to finally be back at what they do best without having an incompetent boss breathing down their neck and badmouthing everything they do! At least, that’s what it sounds like to me…not what you seem to imply.
Aren’t you that cyber troll that is on all the blogs posing as a person who cares.
So happy for you all!
To Hmmm:
Ah, using my line are you? I do remember tagging you with this same, “cyber troll”, moniker…only you were using several different posting names at the time. That’s okay…say what you will…you sure are a fan of the former principal! I wonder what job you hold there at school that made you exempt from her ill treatment that so many others endured? Perhaps you can join her in her “new endeavors”.
Right on Jeff hmmmm probably is Dr. M. I would of thought she would be busy planning how to destroy central’s morale.
I am a fan of the school, not of any one person. And it seems you tell a lot of bloggers the same garbage. Do you do it just to keep ball rolling? Certainly not to solve a problem.
Dear Hmmmm,
No garbage… just acknowledging and giving support to the teachers
and what they have been through. Reading “at Peace” sure said alot…you know….that is the teacher you questioned about, “not having to look over our shoulders”.
And you’re the person who posts on all these threads just to irritate those of us who truly care. Your words are…laughable. Actually, they are pathetic, you thinking that what you have to say is important to any of us.
Those comments are directed at Hmmm…not Jeff. Jeff obviously cares. Hmmmm…well doesn’t.
The proof will be in the pudding at the end of the school year to see where Dr. M. ends up. If the central office does the right thing, she will no longer be employeed come July 1.
this summer would be great time to start cleaning up that school,out with the old in with some new
You can start interviewing all of the people in line for our jobs.
believe it or not there are plenty of good people who could use a job,most of the people there are not there for the kids any more,it’s sad i use to have the most respect for the people there,not all are bad but it really needs to get cleaned up.
Tell some of these “good people” to put in applications. We have positions that have been open forever. No one wants these jobs because no matter how hard you work, or how much you give of yourself and your time and your money, it is never enough. Somebody on the outside always knows better, or could do better, or is smarter or more caring. But no one ever wants to actually step up and do the job.
Well look at how many you had that were fired last year or sent to other schools or how many have been driven out because someone didn’t like them ,you get no sympathy here.
You have no idea what you are talking about. Thank God you don’t work there anymore! You don’t put down your name because staff will remember how awful you were as a sub.
your just getting offended cause you know everything i say is true,and i don’t want my kid paying the price.
Not looking for sympathy, or even empathy, as you clearly are not capable of it. Who was fired or driven out? And I thought your whole pont was to drive people out because you don’t like them. there is no evidence otherwise.
symathy for the kids not you
got plenty of evidence
only one person in this world who can’t be replaced and that is GOD
Maybe we can replace you with someone who understands grammar, spelling, and sentence structure. Wait, I’ve seen that kind of grammar and spelling before. Are you Dr. Montgomery?
hahaha,you are a joke,why don’t any of you pt your names down?
Who are you talking to? You want who to put their names down?? If you’re talking about yourself there is no need to even identify yourself because you have pretty much gave away your identify with your clever name there..
I have enough common sense to know how to read a IEP and I also have enough common sense to know where a childs butt goes in a tumbler,Why were you using it to begin with when wasn’t on the childs IEP?
How do you know what was in that child’s IEP? Are you the parent of that child?
How do you know how to use a “tumbler”? Are you a physical therapist or have experience with these pieces of equipment?
How do you know how many people were “fired” last year? Did you fire them??
Where is all the “evidence” you are talking about? Are you waiting for some special time or moment to reveal your findings??
You should really be careful with what you say if you can’t back it up. I have never seen so much ignorance posted in one place before I started reading all these comments from some people in this community. It really makes me feel sad/scared about how misinformed individuals can do so much DAMAGE with so much FALSE information. THINK before you say if you can’t back it up or have the courage to do anything about it.
Bobbi K I see your point,m and raise you one: If Concerned parent etc has “evidence” of abuse, and does not report it, doesn’t that make her complicit in the abuse? (Concerned parent etc: “complicit in” means you were a helper).
The childs mother was on T.V. NEWS AND IN THE PAPER AND GAVE THIS INFORMATION,THATS HOW I KNOW,YOUR RIGHT THE TUMBLER IS FOR PHSICAL THERAPY,WHY WERE THEY USING IT,THEY CLAIMED THEY HADN’T BEEN TRAINED TO USE IT,THAT CHILD HAD A TEACHER WHO BUSTED HER ASS EVERY DAY WALKING HIM IN THERE SHE IS A EXCELLENT TEACHER ALL THAT WORK SHE PUT OUT IS NOW WASTED AND IT PISSES ME OFF THAT THINGS LIKE THAT ARE DONE AFTER SOMEONE HAS POURED SO MUCH OF THEMSELVES IN TO THAT AND SOMEONE ELSE COMES BEHINDE THEM AND SCREWS IT ALL TO HELL.
SO LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT….JUST BECAUSE YOU SAW THIS REPORTED BY THE MEDIA YOU AUTOMATICALLY ASSUME THAT IT’S ALL TRUE? HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF THE SAYING- THERE ARE TWO SIDES TO EVERY STORY? EVEN IF MRS. WRIGHT WAS QUOTED VERBATIM AND WE HEARD HER ENTIRE SIDE OF THE STORY..THERE IS STILL ANOTHER SIDE. I’M GLAD YOU DECIDED TO PLAY JUDGE, JUROR AND HANGMAN BASED ON YOUR ONE SIDE.
BY THE WAY, ARE YOU RELATED TO THE WOMAN WHO CLAIMED TO HAVE WON THE LOTTERY? SHE MUST HAVE BEEN TELLING THE TRUTH SINCE SHE WENT ON TV AND SAID IT.
if you all can play it why can’t I
We heard the other side…loud and clear. It’s the school and staff at Archer that were unfairly smeared, attacked, demeaned and humiliated without even being able to give their side of the story. No matter what anybody thinks happened, or no matter what ACTUALLY happpened, I am sure it’s not as black and white as someone may want you to think. And anytime you throw the word ABUSE out there, you BETTER be able to back it up. That is a strong allegation, especially when directed at students, and students in a public school. Based on BOTH sides that I have heard, it is so obvious that ABUSE was not happening.
I just want to say that I think the staff at John Archer are awesome and only have the BEST interest of the students at heart. It is disgraceful that the most CARING people on Earth are being seen as CHILD ABUSERS! Shame, shame, shame!!!!!
Oh my God, you got to love the Dagger sometimes. People, let it go! You guys need to learn to move on!
That’s easy for you to say. You weren’t smeared throughout the media and people didn’t think you abused children.
Bobbie Kristina – Sometimes I feel like I know you