After signing an employment contract today to become the next superintendent of Montgomery County Public Schools, Joshua Starr was asked by reporters whether he thought he could improve a school system that was already considered top-notch.
Starr, confessing that he was a New York Yankees fan, said that becoming MCPS superintendent was like “taking over the world champion Yankees.”
That said, there isn’t anyone “who doesn’t want to get better from what they already do,” said Starr, after he and Board of Education President Christopher Barclay signed the four-year contract at the MCPS central office in Rockville. Starr, current superintendent of schools in Stamford, Conn., will be paid an annual base salary of $250,000 when he takes over from the retiring Jerry Weast on July 1.
Let’s hope Starr has better people skills than the late George Steinbrenner, the famously demanding and successful owner of the Yankees. Reporters, in fact, questioned Starr about criticisms levied back in Stamford that he hadn’t communicated adequately and sparred with school board members.
“I will always go to bat for the things I think are right,” he said, noting that his job is to bring different parties together so “we can move in the direction we believe is right for all children.”
Barclay dismissed any concern about issues that the 41-year-old Starr may have had with the Stamford school board during his six-year tenure. “There is never a moment that boards and superintendents aren’t going to disagree on something,” he said.
