A pair of Board of Education members who were reportedly opposed to Joshua Starr continuing as MCPS superintendent declined to explain why in a TV interview that first ran on Thursday night.
On Political Pulse, a Montgomery Municipal Cable program, Board members Michael Durso and Rebecca Smondrowski said they wouldn’t get into the reasons for their opposition.
Starr said he decided not to pursue a new four-year contract with the school system after it became apparent that members on the Board of Education were against him. The Board and Starr worked out a resignation agreement in which Starr will be paid the remainder of the salary he is owed under his contract, which runs until June 30, a $46,583 payment for unused sick and annual leave in accordance with his contract, and health insurance benefits through the end of 2015.
The agreement also includes a clause stating “Board members and the Superintendent shall refrain from making disparaging remarks regarding the other.”
“I understand the need or the desire of the public for transparency. We use that term quite a bit,” Durso told host Charles Duffy. “On the other hand, it was a personnel issue.”
The Board held a series of closed meetings about Starr’s future, but Smondrowski said there was never a vote on whether to give Starr a new contract because Starr never formally asked for one.
Still, some have criticized the publicly elected Board for not explaining why it effectively fired the school system’s leader.
“I know there are a lot of people who would like for us to put out some type of laundry list of issues. That’s just not how it was,” Smondrowski said. “We are just going to try and do everything we can to continue doing the very best we can for our students and our county and right now that includes a new [superintendent] search.”
Bethesda Magazine reported that Durso and Smondrowski were two of the four Board members who opposed a new contract for Starr.
Duffy brought up a piece from Washington Post education columnist Valerie Strauss in which she sharply criticized Board members for not explaining their apparent opposition to Starr.
“I read Valerie’s column pretty religiously and she really gets to the heart of a lot of education concerns, but I almost think of it as if the Post chose not to renew Valerie’s contract,” Durso said, “would we as readers have a right to know all of the details?”
While Durso and Smondrowski gave little explanation for the superintendent switch, an earlier portion of the interview perhaps provided a clue.
While talking about the achievement gap, Durso said, “These challenges that have been identified over the past few years I think need to be addressed a bit more strategically.”
Smondrowski then jumped in to add, “and with more urgency.”
The 30-minute interview will run again tonight, Saturday and Sunday at 6 p.m. on Montgomery Municipal Cable (Channel 16) and will be posted online next week at mmctv.org.
