Montgomery County Board of Education President Patricia O’Neill announced today that the board has identified a Houston educator, Andrew Houlihan, as its preferred candidate for Montgomery County Public Schools superintendent.
Houlihan currently serves as the chief academic officer of the Houston Independent School District.
In announcing Houlihan as the preferred candidate, O’Neill wrote that Houlihan has served in a number of leadership positions in the Houston school district, which is the nation’s seventh largest district. Houlihan has also worked in schools “highly impacted by poverty” and previously served as a principal, according to O’Neill.
The announcement comes after the board reviewed applications for 25 candidates from 17 states and conducted seven in-person interviews. Houlihan also met with a community panel today, which will provide feedback to the board as it approaches its final decision, according to O’Neill.
O’Neill wrote that over the next few weeks board members will visit Houston to meet with Houlihan’s colleagues and Houston officials to gain more insight about the candidate. She wrote that the board expects to make a final decision and have a new superintendent in place by July 1.
The Board of Education declined to renew previous superintendent Joshua Starr’s contract in February, and Starr officially resigned from the post on Feb. 16. Starr had served as the school system’s chief since 2011.
In Houston, Houlihan oversees the "academic growth of nearly 210,000 students" who attend nearly 300 schools, according to his profile on the school system's website. He has worked at the school system since 2010 and previously served as the chief human resources officer, chief major projects officer and the principal of an elementary school. According to his Twitter profile, he is a graduate of Elon University in North Carolina and has received graduate degrees from Columbia University and The University of Texas at Austin.
Houlihan got his start in education as a second-grade teacher at a Raleigh, North Carolina, elementary school.
