The Montgomery County Board of Education will announce Monday the next superintendent of the county’s public schools, according to a Friday message from the board.
“We are excited to announce our final candidate to the community,” Board President Karla Silvestre said in the release. “The board is confident in this leader’s ability to guide MCPS forward.”
The announcement marks the culmination of the district’s months-long nationwide search for a new superintendent following the Feb. 2 resignation of former MCPS Superintendent Monifa McKnight.
According to the release, the board “conducted a thorough national search that included robust community input. This input helped shape a leadership profile that guided the board during candidate review. Community leaders were also included in the interview process.”
During the process, the board considered “a number of experienced, diverse, and highly-qualified candidates,” the release said.
The announcement will occur at 3 p.m. and will be livestreamed via the MCPS homepage at www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org. The board will formally appoint the new superintendent June 25, the release said.
Following the departure of McKnight, the board began conducting a national search for a new school superintendent for the second time in three years.
McKnight’s resignation came following the turmoil over the school system’s mishandling of sexual harassment and bullying complaints made against a former middle school principal, Joel Beidleman. In March, MCPS released the terms of McKnight’s separation agreement with the school board following Freedom of Information Act requests by MoCo360 and other local media. McKnight was to receive a total of $1.3 million from the district, MCPS said.
Shortly after McKnight resigned, the board appointed Monique Felder, a former MCPS administrator, to serve as interim superintendent. Felder’s contract is set to expire on June 30. It is not known whether Felder was a candidate for the permanent superintendent post.
The school board began its nationwide search for a new superintendent in February. In early April, it announced the hiring of Florida-based Greenwood Asher & Associates to conduct the search.
Before the board voted unanimously to hire the firm at its April 2 meeting, Silvestre said Greenwood Asher & Associates has a “national reputation and an impressive track record.”
Greenwood Asher & Associates conducts executive searches for school system leaders and those for higher education, private industry and nonprofit organizations. The firm’s role included leading the search and guiding the board through the process, according to board documents.
Board Vice President Lynne Harris (At-Large) said in April she appreciated the firm offered an “interestingly fresh approach” to the search process as compared to search firms previously hired by the board. The board hired Illinois-based Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates to conduct the search for McKnight as well as for at least three previous superintendent searches.
In addition to hiring a search firm, the school board placed a high priority on hearing from residents about what they wanted in the next MCPS superintendent.
The school board held three in-person forums in early April, plus an online forum and focus groups, and conducted a survey. Gathering feedback from the school community was one of the first of three phases in the board’s process for finding a new superintendent.
At the public forums, community members shared that they were looking for an experienced leader and a good communicator who would respect staff and understand the concerns of the district’s community.
The public’s feedback was recorded by school board members, MCPS leaders and staff and then aggregated to create a leadership profile. The profile was expected to be used to help the search firm and the board as it interviewed and selected candidates, according to school board Chief of Staff Lori-Chris Webb.
In May the school board reviewed candidate applications and interviews were held in June.
Since the public forums, little information has been shared by the school board about the superintendent search process or the candidates.
