Thomas Taylor, the county school board’s pick for the next superintendent of Montgomery County Schools, may well be the county’s first schools chief to have actually attended classes in some of the classrooms that he will oversee.
A 1996 graduate of Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, Taylor, 46, attended Somerset Elementary in Chevy Chase before moving on to Westland Middle School in Bethesda, then known as Westland Intermediate School.
Nearly 30 years later, he oversees the Stafford County Public Schools in Virginia, a district of 33 schools serving more than 31,000 students with a budget of about $453 million. It’s his most recent post in a career as an educator that spans more than 25 years, including 12 in district-level leadership and six years as a superintendent, according to MCPS.
If Taylor is formally appointed by the school board on June 25, as expected, he will take charge of a district serving 211 schools and more than 160,000 students on a $3.32 billion budget. It’s the state’s largest school system in a county that has changed much since he was an MCPS student, becoming majority minority in roughly the decade after he graduated. That change has presented the school system with challenges both financial and academic as it strives to provide equity for all students.
Taylor also faces the task of restoring trust in the school system in the aftermath of a controversy over sexual allegations involving a former middle school principal that led to the February resignation of former Superintendent Monifa McKnight.
In addition, this spring’s budget season has also created tension between the school board and some members of the County Council, which allotted the highest-ever spending for MCPS — though that amount was still $30 million less than what the school system says it needs.
Before the school board’s announcement, MoCo360 talked with Taylor at the district’s Rockville headquarters to discuss why he wanted to be MCPS superintendent and how he’ll approach the job.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Why did you apply and what qualifies you to lead the state’s largest school system?
Well, I will say that I think everybody has that “drop everything” job. Like, you know, that position is open, you’re going to drop everything and apply for [it]. That for me, that’s being the superintendent of my home district. I have a great affinity for Montgomery County as a former student and as a resident. The teachers changed my life in Montgomery County for the better. I became a teacher because of the teachers that I had in Montgomery County and it set me on the path of education.
I also think that Montgomery County has tremendous potential. I think that this [district] has a legacy of academic success in Montgomery County, but there are also some areas in need of improvement and I’m really excited to use some of my experience and some of my background to help support my home community.
How long have you been an educator?
Almost 25 years in public education. I’ve been a teacher, a principal, superintendent in two locations and deputy superintendent of a much larger school district. Not larger than Montgomery County. Very few districts are larger than Montgomery County. But my educational career has kind of led me to this point and I’m really excited to leverage six years of superintendent experience in two different places and put that to good use in Montgomery County.
What would you like the MCPS community to know about you?
I hope that folks can expect me to be high energy, that they can expect me to be a good listener, and that they can expect to see me. And that I want to be accessible in the community. And that I want to hear what they have to say because it’s their kids and their school system. I want students in particular to feel like they have a voice and that they’re empowered to take control of their destinies, their futures.
Montgomery County is very diverse, in terms of its ethnic, racial and economic makeup. What experience do you have in working with diverse school communities?
So that diversity is a huge strength. And both in Stafford County where I have been most recently serving and in Chesterfield County, both of those districts are majority nonwhite, and the demographics are very similar to Montgomery County. Both have a growing [English for Speakers of Other Languages] population. And to me, that’s a passion of mine–to get great, high performance out of our students in spite of any background that they may have. Their ZIP code or their demographics shouldn’t be a determining factor of their success. And I’m really proud of that work.
What areas of improvement do you see for MCPS? And how do you plan to approach them?
I don’t think it’s a secret that Montgomery County Public Schools has had a rough year. And I think that it’s critically important that the school system build trust with county government and build trust with the community. And I think that there are some things that we can do to increase engagement, increase visibility, and to have some shared conversations about what the future direction of Montgomery County is.
As strong as our academic legacy is, there are some areas in need of improvement in terms of literacy. Graduation rates are generally pretty high, but our Hispanic students are lagging on [their] graduation rate and there’s a big gap between them and other students in the county. I think that there are some areas that really do need some improvement and I think that there are some processes, structures and systems that we can put in place that will help teachers and help principals and take a few things off their plates.
You mentioned that it’s been a tough year for MCPS, especially with the erosion of trust with the public, the MCPS community and local elected leaders. How will you try to restore that trust?
I think there are two critical things that Montgomery County Public Schools will need to have and as the superintendent, I will be mainly responsible for this–being transparent. It’s a cornerstone of trust and having some metrics for accountability. I think that those are really important. The work of building trust is long and difficult and hard, but it’s 100% worth it. As far as we need to go, we’re only going to move at the speed of trust. So even with the improvements that we need to make, we need to be mindful of the fact that we’re only going to make as much progress as the trust that we have in the community. So being visible and being accessible and listening to the many voices who all have value in our community is really important.
What are some of your other priorities in your new role?
I think coming back from the pandemic, across the country — this is not just a Montgomery County challenge — making sure that our students have access to the resources they need for their well-being and making sure that we are doing everything that we can in the literacy space so that students are prepared for their next step in life, whatever that may be.
Do you have a passion project that you’re really excited to work on?
So that’s a great question. And I would say that my passion project is engaging with the community and really hearing from lots of different perspectives on how things are going for themselves, how things are going for their kids, what their outlook is on the future. And so, I would say if I had a passion project, it’s maybe not, you know, something that we would call a project but maybe it’s an activity and it’s listening to what folks have to say about their school system and about their county, and how they think that they can make it better.
For years, MCPS has focused on achieving equity for all students and closing the achievement gap. What are you planning to do to address inequity in MCPS?
I think it really boils down to this: despite our really rich legacy and history of academic excellence, that also comes with a history of inequities in our county. And I think that we need to be responsible and call that out that some students in one part of the county may have a very different experience than other students in another part of the county. As a consequence of the experience that they’ve had, they may have different outcomes.
I think it’s our responsibility to create equitable access to a lot of opportunities for students to excel and to provide the support necessary for students to do their very best work and for teachers to do their very best work. And so for that to occur, we need to have an equity mindset as an organization. And we need to be focused on the differing needs of our students, the differing needs of our staff, the different needs of our communities, and be really attentive to that and build systems and structures that are going to support that.
What will you be doing within the coming months to be more visible, address transparency and build trust with the public?
I am fully aware that it’s summer. So we will have a lot of engagement events for me to get reacquainted with the community and for me to hear from a lot of different people.
Initially I’m going to focus a lot on our internal staff and our internal community and start some of the groundwork with them just mainly because they’re accessible in the summertime. That will start to branch out as we get into the start of the school year and late into the summer. And not to say that we won’t have community engagement events this summer. We will, but I also acknowledge that they might not be well attended because it’s summer.
And so we want to have lots of touch points and opportunities for the community to make sure that their voices are known and be really deliberate about seeking out voices that historically have been marginalized and that we haven’t heard from a lot. And identifying that, calling it out and seeking their input on some of the decisions that we need to make moving forward.
“One of the biggest things that –- and I’m really excited about this –- is the strategic plan. It’s time for Montgomery County to adopt a new, long-range strategic plan. That is really exciting. And it’s also a great opportunity for community voices to come to the table and share their ideas about the school system and where it should be going and how we’re going to get there. It’s not going to be my vision. It’s going to be a shared vision.
Can you explain a bit about the strategic plan?
Most organizations, whether they’re a business, a nonprofit or school system, usually adopt a plan that is not just for one year, but really a multiple-year plan. They set out goals that they want to accomplish and then strategies on how they’re going to achieve those goals. And then they typically align that to a budget. So that’s a big job, big work, but it’s also a great opportunity for people to engage and to articulate what’s important to them in the community and what’s important to them in the schools.
So there is one on the [MCPS] website. And I think it is coming to completion soon, if not already. But I will say that, you know, strategic plans can sit on the shelf, or they can be a part of your average everyday dialogue and the things that are important to your daily work. My hope is that we have a culture of support, a culture of innovation, a culture of mutual respect and caring and that the strategic plan can be a part of that culture on a regular basis.