This article, originally published at 7:08 p.m. Feb. 5, 2024, was updated at 12:17 a.m. Feb. 6, 2024, to clarify Navarro’s terms of employment and correct that she worked 30 hours per week.
Two high-ranking employees hired by Monifa McKnight last fall as Montgomery County Public Schools was reeling from a scandal have departed this month, at the same time as the superintendent, the district confirmed Monday.
However, no details have been provided yet about the terms of McKnight’s exit.
McKnight hired former Montgomery County Councilmember Nancy Navarro as senior adviser of external affairs in November in the wake of an explosive investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against former district principal Joel Beidleman.
According to a Maryland Public Information request filed by MoCo360, Navarro was set to earn $96.62 per hour as a part-time employee over three months beginning Dec. 6. Navarro told MoCo360 that she worked 30 hours per week — a potential of earning $37,681.
Her hiring had been met with some criticism within the community as a public relations and political response to the furor over the promotion of Beidleman while he was the subject of an internal investigation.
Navarro’s employment ended Friday, MCPS spokesman Chris Cram confirmed Monday. Navarro was an MCPS employee for less than two months.
In an email to MoCo360, Navarro said that she voluntarily resigned on Friday.
“When Dr. McKnight asked me to join as the External Affairs Senior Advisor, I accepted recognizing the need to address the unique educational challenges exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and internal issues,” Navarro said in a statement. “Supporting the first woman Superintendent in the County was an honor. Her commitment to addressing deficiencies and working for educational outcomes during one of the most challenging times in modern history gave me hope that positive change was possible.”
Navarro added, “regretfully” McKnight was not given the chance to implement interventions in the district but said that she trusts that school system staff will “persevere.”
McKnight hired MCPS retiree Laverne Kimball in October as acting chief in the Office of School Support and Well-Being (OSSWB). During her tenure at MCPS—prior to October—Kimball was the community superintendent who oversaw schools where Beidleman had been principal and may have been responsible for the rise of Joe Beidleman, MoCo360 reported Thursday.
Kimball did not immediately respond to MoCo360’s requests for comment on her departure from MCPS.
Asked by MoCo360 about the terms of McKnight’s exit, Cram wrote in an email, “Specifics concerning what Dr. McKnight may be receiving as part of the agreement announced Friday have not yet been made available to [his] office.” He encouraged MoCo360 to reach out to the school board.
Members of the Board of Education did not immediately respond Monday afternoon to MoCo360’s inquiries for details on McKnight’s departure package and the process and timeline for hiring a new superintendent for the school system. McKnight earned $320,000 in salary in 2023, and her contract was not due to expire until June 30, 2026.
However, the board announced Monday that it plans to vote to appoint a new interim superintendent at its board meeting Tuesday.
The potential appointee, Monique Felder, was most recently the superintendent of Orange County Public Schools in North Carolina. Before her superintendency, she was the chief academic officer for Metro Nashville Public Schools (Tennessee) and an executive director for Prince George’s County Public Schools. Felder began her career in MCPS working as a teacher, assistant principal and principal and serving as the director of Accelerated and Enriched Instruction and the director of the Interventions Network.
Despite past scrutiny surrounding a 2019 investigation of Felder’s failure to disclose fees she pocketed from an educational consultancy, the board expressed its confidence that Felder was trustworthy and would be able to “competently guide MCPS through this transition.”
“The Board has reviewed the findings and is confident that the findings were unsubstantiated as the report concluded,” the school board stated in a press release Monday.
Aside from Dana Edwards, chief of District Operations, being placed on administrative leave last week, there have been no other personnel actions within MCPS central office in the past week, Cram confirmed.