As the Montgomery County Board of Education conducts a national search for a new school superintendent for the second time in three years, board President Karla Silvestre says members are focused on improving community participation in the process.
“I want to review what we’ve done in the past and do better,” Silvestre said Friday. “I mean to, you know, think more creatively about how to get to more families, more students [involved] … just learn from our past experience and improve upon it. There’s always room to improve.”
The board has pledged to have a new superintendent hired by July 1. That’s four months after the departure of former Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Monifa McKnight, who resigned Feb. 2 in the wake of a controversy over sexual harassment and bullying allegations against a former principal. The board appointed Monique Felder, a former MCPS administrator, to serve as interim superintendent. Felder’s contract is set to expire June 30.
In launching another search just three years after choosing McKnight to replace retiring MCPS Superintendent Jack Smith, the school board is once again facing a challenge that’s not uncommon among districts across the country.
Research shows that superintendent turnover rates “increased by almost 3 percentage points over the past four years, from 14.2 percent between 2019-20 and 2020-21 to 17.1 percent between 2021-22 and 2022-23,” Education Week reported in November.
In the past, the board has hired a firm to conduct the search and plans to do so again, Silvestre said. The board is “navigating the procurement process to see what [they] could do in the quickest amount of time” and looking at which firms are available, she said.
“You know, this is a really tough job. And so you’re relying on the firm to bring you top candidates that are going to be a good fit for Montgomery County Public Schools,” Silvestre said. “And so I think the timeline is doable. It just depends on: Who is in the market? And will we get top-tier candidates for us to decide on?”
She said the board is looking for candidates from within and outside of the school district. “We are looking to find the right person wherever they may be,” she wrote in a text message.
Many in the MCPS community say they have lost confidence in the district’s administration and the school board after the high-profile controversy involving former principal Joel Beidleman revealed systemic issues within the school system. Transparency in selecting a new superintendent is paramount for many in the community.
Silvestre said she expects the search firm hired by the board will hold focus groups with key MCPS stakeholders, community groups, elected officials and community leaders to gather feedback about what they’re looking for in the next superintendent.
“It’s important that we hear from diverse groups of parents and so I invite them to pay attention as more information rolls out so that we can ensure that we’re hearing from various areas of the county and different stakeholder groups,” she said.
The search will also gather student input from different areas of the county through “a variety of forums,” Silvestre said.
During the 2021 search that led to McKnight’s appointment, the board conducted a community survey and held virtual events for the public to learn about the process and provide feedback. This time around, Silvestre said the board may hold in-person meetings.
She also said she would “love” to do public interviews with candidates once they’re selected but noted that sometimes candidates don’t want it to be publicly known that they are looking for other jobs.
“It’s a balancing act. You do want to be transparent, but you’re limited by what the best candidates are willing to reveal to their employers at that time,” Silvestre said.