When it comes to a new leader for Montgomery County Public Schools, some parents, staff, community members and students say they’re looking for an experienced leader and a good communicator who will respect staff and understand the concerns of the district’s community.
Several dozen people shared their input and discussed what characteristics they’re looking for in the next superintendent with school leaders at a community forum Wednesday evening at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville.
The forum, the second of three to be held this week, is part of the district’s search for a new superintendent after the February resignation of former Superintendent Monifa McKnight. This week, the school board hired Florida-based Greenwood Asher and Associates to conduct a national search with the goal of having a new superintendent in place by July 1.
The third forum will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday at Wheaton High School, 12401 Dalewood Drive, Silver Spring. Those interested can register online. About 30 people attended the first forum, held Tuesday night at Seneca Valley High School in Germantown, according to MCPS spokesperson Chris Cram.
At Thursday’s forum, participants can expect to be seated at round tables with other community members to discuss questions about the strengths of MCPS and areas in need of improvement, as well as the qualities and characteristics they want to see in the next superintendent. School board members and MCPS leaders and staff will be present to listen and answer questions.
School board Chief of Staff Lori-Chris Webb said the input from the community forums will be aggregated to create a leadership profile that will be used to help the search firm and the board as it interviews and selects candidates.
Webb told MoCo360 that the leadership profile will be shared with the public and posted to the MCPS website at a date that has not yet been determined.
At Wednesday’s forum, around 50 attendees wrote down on yellow, blue and pink sticky notes what they were looking for: an experienced leader who is a good communicator, someone who understands the concerns of the county, has integrity, respect for staff and the district’s employee unions, and the skills to manage a large, diverse school system.
Sharon Greene, parent of an elementary school student, said she would like to see a superintendent who “engages with the community and school system by visiting schools without alerting staff of [their] intent to visit.” Greene declined to share the school her child attends.
MCPS must have a leader who can see the “daily structure of the school day–how parents, teachers and administrators interact with students on a daily basis,” she said. “That will certainly give one a sense of identifying what some of the problems and concerns are.”
She also noted that an ability to promote transparency and inclusivity is a must.
Ricky Ribeiro, PTSA vice president at John F. Kennedy High School in Silver Spring who sat at the same table as Greene, agreed and said a leader who prioritized school safety was important to him.
“I actually served on an MCPS advisory group for safety and security and what I saw was embarrassing. It was terrifying [to see] the lack of leadership, the lack of seriousness, the lack of resources. It’s terrifying and I think MCPS is not ready for the current day that we’re in,” Ribeiro said, noting safety concerns such as drug use and overdoses and students with knives and ghost guns.
He added that he would like to see the school system “adapt to that reality.”
Alan Zheng, a graduate of Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville who has two children at Lakewood Elementary School in Rockville, said he has seen a “cultural shift in accountability” within the school system since he was a student and hoped the next leader would be a strong communicator.
Zheng noted that parents receive a lot of communication from the MCPS central office daily but wanted the next superintendent to communicate beyond emails and letters. He also said that it was important to have a leader who deeply understands the scope of the school system’s size, diversity and history.
Participants said they appreciated how the district and the school board are conducting the superintendent search, including through community engagement forums, surveys and conversations with MCPS and board staff.
Rodney Peele, parent of a student at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville, said he thought the district was taking a different approach than it had in the past.
“The feeling that a candidate has been picked and MCPS is just going through the motions to check boxes–that’s been the feeling [of] the superintendent selections in the past,” Peele said. “This feels a little different, for the better.”