The search is on for the next leader of Maryland's largest school district.
The Montgomery County school board on Tuesday kicked off a series of meetings to get parent feedback as they began the nationwide manhunt for a superintendent.
“This is the head of our schools, the CEO of our company,” Montgomery County Board of Education President Karla Silvestre said before dozens of parents and employees gathered in the cafeteria at Seneca Valley High School.
The search follows Superintendent Monifa McKnight’s resignation in February, after the county’s inspector general found issues with how the school district handles complaints of employee misconduct.
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“What qualities do you want to see in the next person?” Silvestre asked. “What do you value in a leader? What do you see that’s needed in our school system that this kind of person can bring?”
She said they will give these notes to a private firm that they’ve hired to help with the nationwide search.
“I look to see how they handled their district [and] look to see if they made changes in their district,” mother Margery Smelkinson.
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Smelkinson said she couldn't miss the meeting. Her children are in the seventh, sixth, fourth and third grade, and she wants the next superintendent to focus on the basics.
“I think we were all kind of agreeing that safety and academics were what needs to be the major focus,” Smelkinson said.
The Board of Education said they want to get as many opinions as possible before they identify the top candidates.
The school board will host two more meetings like this: one on Wednesday at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville at 6 p.m. and another on Thursday at Wheaton High School at 6 p.m.
“I’m hoping that there are a good number of internal candidates,” mother Kenge Fludd said.
She said she hopes more parents get involved in the process, and she thinks the next superintendent needs to understand Montgomery County‘s rich diversity.
“There are special needs, obviously cultural needs, religious needs and we have students on all bands of the spectrum, from like highly advanced students to students that might need extra support, so I think that’s very important because we are definitely not a one-size-fits-all,” Fludd said.
The school board said under state law, the new superintendent has to be in the job by July 1.
