GERMANTOWN, Md. β Montgomery County Public Schools is on the hunt for a new superintendent.
This comes after the recent departure of former Superintendent Dr. Monifa McKnight.
WUSA9 has learned that McKnight will walk away from Montgomery County with $1.3 million as part of the district's separation deal.
The reason why McKnight and the Montgomery County school district decided to part ways remains unclear but the move came not long after a months-long investigation into Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) which detailed years-long issues in the way the school system handles employee complaints β including sexual harassment accusations.
Tuesday night, the first of three town halls was held at Seneca Valley High School in Germantown, Maryland.
WUSA9 asked some of the attendees what they want to see in the next superintendent.
"Transparency. We want better communication honesty, transparency and inclusion," said Laura Mitchell.
"Someone I can trust, who's willing to make the hard decisions and wilting to not be popular," said Stephanie Dorah.
"I'm concerned about what we might not know, and I want a Superintendent who's willing to find out what we don't know and then fix it," said Sandra Landis.
"We as a board have to take the pulse of the community," said Karla Silvestre, the president of the Montgomery County School Board.
She told WUSA9 they'll use the information they gather from the town halls to create a leadership profile.
"We gather all this information and create a document that we give to the company that's doing the search so they know what we want to see in the leader," said Silvestre.
The Board is hosting two more in-person town halls this week.
- April 3, 2024βRichard Montgomery High School, 6:00 p.m. RSVP here.
- April 4, 2024βWheaton High School, 6:00 p.m. RSVP here.
They've also planned a virtual forum for April 15th. You can find updates here.