In an email to staff on Friday, MCPS superintendent Dr. Monifa McKnight shared additional changes in personnel for the school system. Dr. McKnight previously emailed administrative and supervisory staff on Wednesday to inform them of changes that included announcing that deputy superintendent Dr. Patrick Murphy was no longer employed by the district and that two members of the MCPS Office of School Support and Well-Being (OSSWB), Dr. Donna Redmond Jones and Dr. Eugenia (Jeanie) Dawson are currently on leave. The additional changes shared can be seen below:
• Effective Monday, October 16, 2023, Dr. Betty J. Collins will serve as acting deputy superintendent. Dr. Collins, an MCPS graduate, enjoyed a distinguished 49-year career in the district as a teacher, principal, and director of Instructional Leadership, before her retirement in 2018.
• Effective Monday, October 16, 2023, Dr. LaVerne G. Kimball will serve as acting chief in the Office of School Support and Well-Being (OSSWB). Dr. Kimball served MCPS for 37 years and retired in 2018 as an associate superintendent of elementary schools.
• Effective Monday October 23, 2023, Ms. E. Lancellotti Dempsey will serve as acting associate superintendent in OSSWB. Ms. Dempsey retired in 2020 after 31 years serving the school system. She was the principal of Shady Grove Middle School and Northwest High School and retired as the associate superintendent of human resources and development.
• The continuity of school support is a major priority for me. In collaboration with Dr. Moran and Mr. Adams, I am temporarily reassigning Dr. Yolanda R. Allen, executive director in the Office of the Deputy Superintendent, to serve as acting director in OSSWB. Dr. Allen has served the district for more than 20 years, including as principal of Goshen and Snowden Farm elementary schools. She will begin this assignment on Monday, October 16, 2023.
• Effective Monday, October 16, 2023, Mrs. Michelle E. Schultze will serve as acting executive director in the Office of the Deputy Superintendent. Mrs. Schultze served MCPS for 21 years and retired in 2020 as a director in the former Office of School Support and Improvement (OSSI), which is now OSSWB. Ms. Schultze also has served as acting director in OSSWB multiple times since her retirement.
An “Action Plan Update: A Framework for Change in MCPS” was also shared with staff.
Featured photo courtesy of MCPS