On Monday, June 17th, the Montgomery County Board of Education has announced that it selected Dr. Thomas W. Taylor as the next superintendent of Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS). The Board will vote on Dr. Taylor’s appointment at its regularly scheduled June 25 business meeting. 25 years ago this month, in June 1999, the Board of Education named Dr. Jerry Weast as the new MCPS superintendent, taking over for Dr. Paul Vance.
Dr. Jerry Weast had his contract renewed by the Montgomery County Board of Education in 2003 and 2007 before retiring on June 30, 2011. In 2003, he was named Maryland Superintendent of the Year and was one of four finalists for National Superintendent of the Year. Dr. Weast is one of only a few superintendents nationwide to win Superintendent of the Year in two states, having also received the honor in North Carolina in 1998. Weast is the second-longest serving Superintendent in MCPS history with only Edwin W. Broome, who served for 36 years (1917-1953, having a longer tenure.
Dr. Joshua Starr was hired as the new superintendent after Weast and began his tenure on July 1, 2011. The Board of Education voted to approve a departure agreement with Starr that made his resignation effective February 16, 2015. The MCPS announcement of Dr. Jerry Weast’s hiring in 1999 can be seen below:
“The Board acted this evening to satisfy provisions of state law requiring the appointment of a superintendent prior to July 1, 1999. Meetings by the public with Dr. Weast on July 12 and a site visit by members of the Board will still take place. Dr. Paul L. Vance will continue as superintendent of schools pending final transition arrangements.
In its resolution approving the appointment, the Board said it believes Dr. Weast “is highly qualified to assume the responsibilities of superintendent and meets the expectations of the key stakeholders, including staff, parents, students, and the larger business and civic community.”
The Board noted that Dr. Weast, who is the superintendent of the Guilford County Schools in Greensboro, North Carolina, was selected after a nationwide search for a successor to Dr. Vance.
The following is from an earlier announcement today:
The Board announced the scheduling of a series of public meetings on July 12 for the community to meet Dr. Weast prior to his assuming the job as superintendent. The meetings will include small group sessions during the day with parent, business, education, civic, and community leaders, followed by a larger session for the general public at 8:00 p.m. at the CESC auditorium.
“We are exceptionally pleased to have identified Dr. Weast as a finalist who could bring his vast experiences as a superintendent in helping us achieve a vision of a world class school system for Montgomery County,” said Reginald Felton, president of the Board of Education. “Dr. Weast would build upon an already strong academic program and a high caliber of school-based instructional leadership to foster the innovation necessary for the next century.”
Dr. Weast has been superintendent in Guilford County since 1993. Guilford County is North Carolina’s third largest school district, with 94 schools and 61,000 students, in a metropolitan area with a population of 1.2 million residents that includes the cities of Greensboro and High Point.
Dr. Weast was also superintendent in other school districts in Kansas, Montana, North Carolina and South Dakota, beginning in 1976. He has been a secondary school principal and teacher and a university professor. He holds a doctorate in educational administration from Oklahoma State University and other graduate and undergraduate degrees from Pittsburg State University, Kansas, as well as continued professional development at Harvard University, Duke University, and the University of Southern California.
Named superintendent of the year in 1999 in North Carolina, Dr. Weast has overseen significant change in Guilford County Schools, including school district mergers, budgetary reform, and student achievement gains. He is the author of numerous educational research articles and has been a conference presenter on educational leadership, instructional innovation, and school improvement, among other topics.”