Today, Superintendent Joshua Starr announced that he will be eliminating the Community Superintendent positions and replacing them with Associate Superintendents who will oversee levels of schools, not schools in particular areas. For parents, that means that during a child's time in MCPS they will now come under the direction of 3 different Associate Superintendents; one for elementary school, then another one for middle school, and then one for high school. Superintendent Starr's e-mail to staff and his new organization chart are shown below.
The County PTA was also structured to mimic the organization of MCPS with PTA positions assigned to each geographic cluster. That allowed the PTA officers to directly communicate with the MCPS administrator for their area. Those geographic clusters will no longer exist.
Note, the Board of Education did not vote on this change and parents were not given the opportunity to comment on this reorganization of MCPS administration.
Dear Colleagues,
I am writing to inform you about the reorganization of the Office of School Support and Improvement (OSSI) and how this will better serve our schools and students.
Since beginning my tenure at Montgomery County Public Schools, the district’s leadership team and I have been working to make sure that our central office is focused on its core mission of serving principals and supporting schools. This work began in earnest in December 2011 with a reorientation process and, since then, the Office of School Support and Improvement has worked strategically to identify and meet the needs of our schools. We have also heard a clear message from principals at all levels: You have to know us well to serve us well.
As we have endeavored to get to know our schools well, we have attempted to work within the current structure that provides support by regional area (i.e., quad cluster and quint cluster). This has presented some challenges. As we continue to implement the Common Core State Standards, each grade level has unique programmatic and instructional leadership demands. The regional organization also makes it more difficult to address the systematic needs of all 202 schools in an equitable way.
To that end, effective July 1, 2013, OSSI will be reorganized into level-alike school improvement teams that will better meet the needs of our schools based on their grade levels, rather than their geography. There will be six school improvement teams—one for high schools, one for middle schools and four for elementary schools. These teams will focus on the needs of schools at each level to implement Curriculum 2.0 and the Common Core State Standards; strengthen Professional Learning Communities; develop strong leaders; and promote social emotional learning and the development of 21st century skills in our students. Each team will be led by an associate superintendent and will include directors and staff that will provide flexible, targeted support and professional development for our schools.
In order to re-energize our efforts to narrow the achievement gap, the work of the associate superintendent for professional development and school support will be recast. This position will now become the Chief School Improvement Officer, who will work with 10-15 schools at a time, delivering intense support aimed at improving instruction and narrowing gaps.
An organizational chart that explains the new structure of OSSI is attached to this email. In the coming months, we will share more about these budget-neutral changes and how they are designed to support the work that is going on in and around our classrooms every day.
I want to thank the principals, teachers and school-based staff that have provided honest feedback to us over the past 18 months, which has led to our making this important change in our structure. I also want to thank the entire OSSI team for their commitment to our students and staff, and their willingness to embrace change as we seek to organize around the specific needs of our schools.
Sincerely,
Josh
Josh
