Breaking News: Starr Eliminates Clusters and Community Superintendents

During the years when Jerry Weast was the superintendent of Montgomery County Public Schools the administration of local schools was set up according to Clusters.  Each Cluster had a Community Superintendent assigned to that area of the county.  Cluster were typically the high school, middle schools and elementary schools in the geographic area. Parents knew that any public school issues in their part of the county were under the supervision of their area's Community Superintendent.

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

  OSSI Reorganization by   Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland

Alert! $75,000 for Starr buddy at BOE Retreat Today! Another No-Bid Procurement!

At today's off-camera Board of Education (BOE) meeting the BOE is being told how to run the school system by a Panasonic consultant.  Panasonic claims to be providing educational consultation to schools as a way of saying "thanks".

But, today's consultant also owns his own side consulting business. And, the BOE is paying that consultant directly for his services.

That's right, the "thanks" from the Panasonic foundation is that taxpayers get to pay this outside consultant $75,000 for one day's work.

This was another no-bid procurement for the BOE!

And, by the way, the consultant with the BOE today was also a consultant for Superintendent Starr when he was the Stamford, Connecticut superintendent.

Is MCPS now the full employment for Superintendent Joshua Starr's friends public school system?

Starr Transition Team member snags Administrator Position

The Gazette article below fails to mention that new MCPS hire Rebecca Thessin was a previous hire of Joshua Starr's in Stamford, CT.  Thessin and Starr also have written an article together, and  Superintendent Starr put her on his "transition team."  Now Starr has created a new MCPS office and appointed her as the administrator. 

Gazette:  Superintendent brings in 5 new top-tier execs 

After one year leading Montgomery County Public Schools, Superintendent Joshua P. Starr is bringing in a new team and realigning some departments.
The changes will align the school system with priorities laid out in Starr’s transition plan: intervention, community engagement and professional development, schools spokesman Dana Tofig said.
Last year, three offices reported directly to Starr: the chief of staff, deputy superintendent of schools, and chief operating officer.
This coming school year, four offices will report to him. Also, due to staff resignations and retirements, two of the deputy superintendents that will lead these offices will be new, and one associate superintendent will be new.
The chief of staff and the chief operating officer will continue to report directly to Starr.
In the place of the office of the deputy superintendent, Starr has created the Office of Teaching, Learning and Programs, and in the place of the chief school performance officer, which had reported to the deputy superintendent, Starr created the Office of School Support and Improvement, which will now reports directly to him.
Frieda Lacey, who had been deputy superintendent, retired last month. Kimberly Statham was appointed to lead the newly redefined Office of Teaching Learning and Programs, which oversees programmatic functions such as curriculum and instruction.
Under that office, Starr has realigned the Department of Family and Community Partnerships, to create the position of Chief Engagement and Partnership Officer. That position has not yet been filled.
Also under that office, Adrian Talley, associate superintendent for shared accountability, has resigned, leaving an open position for a new leader.
Since Frank Stetson retired as chief school performance officer, Beth Schiavino-Narvaez has been appointed as the deputy superintendent of school support and improvement.
Under that office, Starr has created one new office, for Professional Development and Support. It will be lead by a new hire, Rebecca A. Thessin, as an associate superintendent.
Thessin has been assistant professor of educational administration at George Washington University Graduate School of Education and Human Development.
“This is to align with Dr. Starr’s strong belief that professional development and direct service to principals is extremely important,” Tofig wrote in an email.

Gazette Exposes Starr's "Transition team"

In today's Montgomery Gazette the public learns about Superintendent Starr's "transition team." Thanks to Gazette reporter Andrew Ujifusa the public now knows who is on this "team." Why didn't Superintendent Starr tell the public that this team was formed and who was on it? From out of state news sources we know that the "team" has been in existence since before Superintendent Starr's July 1st start date. 

The next question is who is PAYING for this team? Anyone want to take a guess since Superintendent Starr hasn't been interested in being transparent about this? Did the Board of Education trade after-school sports for this entourage? 

And the final question is, why didn't the Board of Education hire someone who could come in and start to work immediately without outside consultants? 

Montgomery’s schools chief turns to New England brainpower on advisory teamTwo-thirds work or worked with county school systemby Andrew Ujifusa, Staff Writer

The transition team for Montgomery County schools’ new superintendent includes the former director of a Harvard graduate school program, the executive director of a corporate foundation dedicated to schools and a former top official with the school system... 

...Larry Leverett 

Since 2006, Leverett has been executive director of the Panasonic Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Secaucaus, N.J. The organization’s mission, as stated on its website, is “to break the links between race, poverty, and educational outcomes,” echoing the key themes of Peterkin’s Urban Superintendents Program.
Like Starr, Marks and Peterkin, Leverett has education leadership experience in the Northeast, having worked as superintendent of Plainfield, N.J., and Greenwich, Conn., public schools prior to joining the Panasonic Foundation, a Grantmakers for Education biography states. Starr has worked in public schools in Connecticut and New Jersey, as well as New York City.
Leverett has his own connection to another member of the transition team. He also has served on the advisory committee to Peterkin’s Urban Superintendents Program...

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Wednesday August 10, 2011

Montgomery's schools chief turns to New England brainpower on advisory team

by andrew ujifusa , Staff Writer

The transition team for Montgomery County schools’ new superintendent includes the former director of a Harvard graduate school program, the executive director of a corporate foundation dedicated to schools and a former top official with the school system. A group of 15 people is helping Superintendent of Schools Joshua P. Starr take over the reins of Montgomery County Public Schools. Ten of them work or formerly worked in the school system, including long-time Weast deputies Larry Bowers, chief operating officer, and Frieda K. Lacey, deputy superintendent. A focus on educational equity is a major theme among the non-school system team members, one highlighted during former superintendent Jerry D. Weast’s tenure. There also are several links to the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Several of the members also have backgrounds in education leadership in the Northeast.

Those employed or formerly employed by the school system include Kathy Gemberling, former deputy superintendent; Vera Gaines, co-lead consulting teacher; Susan Marks, superintendent of schools in Norwalk, Conn. and a former community superintendent in Montgomery County; Ruth Musicante, a professional growth consultant with the school system; Frank Stetson, chief school performance officer; LaVerne Kimball, community superintendent; Scott Murphy, principal; and Brian Edwards, chief of staff.

Rebecca Thessin  Thessin has strong ties to Starr, having worked for him as director of school performance and professional development when he was Stamford Public Schools superintendent. She authored an article earlier this year with him about the development of Professional Learning Communities at Stamford. Thessin is an assistant professor at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. She specializes in preparing students to be school principals and other leaders in educational settings. She is an academic adviser in the university’s master of arts in Education and Human Development program. She holds an educational doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Urban Superintendents Program. Thessin previously worked as an aide to a deputy superintendent in Boston Public Schools, and has classroom teaching experience.

Robert Peterkin From 1991 until last year, Robert Peterkin was director of the Urban Superintendents Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where Starr was one of his students. The program focuses on producing school leaders who strive for educational equity across racial and socioeconomic lines. Peterkin previously served as superintendent in Cambridge, Mass., and Milwaukee public schools.In an April 2010 interview with the graduate school’s magazine, Peterkin described what makes a good superintendent. “First, someone has to commit to a vision of equitable education for all. And I mean a real commitment, like, ‘I’m willing to get fired over this.’ The second is theory of change. It’s not enough to talk a good game and inspire a community. You have to have the wherewithal to get it done.”He added that both of these qualities required courage to work. Starr specifically thanked Peterkin for his help during his first Board of Education meeting last month.

Larry Leverett Since 2006, Leverett has been executive director of the Panasonic Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Secaucaus, N.J. The organization’s mission, as stated on its website, is “to break the links between race, poverty, and educational outcomes,” echoing the key themes of Peterkin’s Urban Superintendents Program.Like Starr, Marks and Peterkin, Leverett has education leadership experience in the Northeast, having worked as superintendent of Plainfield, N.J., and Greenwich, Conn., public schools prior to joining the Panasonic Foundation, a Grantmakers for Education biography states. Starr has worked in public schools in Connecticut and New Jersey, as well as New York City. Leverett has his own connection to another member of the transition team. He also has served on the advisory committee to Peterkin’s Urban Superintendents Program. The transition team also includes Brian Osborne, superintendent of schools, School District of South Orange and Maplewood, N.J.; and John Kim, chief executive officer, District Management Council.aujifusa@gazette.net