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Joshua Starr, a few months into his tenure as chief of Montgomery County’s schools, wants to focus on increasing support for both teachers and for students who are falling behind.
The superintendent set new year’s resolutions to enhance professional development for the county’s teachers and staff; provide more timely interventions for struggling students; and broach partnerships with nonprofits to provide more services to students.
“Next year is about really building the infrastructure, figuring out what resources we have available and what resources we still need,” Starr said in an interview with The Washington Examiner Wednesday.
The priorities come as Starr proposes a $2.128 billion budget for the school system, a 2 percent increase over the current budget and the smallest funding increase request in the past 12 years.
Although relatively modest, the proposed budget includes pay raises for teachers and other employees, who have foregone cost-of-living increases for three consecutive years and step increases for two.
The idea, Starr said, is to ensure that MCPS is maximizing its current resources before it asks for more. “We’ll be going through a reorientation process with our central office, [taking] a hard look at how it should be structured … that means we have to look at current expenditures — our positions, our time, our cash that’s related to any instructional areas,” Starr said.
But as of now, he’s ready to tackle his three goals in the year ahead. The system’s professional development has been nationally acclaimed for its teachers-helping-teachers philosophy, but Starr wants to figure out “what’s next.”
He also wants to focus on timely interventions for children who are struggling, academically and otherwise. “When kids aren’t acting in the ways we want them to, socially or emotionally, what are we doing about it? This is an issue we have to start tackling.”
Starr also is seeking to amp up community engagement, involving nonprofits like health and human services organizations in partnerships with the school system. He has begun meeting with community leaders about providing services to Montgomery’s students.
Starr began his tenure in July, replacing 12-year Superintendent Jerry Weast.
Weast advanced the nationally recognized school system in a number of ways, maintaining a high graduation rate even as the district’s student population grew in size and diversity. He was also aggressive at the budget table; the school board took steps toward suing the county last year over its slashed funding levels.
But Weast was also heavily criticized for a perceived lack of openness and failure to engage the community.
In addition to his modest budget proposal, Starr has made other moves counter to his predecessor. He’s held community forums and student town halls, visited dozens of classrooms, and created a book club.
