Frederick County has hired the same Chicago search firm to find its next superintendent as neighboring Montgomery County. “They do searches in school systems in several states simultaneously; what is unusual in this case is that the districts are back to back,” said Carl Smith, executive director of the Maryland Association of Boards of Education. “It’s a little eye-catching that they’re next to each other and to some extent both large counties.” Montgomery Superintendent Jerry Weast will retire at the end of June after a 12-year reign over the school system’s 144,000 students and $2.2 billion budget. School board President Christopher Barclay said he does not foresee a conflict with Frederick because Montgomery’s public school system is much larger.

“I think it would be a very different candidate,” he said. “The organization that would be run here would be much larger, and require a different skill set.”