The Montgomery County Board of Education announced plans to name Dr. Monique Felder as interim superintendent after Superintendent Monifa McKnight announced Friday that she has agreed to step down from her position.
The board said it plans to vote on Felder's appointment at Tuesday's meeting.
Felder began her career in Montgomery County Public Schools, then moved to Prince George's County Public Schools, then worked in Nashville, Tennessee, and Orange County, North Carolina public schools, the board announced in a news release Monday afternoon. did.
“Dr. Felder has 32 years of experience in public education, including as superintendent of Orange County Public Schools in North Carolina, and was nominated for Regional Superintendent of the Year,” the board said in a statement Monday afternoon. .
The announcement came three days after the Montgomery County Board of Education and McKnight himself announced they had “mutually agreed to separate.”
However, “in the interest of transparency,” the board said it was aware of a preliminary investigation into a financial disclosure report on honoraria Felder received from an education consulting firm in 2019.
“The Board has reviewed the findings and believes that the findings are unfounded, as the report concludes. “I am confident that he will be able to effectively guide MCPS through this transition,” he said in a statement.
After naming an interim superintendent, the school board said it will begin a national search for a permanent replacement.
“The Board of Education recognizes the important work ahead,” the school board said in a statement Friday. “We must rebuild trust, begin repairs, and ensure we have a school system that can serve the students, staff, and families that make up our great school communities.”
Monifah McKnight announced Friday that she is resigning as superintendent of MCPS.
Superintendent Monifah McKnight announced Friday that she has agreed to leave her position. According to statements from the Montgomery County School Board and McKnight himself, they “mutually agreed to separate.”
The news comes after the county inspector general found problems with the way the school district handled complaints of employee misconduct. The Montgomery County Legislature said the district had filed complaints of sexual misconduct after former William H. Farquhar Middle School principal Joel Beidleman was promoted despite being accused of sexual harassment and bullying more than a dozen times in seven years. They asked the Office of the Inspector General to investigate how the matter was handled. Year. Some of these complaints were never pursued.
McKnight told a Montgomery County Council committee that she was unaware of the internal investigation into Beidleman when the school board unanimously approved Beidleman's promotion to Paint Branch principal.
“Given that I'm the superintendent today, it's my responsibility to make it right and make sure something like this never happens again,” she previously told News4.
McKnight said two weeks ago that the school board was asking him to resign without just cause. She said she believes their reason lies in something other than her performance as superintendent. After that, she said, she has no plans to resign.
The Montgomery County Educators Association announced last month that it supports McKnight's firing.
Superintendent Monifa McKnight and Montgomery County Public Schools have reached an agreement for her resignation. News4's Paul Wagner reports.
“New facts increasingly show that the superintendent was more concerned with protecting himself and his inner circle than with doing right by front-line staff and students,” the statement reads in part. It is written in
At a recent school board meeting, McKnight's supporters applauded her.
“This is a witch hunt,” community advocate Lucy Hayes said.
McKnight said in a statement that the situation had become too much of a distraction.
“When the focus is no longer on the person I agreed to serve, I must take control of my own destiny,” she said in a statement. “I have also maintained that it is important that my reputation remains based on facts and truth. After careful consideration, prayer, and a desire for fairness, today I We have reached a mutually agreed separation with the school board.”
The Montgomery County School Board met amid questions about Superintendent Monifa McKnight's future with the district. “This is a witch hunt,” a community advocate told News4's Juliana Valencia.
As board members left a closed-door meeting Friday night, they declined to answer questions about why McKnight resigned.
Details of the financial agreement between the district and McKnight were not disclosed. She was making $320,000 a year and had a four-year contract.
County Executive Mark Elrich said he doesn't know why McKnight was absent, but would like to know why.
“These questions have to be answered at some point,” he says.
