Will Starr Serve Another Term at MCPS?

Montgomery County Board of Education will meet in closed session on Friday, apparently to discuss Superintendent Dr. Joshua Starr’s $250,000-plus salary and his contract with MCPS.

Starr’s contract expires June 30, according to Montgomery Community Media, but he has yet to indicate whether or not he wants to renew his contract. The request, according to school board policy, must be made by Feb. 1. The school board then has until Mar. 1 to make a decision whether or not to renew or terminate the contract.

“I don’t know whether he submitted a letter or not; at this point he has indicated he would like another four-year term,” MCPS spokesperson Dana Tofig told the news outlet.

But a question has arisen as to whether or not Starr should serve another term. In a recent letter to the Board of Education, Jeanette Dixon, a retired MCPS principal, asks if the county can afford to pay Starr for four more years of leadership.

Starr was hired to serve a four-year term on Apr. 25, 2011, according to Montgomery Community Media. His yearly salary at the time was $250,000, but since then, he has been given yearly increases.

Tofig says Starr’s salary is $264,002.

“With a budget of approximately $9.6 billion over the last four years, has Dr. Starr moved the school system forward? Is the school system better off today than it was when he became superintendent on July 1, 2011?” Dixon says in her letter. “Moreover, has the school system gotten its money’s worth in terms of the half million dollars in salary and benefits it has paid him each year?”

Dixon admits that Starr has been a good supporter for the school system, but says he did not do as much as he could have with the budget given to MCPS.

Board member Mike Durso told Montgomery Community Media he thinks the discussion on whether or not he supports rehiring Starr is “premature.”

School Board President Patricia O’Neill says in the event there is a superintendent vacancy, there will be a national search and appointment of an interim superintendent.

The closed door meeting is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Friday.

>>>Read the full story and Jeanette Dixon’s letter on Montgomery Community Media.

-- Patch file photo.