Joshua Starr, superintendent of schools in Montgomery County, Maryland, may not get a new contract from his board. The reasons are unclear. The Washington Post wrote about Starr’s possible ouster yesterday.
Starr won national attention by his outspoken opposition to evaluating teachers by test scores; Montgomery County has a successful teacher evaluation system called Peer Assistance and Review.
Starr called for a three-year moratorium on high-stakes standardized testing.
At present, a majority of the board is not willing to renew his contract.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Unbelievable and disheartening. I hope it’s not true. MCPS have earned a fine reputation under Joshua Starr’s leadership. It’s incomprehensible that the Board does not understand what he has accomplished.
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Please ask him to apply for Superintendent of Fullerton Joint Union High School District. He is just what we need to continue to be one of the best districts in the country and the weather is wonderful in Southern California.
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He wrote a good talk, but when it came to supporting parents opting out of last year’s MSA, he threw our family under the bus (we weren’t the only family opting out in MoCo).
http://crunchyprogressivemusicmama.blogspot.com/2014/03/optout-part-first.html (Part 1 of 5)
Also been Twitter-blocked.
If true, I can’t say I’m sorry to see him go – but I will say he was better than his predecessor.
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It is disturbing that WAPO points to the achievement gap as the most serious problem facing Montgomery County schools. If this a veiled attempt to push high stakes testing as a panacea, they are well behind the times and in for a rough, destructive ride. We have long admired their teacher evaluation system. I would hope they intend to keep it. The concerns really may be limited to not having adequately defined the role they want the superintendent to play. Starr may not be the appropriate fit for them; I’m sure he will land on his feet. We need a lot more information, especially from community members, before we make any assumptions about what is happening.
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I do wish PAR had been in place when I worked in MCPS; it seems to have been a rousing success by and large, although there are tales of vindictive admins “gaming” the system to hassle teachers they don’t favor – but that’s a kink that can be worked out, and it would have made it a lot harder for my own admins with axes to grind to hassle me the way they did. Even Arne Duncan liked it, back when Weast was here. Since MCPS didn’t sign on to receive RttT funds, we were hopeful that the State would leave it alone, but Lillian Lowery, Broad graduate, has decreed that no, MCPS needs to make room for I believe 20% for test scores in its evaluation system, so PAR will have to be modified to allow for it.
WaPo’s agenda is another ball of wax, but they have been accused of being pro-reform and anti-reform (depends on whether you’re reading Valerie Strauss or Jay Mathews LOL).
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The editorial page is in full support of the professional education reform movement, courtesy its two writers -Fred Hiatt and Jo Ann Armao. Jo Ann Armao, you may recall, got a news item re-edited because the reporter, Bill Turque, described the editorial page as acting like Larry King towards Michelle Rhee.
One blogger and teacher wrote a few years back how Ms Armao was open dismissive of teachers and reporters who didn’t swallow the Michelle Rhee narrative of public school education.
One interesting thing I took away from the editorial was the referencing of board members who had gone to the editorial writer with their complaint against. Mr. Starr.
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“. . . there are tales of vindictive admins “gaming” the system to hassle teachers they don’t favor. . . ”
Vindictive admins??
Tell me it ain’t so!!
Have had to deal with too many of them. Even worse are their admin toadies who do the dirty work for them.
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If he really opposed scapegoating teachers through VAM he might want to apply down here in central/southwest Florida.
We got an email from our union yesterday informing us that our Board of Education is signing a memo of understanding with the union that will hold all teachers harmless from negative effects of ANY student growth measures this year, including VAM.
This is amazing to me. The email also said that several other districts in the state were following this template and signing the same MOUs.
What is astounding is that this is happening 24 hours after the commissioner of education for the state declared that any and all opting out was illegal and would be severely punished, whether by students, parents, teachers, or school districts. She, of course, is a Jeb Bush disciple.
The fact that our school boards are finally, finally starting to show a little bit of support for teachers and that they have realized that VAM is a SHAM designed to end professional teaching and destroy the public schools they represent is beyond exciting to me.
Right now we have the state PTA, the state Superintendents association, 2 major school board associations (statewide and regional), the teachers’ union, and several hefty political organizations are all swarming Tallahassee with anti-testing, ant-VAM, anti-CCSS testing messages around the clock.
Whether the state legislature decides to ignore the citizens of Florida in order to prop up Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio as they vie for the Republican presidential nomination or whether they listen to the voters and change the draconian anti-education ALEC legislation they have already passed in years past is known only to God but I’m happy that there is finally some pushback here in the Sunshine State.
We teachers and students have been ground under the thumbs of the reformers for over 13 years now and a little relief is most welcome.
I smell the winds of change blowing . . . .
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good good
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This seems to be a story for which we may never know the real story. For those of us out of the area, his stand on testing seemed to make him a hero. But there’s more to running a district.
Anyone who has witnessed an ouster knows two things: the media doesn’t get it right, and boards seldom talk about what really happened.
What will be a great story is where he ends up.
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Media getting it right. Children are not being protected. Over 15 arrests for sexual abuse of students by staff since Starr arrived and no action from Starr.
Keeping suspected child abusers IN classrooms instead of calling 911 or Child Protective Services is the real story.
http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2015/01/2-years-of-arrests-of-12-adults-for_31.html
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I wonder how much if this is political….meaning that Reformers want teachers evaluated by VAM instead of PAR and the Board is being pressured. PAR should be the national model for evaluating teachers. I hope we learn more about this.
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While I only saw Jerry Weast once in the schools I’ve taught in, I’ve seen Josh a number of times because he does go out and see the schools and talk to the teachers and the kids. He tweets regularly, and he himself does the tweeting, not some assistant. Jerry Weast insisted that everyone call him Dr. Weast. Very soon after he was hired, Josh insisted that everyone call him Josh. Jerry Weast pitted the principals against each other in stressful meetings of the principals.
Yes, he has come out against the reform’s insistence on testing, but unlike the Post’s usual stance against education in general, I view that as a positive for the students of Montgomery County. And our four-year graduation rate has climbed steadily the past three years, for all subgroups of students, up to 89.7%.
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Agree – these are some of the reasons I wanted so much to believe. I would have helped Weast pack his things and told him not to let the door hit him in the [backside] on the way out. (In his workgroup discussing implementation of full-day Kindergarten (in the name of, and I’m not making this up, “academic rigor”), we were told in no uncertain terms that “Dr. Weast doesn’t want us using the term ‘developmentally appropriate;’ we will use ‘age-appropriate’ instead.” O.O)
I did try to reach out to Starr and the Board early on but was pretty much blown off. *shrug* I was still discounting tales from other MCPS parents about conflicts with him when MCPS refused our family’s MSA refusal last year, and things eventually soured from there, culminating in his responding to a Tweet I posted about not being a data-driven teacher (referring to my private music lessons and my Early Childhood music classes) by having someone in HR phone me at home to slap me on the wrist. The Twitter-blocking happened not long after that.
I wanted to believe. I did. 😦
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Oh, and Diane named Josh to be on her Honor Roll. 🙂
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For something he didn’t do. Previous superintendent rejected RTTT, not Joshua Starr. Historian needs to check her facts.
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The billionaires have been pouring money into local school board elections too—-so far they seem to have focused on the biggest districts. It would be interesting to know if that happened in this school district during the last election, because Starr was so outspoken against the oligarchs agenda to destroy public education that he gained their attention and they turned their money against him by taking over the school board to get rid of his voice and spread fear among other district superintendents that their days might be numbered too if they dare to speak up and not fall into line like a good minion.
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Nope. No billionaires pouring money in to this election. One of the current BOE members voting to not renew Joshua Starr’s contract was on the BOE BEFORE the election and was RE-ELECTED.
3 of the NO votes have been on the BOE for years.
Your made up scenario does not apply here.
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“Your made up scenario does not apply here”
Maybe not in this school district, but I didn’t make the scenario up. This scenario has taken place in other school districts.
For instance (you might want to read the last one first):
Billionaires Push ALEC Agenda in Minneapolis School Board Election
See more at: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2014/11/12673/hedge-fund-managers-push-alec-agenda-minneapolis-school-board-election#sthash.YByakcSy.dpuf
Why Are Teach for America and a California Billionaire Investing in a Minnesota School Board Race?
http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/17218/teach_for_america_and_silicon_valley_billionaire_minnesota_school_board
The Billionaires’ War Against Public Education
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/17455-go-public-finally-a-film-that-celebrates-public-education
“Denver Public Schools board president Mary Seawell’s announcement this month that she will not seek re-election has created a newfound urgency among school reformers, not just locally but on a national level.”
http://www.denverpost.com/ci_23040713/denver-school-board-elections-focus-reform-draws-national
Got Dough? How Billionaires Rule Our Schools
“The cost of K–12 public schooling in the United States comes to well over $500 billion per year. So, how much influence could anyone in the private sector exert by controlling just a few billion dollars of that immense sum? Decisive influence, it turns out. A few billion dollars in private foundation money, strategically invested every year for a decade, has sufficed to define the national debate on education; sustain a crusade for a set of mostly ill-conceived reforms; and determine public policy at the local, state, and national levels.”
http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/got-dough-how-billionaires-rule-our-schools
Koch group, unions battle over Colorado school race
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/koch-group-unions-battle-over-colorado-schools-race-99252.html
How the Koch Brothers Are Organizing Against your Local Zoo, Transit and School Board
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/14/koch-brothers-local-elections_n_5675842.html
Billionaire Funded Fake Grassroots
http://weaponsofmassdeception.org/6-billionaire-funded-fake-grassroots/6-1-billionaire-funded-fake-grassroots
Which DPS school board candidates are getting big bucks from Texas billionaires?
http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2013/11/dps_school_board_candidates_donations_john_laura_arnold_texas_billionaires.php
When Billionaires Become Educational Experts
“Current reforms are allowing certain individuals with neither scholarly nor practical expertise in education to exert significant influence over educational policy for communities and children other than their own. They, the millionaires and billionaires from the philanthropic and corporate sectors, are experimenting in urban school districts with educational reform initiatives that are not grounded in sound research and often fail to produce results. And yet, with funding for public education shrinking, the influence of these wealthy reformers is growing.”
http://www.aaup.org/article/when-billionaires-become-educational-experts#.VM5ixWjF-no
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No great surprise. I guess this what happens when you push back.
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It’s what happens when you don’t do your job.
Over 15 teachers, staff, subs and contractors have been arrested from sexually abusing our students since Joshua Starr arrived and he has done NOTHING to address this crisis.
http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2015/01/2-years-of-arrests-of-12-adults-for_31.html
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It’s what happens when you won’t protect children. News flash – superintendents are actually supposed to run public schools and keep the children in their care safe.
http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html
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It should also be noted that things that Ms. Ravitch credited to Joshua Starr were done by a PREVIOUS superintendent.
This statement in Ms. Ravitch’s “hero” post is flat out wrong. If you click the link provided and READ you will see that the decision to not join the State was made BEFORE Joshua Starr arrived.
“He did not want his district to participate in Race to the Top funding, and his board agreed.”
Ms. Ravitch, please correct your previous post on “heroes.”
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Hero? Good grief, this is truly pathetic. It’s sad that all it takes is being against testing to be a hero. People have no idea of the regime put in place by Starr because people are afraid to speak out against him. He chased out all of the qualified people and replaced them with ‘yes men’ who don’t allow anyone to question him. He has no plans and of course believes in zero accountability for anything. This man is collecting his 260K and failing the children of Mont. Co. He was in over his head from day one. PLEASE if everyone else thinks he is so great, MAKE him an offer of more than 260K, guaranteed he’ll take it.
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I met Joshua Starr at a conference in Cincinnati a few years ago. I have never been so immediately impressed by an educational leader in my 28 years of teaching. He was on a panel of principals and teachers from his district and gave them all the credit for the good work being done in Montgomery County. Sounds to me as if there’s an ego or two on the board, imagine that. They won’t find anyone better to fill his shoes.
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