The Montgomery County school board on Monday named a Virginia superintendent as its pick to lead Maryland’s largest school system, as the district tries to rebuild morale among its employees and recover from pandemic-related learning losses.
Thomas Taylor, who faces a formal vote by the school board next week, is currently superintendent of Stafford County Public Schools. He has led the district of about 32,000 students since 2021.
Taylor, an alumnus of Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, characterized the Montgomery job as a “return home.”
In an interview, Taylor recalled his time in the district. When he was a student, his mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and he was in a single-parent household. His seventh-grade music teacher, Gail Glazer, was “the emotional support rock for me” during that time.
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“She got me engaged in a lot of things that I probably would have never been involved in,” said Taylor, 46. “And that transformative experience, I think, put me on the path to becoming an educator, and it’s part of the reason why I wanted to come back to Montgomery County.”
He said that the school system “has a rich history of academic success” but added that that history has come with inequities. He said some of the district’s biggest challenges are related to trust.
“I think there are real issues with trust — trust between the council and the school system, trust between the community and the school system,” Taylor said. “I think [rebuilding trust is] the first step in re-establishing what Montgomery County could be in the future.”
Taylor will succeed interim superintendent Monique Felder, who was appointed by the school board in February after the departure of former superintendent Monifa B. McKnight. He will take charge of a school system that has been under scrutiny for months over its handling of employees’ complaints of harassment and other misconduct, after an investigation by The Washington Post revealed a former middle school principal was promoted despite reports about his conduct. The former principal, Joel Beidleman, is no longer an employee of the district and has previously denied many of the allegations.
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In its statement Monday, the school board said that Taylor recognizes the challenges facing the school system. During the interview process, the board said, Taylor told members, “All things begin and end with the culture leadership creates.”
Taylor has been an educator for more than 25 years. He holds a doctorate in education from the University of Virginia and an MBA from William & Mary.
As schools superintendent in Stafford County, he established two programs that were the first of their kind in Virginia, according to a news release from the Montgomery school board. One program was a partnership with the Internal Revenue Service that trained students to assist with federal income tax preparation for low-income families. Another program was a partnership with the Fredericksburg Food Bank to open food closets at schools.
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Taylor also helped create an open-source curriculum hub that allows teachers to exchange teaching materials with one another.
He was also known — even as a schools leader — to sometimes serve as a substitute teacher in Stafford classrooms and shadow students for a day. He added that he intends to replicate that in Montgomery County. “I think that not only is it important for folks to see me in their school building,” he said, “but it really is important for me to share some of the experiences they are going through.”
Taylor is also known for his humor. In January, he went viral for a rap video he posted announcing that the Stafford district would be closing schools for a snow day — dubbing himself “Dr. T” and “Supe Snow.” He said he hopes to release a second single as the Montgomery County schools leader if weather warrants.
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“I’m excited by the appointment of Dr. Taylor as superintendent,” Brigid Howe, president of the Montgomery County Council of Parent-Teacher Associations, said in a text message. “His priorities about transparency and accountability align with parents’ concerns about MCPS’s current state.”
Taylor will take over the Montgomery County schools post after a tough budget season for the system. The district reconciled a $30 million budget shortfall, in part by making further cuts to its central office. As such, he will have no deputy superintendent working alongside him — after the board approved a budget that cut the position.
Additionally, two key administrative roles — chief of staff and chief operating officer — are not currently filled in a permanent capacity. Henry Johnson, a former Northwood High School principal, is temporarily serving as chief of staff.
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And just this past weekend, Chief Operating Officer Brian Hull left the school system.
On Monday, district spokeswoman Liliana López declined to specify the circumstances behind Hull’s departure, saying state law prevents the district from commenting on personnel matters.
As chief operating officer, Hull oversaw the district’s finances, transportation, facilities management and labor relations. An organizational chart indicates that the human resources and development office had been overseen by Hull, but it has been reporting to Johnson since March, López said. Hull was not one of the employees who was involved in Beidleman’s promotion, according to a law firm’s report and previous reporting by The Post.
Hull served as acting superintendent twice in the past year. He declined to comment on his departure.
Taylor said that filling some of the central office vacancies is “priority number one.”
“That’s part of us looking internal first, to shore up that team and to create that stability, so that the rest of our very hard-working educators and staff know that they can rely on a system that has its act together,” he said.
If Taylor is approved by the board, he will begin July 1.
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