Clock’s ticking: Baltimore County has a month to pick a new school superintendent

Baltimore County needs a new superintendent ASAP.

The state’s third-largest school system is working at a breakneck pace to fill its top job, compressing a national search that typically takes four months into two after Superintendent Myriam Rogers abruptly announced her retirement in February.

In an unusual move, the district’s search firm advertised the job for both interim and permanent candidates, leaving room for yet another leader to quickly come and go. The new leader will be Baltimore County Public Schools’ fourth superintendent in nine years.

The school board plans to announce its pick during the third week of June, just two weeks before the superintendent’s first day on the job, July 1.

“We are confident that we will identify the best candidate to lead the system and sustain forward progress,” Jane Lichter, the school board chair, said in a statement.

Neighboring districts are much further along in their own searches for new leaders. Harford County, whose school board fired Superintendent Sean Bulson in February, announced its finalists last week. Baltimore City schools already picked a new leader to replace Sonja Santelises, the system’s CEO of 10 years. The city school board picked a search firm a year ago.

Billy Burke, head of the principals union, expressed concern about Baltimore County’s tight timeline last week.

“We are now less than 60 days away from having no superintendent at the helm of this district,” he said during a May 5 board meeting. “A district of this size cannot drift. Stability starts at the top, and right now our members feel as though they are rowing a ship without a captain in sight of the horizon.”

Eight of the 10 board members declined interview requests or did not respond. In a phone call, board member Emory Young only noted that the board picked a firm and had a timeline to choose a new leader. He declined to say whether he feels confident in that timeline.

Lichter said in a statement that the community will have several opportunities to provide input to the board and search firm on what it wants in a superintendent. The school system will hold community forums next week. Locations and times can be found on the school system’s website.

Rachel White, a University of Texas at Austin associate professor who studies superintendent leadership, said she’s never seen an interim role advertised as an option in a superintendent job post. Traditionally, picking an interim is an internal process, she said.

But an interim leader could be helpful this late in the game, White said. They’d be unlikely to make big changes, and it gives the board more time to see “the full array of candidates who might be interested in the job,” she said.

With 108,000 students, Baltimore County is a large school district, and candidates with experience leading a school system of that size will likely come from out of state. An internal candidate is also an option, White noted.

Rogers was the only internal candidate among four finalists when she was hired in 2023. She was the deputy superintendent under Darryl Williams, her predecessor.

Superintendent turnover is common in large districts, White said, though there are advantages to stable leadership. Districts led by superintendents in place since 2020 recovered faster from the pandemic academic slide than those that experienced leadership turnover, she said.

Still, White said she wouldn’t tie turnover itself to student outcomes. What matters more is keeping the central office, resources, community partnerships and the relationship with the school board stable, she said.

The Baltimore County school board plans to review candidates in the first week of June, according to the school system’s website. Interviews will start the week after. By the third week of June, the community will hear from the finalists, and the new superintendent will be announced that same week.

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