Published on: Thursday, August 26, 2010

By Paige L. Hill

Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Jerry Weast announced Tuesday that this school year — his 12th in office — would be his last.

The 63-year-old head of public schools says he is simply “too old” to continue in the highly public position of educating 140,000 students.

With the announcement, the district’s Board of Education begins a three to six month search to find Weast’s replacement.

“I’ve made it no secret to my family or my community that this would be my last year,” Weast told a crowded room of reporters and educators on Tuesday. “I have no regrets; I took the highly competent teachers and staff here and unleashed them.”

County residents and taxpayers have witnessed a near doubling of the school’s budget during Weast’s past 11 years — from $1 billion in 1999 when Weast started to 2010’s budget of $2.2 billion. According to budget documents, more than half of the money has gone to paying salaries for a growing teacher force and an ever-expanding administration office. Weast also directed a large portion to lower-performing schools in the county.

“I’ve fought hard for every dollar we’ve gotten,” Weast said. “I doubt if there’s a system across the country that has as much collaboration as ours that helps us build the budget and curriculum — you just don’t get these results otherwise.”

Although Weast maintained he had improved the schools greatly under his tenure, he also answered questions from reporters at his news conference which reflected some of the criticisms leveled against him during his tenure.

“You do have your critics that say you are not a team player, you’re not collaborative and some even say you are a bully,” one reporter said.   

“I’m OK with the critics, and I don’t know of any board member that had problems with me over the few hundred times we met over the years,” Weast said.

One subject of controversy that remains is the recently signed contract with educational textbook publisher Pearson for MCPS to create a curriculum over the next year that would be marketed to other, mostly private school districts in the future. The public school district has partnered with the private sector for a payout of $5 million.

“We are a strong and leading school district and there is no reason why we shouldn’t share our knowledge,” Weast said. “What we are doing is fully engaging the child through a modern and fully digital system.”

Though there has been speculation Weast was retiring to take a job with Pearson, he did not confirm it.

“I need a break, I need to spend time with my grandchildren,” said Weast, who added he would probably not take another job in the public spotlight. Now, the Board of Education — four of whose members are up for re-election this November — is faced with finding a replacement superintendent for one of the costliest and largest school districts in the nation.

“Certainly, for me this is bittersweet and a little surreal,” said board President Patricia O’Neill, who was part of the team that brought in Weast in 1999. “I remember we sat at the opposite end of this table more than 10 years ago to announce to the press we had found our new superintendent.”

The search for a replacement will not begin until after elections. O’Neill estimated it would take them between three to six months.

“Do I still want to show up every day and help children? Yes,” Weast said, reflecting on his 35-year-long career in education.

 Since Weast became superintendent in 1999, the district’s graduation rates have fallen from 91 percent to 87 percent, according to MCPS spokesman Dana Tofig during an interview in July. The average SAT scores have also declined slightly during Weast’s career. Scores on state standardized exams have seen overall improvements, though Weast has often been outspoken about the scores’ lack of ties to reality.

“What you really need to ask yourself is not, ‘Did this child score well?’ but, ‘Is this child prepared for the future?’” Weast said. Students from “low-income” families have grown to make up nearly one-third of the district’s population, a roughly 22 percent increase since 1999, according to Tofig. Students from a Hispanic background now make up almost one-fourth of the school district, and many of them with limited knowledge of English, Tofig said.

“We have an ever-present ‘opportunity gap,’ which means the students with more opportunities in terms of home life and outside help succeed at a higher rate than those who don’t,” Weast said. He said the legacy he will leave is striving to maintain student success during a time of great change with a county’s growing population and failing economy.