By CHRISTIAN LEE
The Montgomery County Board of Education appointed Dr. Monique Felder as interim superintendent on February 6, after the previous superintendent Dr. Monifa McKnight stepped down over disapproval and dissatisfaction among the MCPS community concerning staff misconduct and deficiencies in the Department of Compliance and Investigations.
“Dr. Felder has a long and successful career in public education, and is already familiar with MCPS,” said Karla Silvestre, president of the Board of Education. “We are confident that her background in district leadership, instruction and administration makes her the right person to carry us through this transition and begin the work to rebuild trust among staff and the community, while we identify the next permanent superintendent.”
On the same day, Dr. Felder released a statement reintroducing herself to MCPS families. “After nearly a decade away, I am thrilled to be back in the district that molded me into the educator and leader I am today. As someone with deep ties to MCPS, I hold a profound understanding of the strengths and challenges we face, and I am fully committed to ensuring the continued success of our schools.” Felder continued in declaring, “In my role as the interim superintendent over these next few months, my primary objective is to create stability within the district. I want to ensure consistency for our staff, students, and families and pave the way for a seamless transition to the next superintendent. My immediate focus is on closing out the 2023-24 school year on a high note and keeping the spotlight firmly on our students where it belongs.”
Prior to her rise to superintendency, Dr. Felder worked for 15 years in MCPS as a principal, assistant principal and classroom teacher, during which she was recognized with the International Reading Association’s Award for Exemplary Reading Programs in the state of Maryland, and as a finalist for The Washington Post’s Outstanding Leadership Award. Shortly thereafter, she served as the Executive Director for Teaching and Learning at Prince George’s County Public Schools, as well as the Chief Academic Officer for Metro Nashville Public Schools, which raised SAT scores and decreased suspensions during her tenure. Since then, she has spent four years as superintendent for Orange County Public Schools in North Carolina, where she was nominated for Regional Superintendent of the Year.
Dr. Felder holds a bachelor of arts degree in elementary education from York College, a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University with a specialization in elementary science and mathematics, and a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from Virginia Tech. She has also pursued post-doctoral studies at McDaniel College, earning an advanced certificate in Equity and Excellence in Education.
However, within her 32 years of experience in public education, Dr. Felder was also the subject of a series of investigative reports from 2016 through 2019, when News Channel 5 in Nashville found numerous problems in the city’s schools.
In February 2019, News Channel 5 reported, “A top Metro Schools official [Dr. Felder] pocketed thousands of dollars in consulting fees from a group with ties to companies doing business with the district. But our News Channel 5 investigation discovered that Dr. Monique Felder failed to disclose money that she received in 2017 until auditors started asking questions.”
More specifically, a recently released audit of Metro Nashville Public Schools reported that Dr. Felder received $4,000 in 2017 from the Education Research and Development Institute, an industry trade group that pays school officials to sit down with technology companies, giving them feedback on products they hope to sell to those officials.
Then, in November 2019, Dr. Felder left Nashville for the superintendent position at Orange County Public Schools in North Carolina.
During a news conference on February 6, Felder was asked about the previous financial disclosure situation from her time serving in Nashville, which she cited as a simple error.
In the announcement regarding her hiring, the Montgomery County Board of Education wrote, “In the vein of transparency, the Board wants to make it clear that they are aware of a prior investigation into the financial disclosure reporting of an honorarium received by Dr. Felder from an educational consulting company in 2019. The Board has reviewed the findings and is confident that the findings were unsubstantiated as the report concluded. The Board is confident that Dr. Felder is a trustworthy, upstanding and highly respected educational leader who will be able to competently guide MCPS through this transition.”
With MCPS’s transition to new leadership, students, staff, and families alike are anticipating the return of a leader who can support them through the upcoming school year and put them at the forefront of their agenda.
March 2024
The Prowler 