MCPS Welcomes 30% More New Principals Than Last Year

August 25, 2024

Following a tumultuous year that included major scandals, the resignation of a superintendent, an interim superintendent with baggage, the MCPS operating budget issues, and finally the hiring of new superintendent Dr. Taylor, MCPS sent out a news bulletin welcoming 43 new principals for this new school year with a little bit about each of them.

This is actually really sweet to let everyone get to know them all, but as many followers pointed out this seems like a lot so let’s look into that in a little more detail.

30% Increase Over Last Year

Last year for the 2023-2024 school year, MCPS sent out a similar note welcoming 33 new principals. Taking this into account, this year represents about a 30% increase in new principals compared to last year.

One thing to remember is that some of these principals may have already been acting principals, or were principals at another school or other reasons. Some were the same principal in both lists but first as acting now as full time.

20% Of All MCPS Schools Have New Principals

MCPS has 211 schools so 43 new principals means that about 20% of all MCPS schools have new principals.

The makeup of these 43 new principals is:

• Elementary Schools: 23
• Middle Schools: 10
• High Schools: 10

By percentage this is equal to:

• Elementary Schools: 16.9%
• Middle Schools: 25%
• High Schools: 40%

This 40% for High Schools really stands out as extremely high and it was noticed by with so many high school principals leaving mid year last year.

Compare those to 2023 numbers (15.6% overall):

• Elementary Schools: 18 or 13.2%
• Middle Schools: 7 or 17.5%
• High Schools: 5 or 20%
• Others: 2

MoCo360: “This is unprecedented”

However, per MoCo360 reporting in February 2024, “Principals, too, are leaving the district in high numbers. On Dec. 15, the MCPS Jobs website had listings posted for 18 principal positions in the county: six high schools, five middle schools and seven elementary schools.”

That article goes on to say: “None of the principals cited district problems in announcing their exits. Both the number of posted principal positions and the mid-year departures are unusually high, said Debra Munk, president of the Montgomery County Public Schools Retirees Association. “I can’t recall ever losing four principals in the middle of the year before—this is unprecedented.” Munk said that the concerns her members have mentioned regarding central office’s top leadership have included: “The leadership has been confusing, communication hasn’t been good and there hasn’t been clarity of expectations.””

More Historical Data

We have thus far been unable to find comparable notes from previous years, but we did come across an interesting report from 2019 titled: “Study of School Principals in Montgomery County Public Schools: Exploration of Factors Associated with Turnover and Attrition”

Starting on page 23 of this document, there are some interesting charts showing principal turnover from 2015-2018:

This next chart from page 24 shows the composition of the principals attrition rate over the same time period:

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