Bowers to Serve as Interim Superintendent for 2015-16

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The Montgomery County Board of Education voted unanimously to appoint Larry A. Bowers as interim superintendent for the 2015-2016 school year, pending approval by the state superintendent of schools.

Bowers has been serving as interim superintendent since February, when Joshua Starr resigned.

Bowers, a 37-year veteran of Montgomery County Public Schools, was planning to retire at the end of this school year, board president Patricia B. O’Neill said in a statement Wednesday. But, he has agreed to delay his plans for a year.

“My board colleagues and I thank him—and his family—for making this personal sacrifice on behalf of our staff and students,” O’Neill said.
The appointment is effective July 1, 2015, through June 30, 2016.

With the school board’s top pick for superintendent dropping out of consideration for the job, the head of the Montgomery County teachers’ union says he hopes more candidates meet with the public in the next round of the search.

Houston administrator Andrew Houlihan, who was named the “preferred candidate” for the Montgomery superintendent job, withdrew his name from contention on Sunday.

The president of the Montgomery County Education Association, one of more than a dozen organizations the Montgomery County School Board invited to help in the interview process, said he was disappointed not to meet more candidates.

MCEA President Doug Prouty told Montgomery Community Media the community panel was told members would interview the final candidates for the superintendent post, but instead only met Houlihan.

The school board says it has great confidence in Bowers, who took over the leadership of the district at a challenging time and has had to make some very difficult decisions.
Montgomery Schools must continue to manage growth in a time of tight budgets, while narrowing the student achievement gap, O’Neill said.

»Interim Superintendent Larry Bowers, courtesy of Montgomery Community Media

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• UPDATED: Union Hopes to Meet More Candidates When Superintendent Search Re-Boots