County Executive Marc Elrich said he is optimistic as the county sees new leadership for the school system and police department.
Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Superintendent Dr. Thomas Taylor and County Police Chief Marc Yamada took up their new positions this week.
“I’m optimistic that the superintendent understands the kind of challenges the system is facing right now,” Elrich said during a media briefing Wednesday. “The last year has not been an easy year for the school system, and I hope that he’s getting some good guidance and taking a lot of notes.”
He is hopeful the school board will be more present and engaged in decision-making: “It is not good to tell us that the previous superintendent wasn’t doing what you wanted when the school board votes for everything the superintendent proposes.”
Elrich added he hopes the school board gets staff and resources they need to function as oversight agency “better than they do today.”
As for the police department, Elrich said Yamada, who was previously Assistant Chief for the Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD), was part of a leadership team that helped MCPD make transitions following George Floyd’s murder. Elrich had confidence he could find someone within the police department to become chief because the team was able to make meaningful changes, he said, “knowing that very few departments outside Montgomery County had attempted to do the work that we were doing and at the scale we were doing it.”
The county’s fire department is also expecting new leadership with Corey Smedley nominated to be fire chief. Elrich noted work being done with the fire department to create a “more nimble” department because calls are increasingly health-related rather than fire calls: “I feel like we’re getting leadership that understands that.”
Elrich emphasized he feels departments have been well run and successful in dealing with challenges.
For their positions, Taylor was appointed by the school board, and Yamada was nominated by Elrich and approved by the county council. Smedley was nominated by Elrich and awaits approval by the county council.
Previous Police Chief Marcus Jones retired from the police department and has now joined the school system as Chief of Security and Compliance.
