Herbert Hoover Middle School in Potomac will lose its assistant principal to a promotion across the county, part of a summer wave of leadership changes as Montgomery County Public Schools confronts a $36 million budget gap.
The Board of Education voted Thursday to appoint Jeanni Chin as principal of Roberto Clemente Middle School in Germantown. Chin has served as Hoover's assistant principal and has worked in MCPS for 24 years as a teacher, resource teacher, content specialist, consulting principal and assistant school administrator, according to Superintendent Thomas Taylor.
MCPS has not announced who will replace Chin at Hoover for the 2026-2027 school year.
Chin replaces Jeffrey Brown at Roberto Clemente. Brown was appointed in June to serve as director of the Department of Professional Development.
Budget pressure behind the shuffle
The summer appointments come as MCPS works to close a $36 million budget gap for the coming fiscal year, according to Bethesda Magazine. In May, Taylor warned employees that county budget reductions could cut the MCPS operating budget by $30 million to $90 million or more below the amount the board had approved.
"MCPS has not experienced potential workforce reductions on this scale in many decades," Taylor told employees in the May message.
About 90 percent of the MCPS operating budget goes to personnel, and every $10 million reduction equates to roughly 100 full-time positions, Taylor said in the same communication.
One cut already announced: the elimination of the chief of security and compliance post held by former Montgomery County police Chief Marcus Jones. Those duties now fall under Chief of Schools Peter Moran in the Division of School Leadership and Improvement.
Other appointments
The board also made several other leadership moves at the July 16 meeting:
- Nicole Sosik was named associate superintendent in the Division of School Leadership and Improvement. Sosik previously served as a director in the division and has 22 years of MCPS experience.
- Joshua Fine, principal of Flower Hill Elementary in Gaithersburg and Maryland's National Distinguished Principal of the Year, was appointed principal of White Oak Middle School in Silver Spring. Fine has 19 years in the district.
- Clifford Cooper Jr. was appointed principal of Garrett Park Elementary School in Kensington, replacing Daniel Tucci. Cooper has served as principal intern at Robert Frost Middle School in Rockville.
- Jada Langston was named principal of the Carl Sandburg Learning Center, a public elementary school serving students with multiple disabilities.
What's ahead
The leadership changes come as MCPS projects its student population will decline by 7,500 between 2025 and 2031. The district is set to begin a new boundary study in August to determine whether any middle or elementary schools should close for the 2029-2030 school year.
The next Board of Education business meeting is Thursday, August 20, at 4 p.m. Agendas and public comment information are available on the MCPS Board of Education website.
