Montgomery County Public Schools is hiring three communications team leaders at salaries ranging from $120,400 to $171,300 each, weeks after the district eliminated roughly 415 positions to close a $36 million budget gap that hit schools across the county, including those serving Potomac families.
The postings, titled "Regions Support Team Leader," appeared on the MCPS jobs site after the Board of Education voted 7-1 in May to approve the FY2027 budget. That budget cut about 255 existing positions and left nearly 160 newly proposed roles unfilled. Among the losses: 43 school social workers, 17 English for Many Languages counselors and 40 composition assistants, according to an open letter from MCPS student journalists published June 12.
MCPS is also filling a communications specialist and social media marketing role paying $34.30 to $50.60 per hour, a vacancy created by a resignation.
District says no new headcount
MCPS spokesperson Chris Cram told Bethesda Magazine on Tuesday, Aug. 11, that the postings do not add staff to the Division of Communications. The three team lead roles were created by realigning an existing project manager position, a vacant communications specialist slot and an existing Ask MCPS/customer service role. The division actually lost two positions in its MCPS-TV unit, Cram said.
Cram called the restructuring "a realignment of existing resources so that the communications staff we already have are organized around the work MCPS most needs them to do right now."
Each team leader would cover two of the district's six regions, part of a regional model the board approved in March. MCPS serves more than 150,000 students across more than 200 schools.
Parents push back
The explanation hasn't quieted critics. Dawn Marie Iannaco-Hahn, who said she received the job posting screenshots from an MCPS employee who lost their position, posted them in the MCPS Discussion Group on Facebook on Aug. 7, as Moderately MOCO reported. The post drew more than 100 reactions.
"It's a big, fat slap in the face to anyone that lost their job this year." — Dawn Marie Iannaco-Hahn, in an Aug. 7 Facebook post
The student-led Reform MCPS Instagram account also shared the listings under the headline "MCPS is hiring content creators while cutting millions from special education," drawing hundreds of likes and reposts.
The $36 million shortfall stemmed from the County Council's May adoption of a $7.9 billion county operating budget that fell short of what MCPS had requested. No application deadline has been publicly listed for the team leader positions.
