The Orange County School Board finalized the hire of Dr. Monique Felder as the district’s new superintendent on Wednesday night.
Felder comes to Orange County after three years as a chief academic officer for Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools in Tennessee. Previously, she worked in numerous administration roles in Maryland’s two largest school districts.
Many members of the community visited Cedar Ridge High School Wednesday night to meet and speak with Felder following her official hiring by the Orange County School Board. The new superintendent said the crowd already encouraged and energized her.
“I’m just thrilled beyond measure to have the opportunity to take on this important role,” said Felder, “and to work with the community to galvanize all stakeholders.”
Orange County Schools began the search for a new superintendent shortly after Dr. Todd Wirt stepped down from the position in June. Chair of the school board Will Atherton said when searching for candidates, Felder stood out because of her variety of qualifications from her 28 years in public education.
“When we interviewed Dr. Felder,” Atherton said, “her credentials spoke for themselves. There were lots of great results, she was able to articulate how she would do things differently here, and she did a lot of research on Orange County. It was very impressive of her background and experience to take it from a very large school system and come to our personal community school system.”
Atherton said Felder’s extensive research showed that she truly wanted to work for the school system and community, which further encouraged the school board.
“She knew our population; she understood all of our schools; she came before her interview and actually visited our schools to take a look at them. She looked at our data on how our schools were performing, our pre-K and really how we’re doing as a whole.”
Felder said one reason the Orange County Schools system appealed to her is its equity policy. She said at this stage in her career, student equity is a key issue to her and that the board’s unity in its efforts moved her.
“To see that this is the direction this district is going in,” said Felder, “and they’ve put effort into it, I said, ‘I want to align with you; I want to work with you; I want to lock arms with you.’ Because I know this village work and the focus on equity is the ticket to make great things happen for all kids.”
Felder said she is most proud of the improved graduation rates seen in Metro Nashville Public Schools during her three years there, especially among minority communities. She also pointed to a new comprehensive literacy plan, improved ACT scores and increased industry certifications among students as other achievements in her previous district. Felder credited these results to a collective focus on the students’ needs and said she plans to aim for similar results in Orange County.
“That’s the key in every district I’ve been in: stay focused on children,” said Felder. “We’ve got to leave our egos and other agendas at the door and keep focused on children and what they need. They’re counting on us, and we have to be their champions.”
According to her contract with Orange County Schools, Felder will have a base annual salary of $126,612 set by the state’s scale for superintendents, with additional supplements of $45,533 a year from Orange County and $253 per month in recognition of her doctoral degree.
Felder will officially take office effective November 1.
Now a lawsuit has been filed in Orange County’s Superior Court against Dr.Felder and the OCS Board of Education by their former Chief Human Resources Officer (an exemplary employee record) for employment retaliation. Apparently, she and her cohort Dr.Dawson have brought the same toxic environment to OCS as they were accustomed to in MNPS where she was investigated for taking vendor kickbacks and PGPS where employees feared retaliation from leadership. Question: Is She Too Good To Be True or Good at Hiding the Truth?