Montgomery County School Chief Joshua Starr’s Biggest Problem—Everyone Wants to Go to His Schools

Even the guy who runs the schools has something to learn. When Joshua P. Starr, superintendent of Montgomery County Public Schools, arrived in 2011 from Stamford, Connecticut, he led with his ideas for reform, pushing for fewer standardized tests and more technology in the classroom and looking into changing the time of the morning bell. We talked with Starr shortly before he went to the Montgomery Board of Education in October to ask for $220 million, not for pet projects but for school construction to alleviate crowding.