Montgomery County school board meets for the first time following superintendent’s resignation
Members of the Montgomery County school board met on Monday following the resignation of Superintendent Dr. Melvin Brown. The board voted to accept the resignation.
“We are certain that we will bounce back from this and we are prepared to move this district forward,” school board President Dr. Brenda DeRamus-Coleman said after the vote was taken.
Brown submitted a letter to the board that announced his resignation effective November 1. The letter was made public on Saturday.
“Serving this community over the past two plus years has been an honor, and I am immensely proud of what we have achieved together. I would like to express my utmost thanks for the opportunity to work with the professionals of the Montgomery Public Schools over the past two years. I am infinitely grateful for the time that I have spent here and for the many accomplishments and innovations that we, as a staff, have achieved,” Brown wrote in his letter.
In his letter, he said that he had wished for the communication to be confidential with a plan developed for his departure. Instead, Brown said his letter was made public.
The Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce, which supported Brown, said his resignation was “a serious blow.” It urged its members to attend Monday’s school board meeting. “As business and community leaders, we need to hold the Board accountable, support those trying to do good, and call out any bad actors who are fighting changing our system for the better,” the Chamber said in an email.
“Those of you who have supported Dr. Brown’s work, you know that we have a appeal to the board for many months now to provide testimony to what we see the difference he is making in our school system,” Chamber President & CEO Anna Buckalew said at the meeting. “This transformation has been remarkable. So we are here tonight to make sure that this board knows we support his leadership we are disappointed if he is allowed to leave and stand ready to assist in anyway possible with community support.”
“We hope that you will join us as we move forward committed to building on the foundation of innovation that has been laid by our superintendent and his administration,” Dr. DeRamus-Coleman said.
Brown was named superintendent of Montgomery Public Schools in April 2022. He came to Montgomery after serving as superintendent for Reynoldsburg City Schools in Ohio, replacing Dr. Ann Roy Moore.
