COMMUNITY GUIDE INSIDE TODAY
COMMUNITY GUIDE 2015
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The Gazette
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BURTONSVILLE SILVER SPRING TAKOMA PARK WHEATON
SILVER SPRING | TAKOMA PARK | WHEATON | BURTONSVILLE DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Bowers to stay as interim leader
The Gazette
Discovery CEO tops county on national pay list
Victorious
Compensation of $156.1M far more than other executives’ n
Montgomery school board to resume search process in January n
BY
BY
LINDSAY A. POWERS
See BOWERS, Page A-9
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BILL RYAN/THE GAZETTE
James Blake’s Martha Sam wins the girls 100 dash in the 3A/4A State Track Championship meet in Baltimore on Friday. See story, Page B-1.
After falling to second place in 2013, Discovery Communications CEO David M. Zaslav was again the highest-paid executive of a public company in Montgomery County in 2014. That’s according to a review of publicly traded companies’ proxy statements recently filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The chief executive of the Silver Spring media giant added a new wrinkle in easily surpassing 2013’s most highly compensated CEO in the county, Martine Rothblatt of Silver Spring drugmaker United Therapeutics. This week, Zaslav topped the list of the 200 highest-paid CEOs nationally, compiled by compensation data firm Equilar for The New York Times. That’s the first time he has led those
See CEO, Page A-9
David Zaslav
2011 FILE PHOTO
Martine Rothblatt
FILE PHOTO
‘Free-range’ parents cleared in investigation Silver Spring couple allowed children to walk on their own
n
BY
DONNA ST. GEORGE
THE WASHINGTON POST
A Maryland couple investigated for neglect after they let their two young children walk home alone from local parks have been cleared in one of two
such cases, according to the family’s attorneys and documents. The new Child Protective Services finding, which follows an appeal, comes as the experiences of “free-range” parents Danielle and Alexander Meitiv have drawn national attention, sparking debate about parenting choices and how far local officials should go to enforce laws designed to protect children. It overturns a previous CPS decision
that held the Meitivs responsible for “unsubstantiated” child neglect, a finding typically made when there is conflicting or insufficient information for a more definitive conclusion. The change came as a welcome surprise to the Meitivs, who were informed in letters they received May 18 that neglect was “ruled out” in the case, which dates to their children’s December walk from Woodside Park.
“It was an enormous relief and vindication,” Danielle Meitiv said in a Washington Post interview, the family’s first in six weeks. “Of course there’s no neglect here. There never was. There was never even a hint of it.” The CPS letter gave no further explanation, leaving open the question of whether CPS has changed its approach
See PARENTS, Page A-9
Montgomery College grad highlights student diversity Student speakers share past journeys, future goals n
BY
LINDSAY A. POWERS STAFF WRITER
DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
Antony M. Musembi, a Board of Trustees Scholar, addresses Montgomery College’s 68th commencement at the Rockville campus on Friday.
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KEVIN JAMES SHAY STAFF WRITER
STAFF WRITER
Larry A. Bowers will remain Montgomery County Public Schools’ interim superintendent as the county school board continues to search for a new permanent leader. The board unanimously appointed Bowers to the role a second time on Wednesday, a few days after its top choice to become the school system’s next superintendent withdrew his name. State schools Superintendent Lillian M. Lowery approved the appointment, according to William Reinhard, a spokesman for the Maryland State Department of Education. Bowers, who has worked in the district for about 37 years, has served as the interim leader since February and now will stay until June of next year. Former Superintendent Joshua P. Starr resigned in February before his four-year contract would have expired this summer. During a school board meeting Wednesday, Bowers, who had been set to retire at the end of June, said he hadn’t planned to stay in the post, but was “willing to step in.” “I’m very committed to this system and what we’ve been doing, and I want to make sure it continues,” he said. Bowers’ appointment was met with clapping and cheering from the audience in the crowded school board meeting room. “I think you can tell that the MCPS staff is very happy that there will be stability and positive direction,” school board President Patricia O’Neill told Bowers. O’Neill said after the meeting that the board is “taking a pause” in its superintendent search and plans to resume in January. On May 14, the board announced it had picked Andrew Houlihan, chief academic officer of the Houston Independent School District, as its “preferred candidate” out of a pool of 25 people it considered. Houlihan informed O’Neill in a May 17 letter that he was withdrawing his application. “While I believe that my leadership would be an asset to Montgomery County, I also feel that at this point in time, such leadership is not the right fit for
25 cents
NOT SAFE FOR WORK Round House Theatre’s latest play focuses on bad behavior, job issues at men’s magazine.
A-11
With roots in four parts of the world and eyes on four sets of goals, student speakers at Montgomery College’s Friday graduation ceremony celebrated a shared moment of success.
Volume 28, No. 19, Two sections, 28 Pages Copyright © 2015 The Gazette
The four speakers, all recipients of top college awards, were among more than 3,500 students earning degrees and certificates in the college’s class of 2015. About 950 graduates walked at Friday’s commencement. Montgomery College President DeRionne P. Pollard said the graduates who were celebrated Friday made up the institution’s largest graduating class.
Fidelis Mariae A. Militante, a nursing major at the college, was one of three graduates named a 2015 Board of Trustees Scholar. She represented the Rockville campus. “It is a significant milestone in my life’s journey, a journey filled with difficult obstacles and joyous achievements, a journey not unlike your journey,” Militante, of Rockville,
See GRAD, Page A-9
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