Striking Out on the Yankees Comparison

So, where’s my Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) baseball cap?

When signing his MCPS contract, MCPS-superintendent-in-the-waiting Dr. Joshua (just call me Josh) Starr noted that taking over MCPS was like taking over the Yankees.

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/New-Montgomery-County-Schools-Chief-Will-Make-Pretty-Penny-121626539.html

Even though I’m a sucker for a good sports metaphor, I don’t get the Yankees comparison. In fact, I think the Yankees/MCPS comparison is a serious strike out, without any balls or fouls.

Strike 1:  The Yankees have real grass. MCPS is running away from real grass and selling the public on artificial turf as if it was the next best thing to slice bread. Click here to read about the Yankees “love” for real grass:

http://www.deleasodfarms.com/Pages/sports-turf-yankees/

Strike 2:  The Yankees love real time player statistics. MCPS procrastinates to no end on public requests for current school level statistics. Why doesn’t MCPS have some type of real time public database that allows the public to play with school statistics?  I could imagine all kinds of cool sorts and data presentations, including arranging divisions of red and green zone schools (hey Josh—you’ll soon find out that these are the divisions MCPS Superintendent Jerry Weast sliced the county into).  Click here if love playing with player statistics:

http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/stats/sortable_player_stats.jsp?c_id=nyy

Strike 3:  The Yankees public website is actually fun and you can buy a baseball cap. The MCPS public sucks. You can’t even buy a MCPS baseball cap. Come on folks, if we’re gonna be the Yankees of public school education world then we gotta sell stuff via the MCPS website. Click here if you want to purchase your Yankee baseball cap:

http://shop.mlb.com/category/index.jsp?categoryId=1452360

By the way, the Starr Yankees comparison did get me wondering. If the Yankees were going to hire a new general manager would they reach down into the minor leagues for a new manager? Probably not.

But then, in reality, minor league managers make it in majors, and I’m sure Starr is going to do well as the next MCPS leader. I would, however, offer this one piece of baseball advice to Starr as he walks the hallways of the Rockville Headquarters building: watch out for those brushback pitches—you will get thrown a few to test your meddle.