College Gardens Elementary's Ewald Leaving for Superintendent Post

College Gardens Elementary School Principal John Ewald is leaving at the end of next week to take a job as superintendent of the Laurel School District in Delaware, a Montgomery County Public Schools spokesman said Thursday. 

"Assistant Principal Stacey Rogovoy has been named interim principal for the remainder of the school year and the search for a permanent replacement will begin in the spring," county schools spokesman Dana Tofig said in an email.

Ewald was announced Wednesday as principal of the six-school Delaware district. He informed the College Gardens community through a recorded phone call on Thursday morning, Tofig said.

His last day at College Gardens is Sept. 28.

“This is a bittersweet moment in my professional life,” Ewald said in the recorded message. 

Ewald said he plans to visit each classroom on Monday to talk to students and answer their questions.

“I am very proud of our many accomplishments at College Gardens,” Ewald said in the message. “I am most proud of our students’ level of achievement, our staff’s unyielding commitment to our students and our parents’ partnership in the education of their children. Additionally, I am proud that the IB Board of Governors has recognized College Gardens Elementary School as a model public International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme in our state, our nation and across the globe.” 

MCPS Superintendent Joshua P. Starr issued a statement congratulating Ewald on his new post.

“John is an outstanding educational leader and I know he will be a great superintendent,” Starr said. “I also have great confidence that, in her role as interim principal, Stacey Rogovoy will build on the great work that John has done and will support the school’s excellent staff in providing an world-class education to the students of College Gardens Elementary School.”

Ewald's new job is in a district serving the Town of Laurel, which is located about 15 miles north of Salisbury, MD.

"MCPS will forever be within me and I hope I forever in it," Ewald wrote in his resignation letter. "I am thrilled to be entering this new phase of my career as a school system's educational leader, as their Superintendent. However, I am saddened to be leaving my MCPS family. While I intend and plan for great success, in the event that I aspire to return to MCPS, I hope it will be with open arms."