The president of the Prince George’s County teacher’s union has worked with three superintendents over the past five years.
“This one is definitely the best,” Donna Christy said at a press conference June 1, gesturing to interim superintendent Shawn Joseph. Joseph shared a stage with her and other officials while his selection as permanent superintendent was announced.
Donna Christy also said it was the first time she had ever been included in the selection process. “In case anyone thinks it was a done deal a year ago really it wasn’t,” she said, describing anxiety over the past week waiting to hear who, among three finalists, had been selected.
“I’m not saying the other candidates weren’t great and would make a great superintendent somewhere just not here.”
Joseph has received criticism for cutting specialty school funding, particularly for the possible elimination of Chinese language immersion at a neighborhood school in College Park. An online petition objects to the county’s failure to release the names of the other two leading candidates or host public forums with them.
Over the past year, Joseph’s catchphrase has been “excellence should be the expectation not the exception.” His achievements include a decline in the teacher vacancy rate of over 50% and transparency via dashboards on each school’s website showing progress on staffing vacancies and academic achievement.
Christy credited Joseph with tightening the school’s budget without laying off teachers or reopening union contracts. She said the union was more involved in the budget process this year than ever before.
“It’s going to be a tougher year next year,” Christy said, “we already cut to the bone.” She told county council members in the room to expect to see her coming with her hand out for more funding next year.
Joseph said he would work towards a school system where residents throughout the county do not feel that their children must get admission to a specialty school to get an excellent education.
He emphasized the education of children with disabilities and learning differences, describing his vision for an ideal school day in which a child with learning difficulties grows in confidence as she gets personalized attention and encouragement from multiple staff members who welcome her by name.
Joseph suggested Prince George’s County could become a place where parents decided to move because of the district’s strong reputation for educating children with different learning abilities.
Aisha Braveboy, the Prince George’s County Executive, described the moment last summer in which she selected Joseph as interim superintendent, during an “ongoing impasse between Prince George’s County Schools and teachers. Contract negotiations stalled, tensions were high.” She credited him both with resolving the conflict within days of stepping into his new role, and with the humility and willingness to listen he applied to the problem.
“It might be lost on some folks,” said County Councilmember Edward Burroughs (District 8), “but this is the first executive to appoint a superintendent who is a graduate herself of [Prince George’s County] public schools.”
Braveboy went to Largo High School. Burroughs is a graduate of Crossland High School, both in Prince George’s County.
“This county executive working with this sups,” said Burroughs, “they’re in the details of how we’re going to close reading gaps and our literacy gaps. . . They have a real commitment for equity across the system.”
Joseph is a professor at Howard University, and has been superintendent in Nashville, TN and Seaford, DE. He was deputy superintendent at Prince George’s County Schools from 2014 to 2016, under CEO of Schools Kevin Maxwell.
The Prince George’s County Board of Education forced out Kevin Maxwell in 2018. Maxwell’s successor Monica Goldson cited conflict on the board of education when she stepped down in 2023. Millard House served next, from 2023 to the summer of 2025, when he stepped down suddenly during a dispute with the teacher’s union.
“We are entrusted with authority only for a season,” said Joseph in his acceptance speech, “the measure of that season is not the titles that we hold, not the offices that we occupy, not the applause that we receive, the measure is whether the children are better because we have the courage and the discipline and the love to serve them well.”
Read about Joseph’s response to questions about his record in Nashville in our interview with him last summer.