Highest salaries in MCPS

[Anonymous]

Bethesda Magazine has printed the salaries of the top wage earners in the school district.

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/09/05/top-100-salaries-fiscal-year-2025/

Question: Why do we need two chief academic officers: Ms. Niki Hazel Porter and Dr. Peggy Pugh?

[Anonymous]

Pugh is the former CAO, and Porter is the current one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda Magazine has printed the salaries of the top wage earners in the school district.

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/09/05/top-100-salaries-fiscal-year-2025/

Question: Why do we need two chief academic officers: Ms. Niki Hazel Porter and Dr. Peggy Pugh?

Salaries don’t seem that high to be honest. I don’t think I’d take a job as a principal for ~190k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda Magazine has printed the salaries of the top wage earners in the school district.

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/09/05/top-100-salaries-fiscal-year-2025/

Question: Why do we need two chief academic officers: Ms. Niki Hazel Porter and Dr. Peggy Pugh?

Salaries don’t seem that high to be honest. I don’t think I’d take a job as a principal for ~190k.

I don't think the principals salaries are the ones people are balking at. It's the chiefs who, seemingly get paid to know nothing and do nothing.

[Anonymous]

The salaries aren’t an issue for me. Where all of these people were educated is an issue for me. We have a county full of highly educated people, whose kids are being led by people with degrees from institutions that give anyone with a pulse a degree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The salaries aren’t an issue for me. Where all of these people were educated is an issue for me. We have a county full of highly educated people, whose kids are being led by people with degrees from institutions that give anyone with a pulse a degree.

Please list these unworthy institutions so that I can pick up some extra degrees since it's so easy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda Magazine has printed the salaries of the top wage earners in the school district.

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/09/05/top-100-salaries-fiscal-year-2025/

Question: Why do we need two chief academic officers: Ms. Niki Hazel Porter and Dr. Peggy Pugh?

Salaries don’t seem that high to be honest. I don’t think I’d take a job as a principal for ~190k.

Yeah seriously. My kid’s HS has 2500 kids. That’s a very low salary to deal with all the daily chaos that thousands of teenagers and their helicopter parents bring.

[Anonymous]

In order that they are listed in that article, here are the undergraduate institutions they attended:

Virginia Wesleyan
JMU
UVA
Bowling Green
UMD
Spelman
SUNY Cortland
Nicholls State University
UMBC
Could not find
NYU
University of New Mexico
JHU
Bryn Mawr
Catholic
UMBC
JMU
Howard
Could not find

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda Magazine has printed the salaries of the top wage earners in the school district.

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/09/05/top-100-salaries-fiscal-year-2025/

Question: Why do we need two chief academic officers: Ms. Niki Hazel Porter and Dr. Peggy Pugh?

Salaries don’t seem that high to be honest. I don’t think I’d take a job as a principal for ~190k.

Yeah seriously. My kid’s HS has 2500 kids. That’s a very low salary to deal with all the daily chaos that thousands of teenagers and their helicopter parents bring.

What about the 70K - 80K a teacher makes? They are the ones directly dealing with the teenagers, the parents, and the chaos. Daily. In their classrooms. Without the chance to even go to the bathroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda Magazine has printed the salaries of the top wage earners in the school district.

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/09/05/top-100-salaries-fiscal-year-2025/

Question: Why do we need two chief academic officers: Ms. Niki Hazel Porter and Dr. Peggy Pugh?

Salaries don’t seem that high to be honest. I don’t think I’d take a job as a principal for ~190k.

Yeah seriously. My kid’s HS has 2500 kids. That’s a very low salary to deal with all the daily chaos that thousands of teenagers and their helicopter parents bring.

What about the 70K - 80K a teacher makes? They are the ones directly dealing with the teenagers, the parents, and the chaos. Daily. In their classrooms. Without the chance to even go to the bathroom.

+1. Or the special ed paras. Some of them don’t even get benefits (if they are TPT). There are many other low earners who work hard in MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The salaries aren’t an issue for me. Where all of these people were educated is an issue for me. We have a county full of highly educated people, whose kids are being led by people with degrees from institutions that give anyone with a pulse a degree.

THIS. THANK GOD I AM NOT ALONE IN THINKING THIS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda Magazine has printed the salaries of the top wage earners in the school district.

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/09/05/top-100-salaries-fiscal-year-2025/

Question: Why do we need two chief academic officers: Ms. Niki Hazel Porter and Dr. Peggy Pugh?

Salaries don’t seem that high to be honest. I don’t think I’d take a job as a principal for ~190k.

Yeah seriously. My kid’s HS has 2500 kids. That’s a very low salary to deal with all the daily chaos that thousands of teenagers and their helicopter parents bring.

What about the 70K - 80K a teacher makes? They are the ones directly dealing with the teenagers, the parents, and the chaos. Daily. In their classrooms. Without the chance to even go to the bathroom.

+1. Or the special ed paras. Some of them don’t even get benefits (if they are TPT). There are many other low earners who work hard in MCPS.

Exactly. And these are the employees who do the hard work, day in and day out. They’re the ones who give the county a lot more than the county gives them.

[Anonymous]

Now you're complaining that public school pay is too high? C'mon

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The salaries aren’t an issue for me. Where all of these people were educated is an issue for me. We have a county full of highly educated people, whose kids are being led by people with degrees from institutions that give anyone with a pulse a degree.

I’m a teacher in MCPS and I agree with this. And don’t get me started about all the administrators with online doctorates in education- eye roll

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda Magazine has printed the salaries of the top wage earners in the school district.

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/09/05/top-100-salaries-fiscal-year-2025/

Question: Why do we need two chief academic officers: Ms. Niki Hazel Porter and Dr. Peggy Pugh?

Salaries don’t seem that high to be honest. I don’t think I’d take a job as a principal for ~190k.

They are government/public service jobs. Its 2-4 times more than what most in public service make.