Susan Marks levens experience with humor

The School Committee launched its search for a new superintendent after Jeff Young left the post in 2009 to lead the Cambridge public schools. Young was paid $248,000 during his last full year in Newton, and was one of the state’s top-earning school superintendents.

Marks was educated at the University of Connecticut, Kent State, and the University of Wisconsin. The lion’s share of her professional experience has been within the Montgomery County school district in Rockville, Md.; she currently serves as the district’s associate superintendent for human resources, having begun as a speech pathologist there in 1977 and rising through the ranks as a principal and later community superintendent for the office of school performance.

Her family is also heavily involved in the Montgomery County education system; her husband won the district’s Teacher of the Year award in 2001 and her older daughter is a liason between the district an the Montgomery County Business Roundtable. Her younger daughter is just starting college, and dreams of being a baker; perhaps this contributes to the candidate’s obvious respect for comprehensive education.

‘‘The programming tracks need to be integrated so all students can participate, and see if they like it,’’ Marks said. ‘‘You have to make sure students are doing what they love to do, because there’s nothing worse than being in the wrong field.”

In her discussions Wednesday, Marks often matched the concerns of the Newton search committee and residents with benchmarks she said she had helped achieve in Montgomery County.

When one parent expressed concern about the number of Newton children who attend afterschool math enrichment programs, Marks talked about her efforts to get all Montgomery County students to pass algebra by the end of the eighth grade. When another parent asked about her commitment to diversity, she told a story of helping a disabled student singing the lead in a school play with the aid of a voice recorder.

While Scott’s remarks during his visit Tuesday were marked by acronyms and references to data-driven analysis, Marks focused more on specific programs and results she had seen work – with an occasional dose of humor. (When asked how she would cope with being a flash point for controversy over budget issues in the local paper, Marks said, “Well, I’m not very photogenic, so maybe they won’t put me on the front page.”)

Of all the candidates, Marks has the least connection to Massachusetts; aside from her time in Connecticut, the majority of her life has been spent in the Chesapeake Bay area. But that didn’t daunt her; she said she was willing and eager to learn the culture.

“I’m used to working 16-hour days,” she said.

The lack of local connection wasn’t a problem for some of the forum attendees. Parent Emily Norton said she was ‘‘the opposite of concerned’’ about Marks’ roots.

“I’m thrilled we get to choose from three candidates who have been exposed to the larger education community,” Norton said. “Newton, and Massachusetts, has a tendency to be insular. We have a lot to learn from the way other states do things.”

Mark Springer, principal at Mason-Rice Elementary School, agreed.

“It’s not important to me that the superintendent come through Newton schools,” Springer said. “I’d rather see someone who was a principal before, and it’s always good to bring in new experience.”

Transcending geography was Marks's no-nonsense attitude about running a school system.

“There’s two things I don’t like, and that’s complainers and whiners,” she said. “If you come to me with a problem, you better also suggest two solutions.”

Sarah Thomas can be reached at sarah.m.thomas@gmail.com.