Gov. Wes Moore said it was his idea for Department of Juvenile Services Secretary Vincent Schiraldi to resign, rejecting the agency head’s statement Monday that he’d made the decision on his own.

“It was my decision. I ordered his resignation,” Moore told WBAL News Radio host T.J Smith on Tuesday.

The Democrat appointed Betsy Fox Tolentino, managing director of juvenile and young adult justice initiatives at anti-violence initiative The Roca Impact Institute.

Moore’s office broke the news Monday evening in a release but provided no details on why Schiraldi was leaving. Reached by phone Monday, Schiraldi told The Banner he had been planning his departure later this year. But when he told the administration his plans, they decided to move ahead sooner.

Moore, a Democrat, deflected questions about whether Schiraldi’s progressive philosophies clashed with his own. Tolentino, he said, would meet his “philosophy of urgency.”

And Schiraldi, he said, wasn’t moving fast enough.

“My expectations are high and my patience is low,” Moore said.

Leading juvenile services is a complicated and demanding role, Moore told Smith.

The governor explained that he and Schiraldi had inherited a troubled agency depleted of staff and resources by the previous administration.

Though the former head of D.C.’s youth services agency had made positive change in Maryland, such as implementing programs to help youth most at risk for committing or being victims of gun violence, Moore said it wasn’t moving fast enough.

But, Moore said, he’s looking forward to change. He’s tasking Tolentino with improving operations, state youth facilities, and building strong relationships with partners all “to drive better outcomes for our young people.”

Tolentino is a youth legal system veteran, including an 11-plus-year stint in the agency. She also worked as as an attorney with the Maryland Office of the Public Defender.

Schiraldi said he recommended Tolentino as his successor. But Moore swatted away Schiraldi’s influence, saying it didn’t factor into his decision because Tolentino came with the support of many people from around the state.

Alexis Piquero has known Schiraldi for 25 years. The criminologist and former director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics under the Biden administration called his colleague “a change agent” because he puts research into practice, something he said was rare in the field of youth justice.

But youth services agencies “move like the Titanic,” he said, and come with multiple challenges, from budgetary, personnel, to facility management.

Then there are other factors completely out of the secretary’s control, he said, like the underlying causes of crime.

Piquero said Schiraldi was selected for a reason and came at the job with an “urgency.”

“People who are put into these positions, by their own definition of who they are as people, are urgent,” he said.

Tolentino starts as acting secretary on June 11 and will face a Maryland Senate confirmation process during the next year’s legislative session.