Thomas Reynolds of Englishtown will be the school business administrator effective July 1
By:Matthew Armstrong
JAMESBURG— Borough schools soon
will have a new man crunching
numbers and squeezing the most
out of every pen
ny.
Thomas
Reynolds of Englishtown will be
the school business administrator
effective July 1 with his contract
running through June 20,
2002.
Current
Jamesburg administrator, Robert
Brown, officially announced his
resignation in May. Mr. Brown will
become the new business adminis
trator of the Englewood school dis
trict. Mr. Brown has been with
Jamesburg since July 1,
1999.
Mr.
Brown is the third business admin
istrator for the district in the past
three years. Superintendent Richard
Ballard blamed the turnover on the
district’s small size. Many appli
cants often look at districts such as
Jamesburg as a good way to gain
experience, he
said.
The
downside to this is that once they
gain experience, the administrators
typically are recruited by larger
school districts that can offer more
money, said Mr. Ballard during the
school board’s April 27 mee
ting.
Mr. Rey
nolds has been the business admin
istrator at Eastampton school
district in Burlington County for
the past seven years. Before that, he
was working in finance in the pri
vate sector for more than 20 years.
He started as a physical education
teacher in New
York.
Mr.
Reynolds said he applied for the
position in Jamesburg to be closer
to his home in Englishtown and
also to take on a new challeng
e.
“You get to
a point in your life when you need
a change,” said Mr. Reynolds.
“Each district is unique even if it is
the similar size. There’s different
programs, different challenges, and
I am looking forward to
it.”
Jamesburg
had 22 people apply for the posi
tion. The search was narrowed to
four applicants who were brought
before the Board of Education.
After the interviews, the board of
fered Mr. Reynolds the
job.
“He has a
strong background with a district of
similar size, an excellent reputation
with the auditors who worked in
that district, and his letters of rec
ommendation were from some pret
ty strong people,” said Mr. Bal
lard.
Mr.
Reynolds admitted that he still has
a lot to learn about Jamesburg’s
schools, but he will be studying all
summer.
“The
transition will be fine,” said Mr.
Ballard. “His predecessor is coop
erating and he’ll be working hand
in hand with him as we go through
this, so I expect it will be a smooth
transition.”