Public can interview finalists for top spot

Milltown superintendent candidates include two current principals

BY SETH MANDEL Staff Writer

BY SETH MANDEL
Staff Writer

MILLTOWN –– Three candidates are being considered for superintendent of schools, and residents are invited to interview the finalists next week.

The May 10 Board of Education meeting, which will take place in the all-purpose room at Joyce Kilmer School, will feature a question-and-answer session between the public and the candidates.

“It’s going to be a structured question-and-answer forum,” said interim Superintendent of Schools James Sheerin. “We’re going to ask the participants to write on an index card the questions they would like to ask the candidates.”

Sheerin said he will put all the cards in a box and pull out one question at a time.

The candidates are Joyce Kilmer Principal Linda Madison, Parkview Principal Janet Ferlazzo and Old Bridge Township Assistant Superintendent Gail Verona.

The meeting is being structured to ensure that as many questions will be answered as possible.

“I’ve found that once you get into a give-and-take situation, a lot of times, so much time is spent on one question that they really never get to all the questions, or at least most of the questions,” Sheerin said.

Members of the public can ask follow-up questions at a small reception sponsored by the PTA following the forum.

Sheerin has been serving as the district’s interim superintendent since the retirement of Anne Evangelista last summer.

Whoever is selected as the new superintendent will also serve as principal of the Parkview School under a new form of administrative governance approved by the Board of Education in February.

The school board had 47 candidates for the position when the selection process began. Sheerin said 10 were removed from consideration immediately because they did not fulfill the minimum requirements for the position.

“Then the board withdrew 27 applications and read all of the information, and selected candidates for interviews,” Sheerin said. “This past Saturday they interviewed candidates, and they came up with three finalists.”

Sheerin said the audience will be given copies of the board’s criteria for the position before the session begins.

Sheerin will also explain the new model of administrative governance to the audience to make everyone aware of the necessary background information prior to the forum.

“Some of them coming may not fully understand the governance structure, and we wanted to take an opportunity to explain that to them,” Sheerin said.

The forum and reception will take about two hours, with most of that devoted to the question-and-answer session.

Members of the Board of Education will not participate in the forum, but will interview the candidates again the next day.

The board will meet May 17 to analyze all the information it has gathered, conduct a risk analysis, and choose a candidate.

Board attorneys will then begin negotiations with that candidate.

“And if they come to terms with that candidate, then they’ll appoint a candidate on the 24th [of May] at their regular board meeting,” Sheerin said. “That’s the target; that this will all come together by the 24th, where the board will actually vote, in public session, on the candidate.”