BY SETH MANDEL
Staff Writer
Monroe MONROE — Superintendent of Schools Ralph P. Ferrie has a new contract that will keep him with the district through 2010.
The contract was approved at a special meeting of the Board of Education on June 1.
“With the increasing enrollment, and the facilities projects we have, it gives me the opportunity to really finish the jobs we started,” Ferrie said.
Ferrie was hired in July 2001 to replace Stuart Schnur, who left the district to take a job in Montgomery Township, Somerset County. At the time, Ferrie was completing his third year as superintendent of schools in the Absecon school district.
Ferrie began his career teaching for 12 years, then became a science supervisor and an assistant principal. He served as principal at the Marlboro Middle School in Monmouth County before taking the job in Absecon.
Ferrie, 51, said that although he has moved around during his career, he his happy with his position in Monroe, and is honored and thankful to be given the extension.
“I’ve settled in. I’ve really enjoyed the community, it’s a great place,” Ferrie said. “I certainly enjoy the working relationship we have with the township. So, hopefully, it’ll be quite a long run here, which is what I’m looking forward to.”
Board President Kathy Kolupa-nowich said the contract was to run through 2009, but the board members wanted to show Ferrie how pleased they have been with his work.
“Dr. Ferrie has been doing such a great job in our district that we wanted to reward him with an extra year on his contract,” Kolupanowich said. “He’s been providing leadership and direction to our district, something that we needed before he came on board. And since he’s come on board, he’s done an excellent job in moving our district forward.”
Ferrie’s salary for the 2004-05 school year is $166,690. His salary for future years will be determined annually, officials said.
The board also voted to reduce the time after which a principal at the high school would be offered tenure.
The state statute dictates that a principal is offered tenure the first day of his or her fourth year at the job. Under the new rule, a principal could be offered tenure after 20 months.
Kolupanowich said the move should be interpreted as a vote of confidence in current Monroe Township High School Principal Frank Kasyan, and Ferrie said the board was looking to provide and ensure stability at the high school. Kasyan was hired in the fall of 2003 after serving as principal of a middle school in Brick Township, Ocean County.
Kolupanowich said that although the June 1 meeting was called specifically to take action on those two items, the matters were unrelated.
She said the board usually makes such personnel decisions this time of year.
Ferrie said he has reached a comfort level with the community and every employee, teacher and administrator in the district’s schools, as well as with school officials in Jamesburg, which sends its high school-age students to Monroe Township High School on a tuition basis.
“I’ve also had a very good relationship with [Jamesburg Superintendent of Schools] Shirley Bzdewka and the Jamesburg Board of Education,” Ferrie said. “They’ve also been extremely supportive, and we’ve actually done some really good things in terms of working collaboratively with them to ensure that we have good transition to the high school.”
The vote on Ferrie’s extension was 8-2 in favor of approval, and the vote on the principal’s tenure was 9-1.