Hiring of upper school principal imminent.
By: Lea Kahn and Rebecca Weltmann
Township school district officials expect to appoint a new principal to lead the so-called upper school at Lawrence Intermediate School possibly as soon as next week, according to Superintendent of Schools Philip Meara.
A group of parents, teachers, administrators and residents interviewed two finalists for the job Tuesday night, and recommended one of the two finalists to Mr. Meara. A special school board meeting may be called next week to appoint the new principal.
The two finalists were interviewed by four separate panels consisting of parents, teachers, administrators and school board members, respectively, Mr. Meara said. The finalists were evaluated and ranked on the basis of their skills and experience, and how they would fit at LIS and in the school district overall, he said.
Mr. Meara declined to release the name of the top candidate for the upper school principal’s job. The finalist is one of about 100 applicants for the job at LIS, which is located on Eggerts Crossing Road.
Last week, the school board named former Eldridge Park School Principal Sheila MacDonald as interim principal for the lower school at LIS. Ms. MacDonald retired in 2005, after a 38-year career in the Lawrence school district including 15 years as a principal.
Ms. MacDonald, who will be paid $600 per day without benefits, will study how the LIS split is working and then return to the school board with a recommendation on how to proceed. She is expected to deliver her report at the school board’s March meeting.
The school board decided last week to split LIS into an upper school and a lower school. The lower school will be made up of grade 4, and the upper school will be made up of grades 5 and 6.
The goal of creating a school-within-a-school is to help ease the transition from the grades K-3 elementary schools to the grades 4-6 intermediate school, Mr. Meara said. The elementary schools have student enrollments of about 300 students, and LIS has an enrollment of 876 children.
Mr. Meara also cited educational research that points to the benefits of smaller schools, such as allowing teachers to become better acquainted with students and being able to offer a more personalized educational experience.
"We are going to break LIS into smaller learning communities," he said at the school board’s July 12 meeting. "It might not be two smaller schools, but we need smaller learning communities. The interim principal can help us decide which way will be more beneficial to the students."
The decision to conduct a six-month "self study" grew out of comments and concerns from parents after the proposal to split the school into a lower school and upper school was made last month, Mr. Meara said.
Parents expressed some uneasiness at the school board’s July 12 meeting as they watched the board agree to allow Mr. Meara some flexibility over the next few months. If the board is satisfied with the plan as it stands in March, it will vote on a resolution to send to the Mercer County education office.
John Clancy of Shirley Lane said he agrees that something needs to change at LIS, but he added he isn’t sure if the proposal isn’t just a "Band-Aid solution."
"While I do agree that change is required, I caution the board to really take a look and see if this really has the results for the kids," he said. "It seems like we’re just hiring another administrator."
School board member Kevin Pollock shared Mr. Clancy’s thoughts that this is an area that requires a lot of study, but he said he has positive hopes for the program.
"It may be just a Band-Aid solution, but we’re bleeding," said Mr. Pollock. "We need something to change."
Pam Adamczyk has been involved with LIS for five years and she said she has nothing but high hopes for the proposal.
"Any way we can break (the school) down and make it more manageable, it can only get better," she said. "I’ve heard a lot of people say we can’t do this because there’s too many kids, or we can’t change that because there’s too many kids, so I think this solution, it can only make it better."
School board member Michael Brindle said the main thing to remember about the proposal is that the teachers of LIS endorse it.
"If the teachers didn’t endorse it, you wouldn’t get anywhere," he said.
One of the fourth-grade teachers present at the meeting said she was excited about the change and hoped that the board would move in favor of the proposal in March.