New principal hopes to get students started on right track.
By: Lacey Korevec
This year’s kindergarten class will be graduated from high school in the year 2020.
This fact is one of the main reasons Maribeth Edmunds said she is so excited to begin her new position as principal of the Monmouth Junction School.
"The thing that I’m most affected by profoundly, in a sense, is that the young people who are coming to our doors next week, they’ve got their foot in the future," she said, in an interview Aug.30.
Ms. Edmunds, 54, has been with the district for 15 years, playing a number of different roles before finding out in June that she would become the elementary school’s new principal and earn $106,000 this year. She replaces Jan Bozowski, who has decided to return to teaching.
She joined the district in 1992 as a high school English teacher before taking on other positions such as freshman house leader, accreditation for growth internal coordinator, assistant to the superintendent, affirmative action officer and director of professional development. She said all of the positions she has been in have helped prepare her for her new job as principal.
New construction on the building and the addition of several new employees make Ms. Edmunds especially happy to begin her new career.
"I’m excited that the school’s going to be new in a sense that we have the addition and the renovations," she said. "It’s looking spectacular, so it will be nice to step into a building that’s had a real refresher and expansion."
Talking with the children is one of the major perks of working as a principal and Ms. Edmunds said she is especially looking forward to it.
"I’ve met a few of the children and they’re just delightful," she said. "They’re lively and they’re energetic and they’re full of questions and very friendly. They want to tell me lots of things, which I’m looking forward to."
While interacting with the students, she hopes to come across as a role model and to show students that she cares about the way they interact with one another.
"I hope that they see that I’m very serious about education and how important education is in all of our lives," she said. "I also hope to be a role model in how we treat other people. I believe very much in our human dignity policy that everyone in our community deserves dignity and worth and should be treated as such."
Ms. Edmunds said she will dedicate her attention to ensuring that students are able to enjoy what they learn. She also will make sure she is accessible to any student who wants to speak with her during the year.
"I want the children to know that I’m working very hard to make sure that they have the very best teachers in the classroom," she said. "I’m going to make very sure that the programs we offer at Monmouth Junction are going to be very important for them, but also a lot of fun.
"And I also want them to know that if they have a question or they want to talk to me about something, then they should come see me."
During the school year, Ms. Edmunds said, she will work with the staff to generate some long-term goals for the school to concentrate on in the coming years.
"I want to spend some time getting to know the faculty, getting to know the children and getting to know the community of Monmouth Junction, to work on their plans for the future," she said.
Now, her main priority is getting everything in place to start the year off right. As soon as she has some free time, the PTA will hold an event called Coffee, Cookies and Conversation, which will allow parents to come in and chat with the new principal informally. The exact date for the event will be announced at Back to School Night on Sept. 21.
"My full attention is going to be on trying to get the building open and get everybody in the place that they should be," she said. "But I do want to meet the parents."
Outside of school, Ms. Edmunds wants students to know that she is a regular person. She has a husband, two children and a dog. She loves to read, listen to music and take time out during the weekend to relax and watch a movie. Students looking for a conversation starter can ask her about films like "Superman" and "Cars," which she saw over summer break.
Hobbies aside, Ms. Edmunds focuses a great deal of her attention on education. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English education in 1973 and a master’s degree in reading education in 1982 from Montclair University, and went on to complete a master’s degree in educational administration in 2001 from The College of New Jersey. She is busy working on a dissertation to complete her doctorate in educational leadership, management and policy at Seton Hall University.
"I’m still a student myself, so I believe very much in life-long learning, not simply as a statement that I make, but it’s a statement that I live," she said.

