Assistant superintendent makes the rounds, but finds few glitches
By: Courtney Gross
It was a first for many on Thursday.
Young children were boarding buses on their first day of kindergarten. Teenagers tackled their first day of high school, some anxious and bewildered at the site of West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North or South.
And it was a first for some administrators, including Assistant Superintendent for Pupil Services and Planning Thomas Smith.
Having returned to the district last November as the director of pupil services and planning and been given the title of assistant superintendent over the summer, Mr. Smith was embarking on the first day of school in his new position.
And with it came new responsibilities, such as ensuring like the rest of the district’s administrators the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District’s 10 schools transitioned smoothly into the new year.
Mr. Smith said that is exactly what occurred.
While visiting several of the district’s elementary and high schools Thursday morning, Mr. Smith met with principals, guidance counselors and teachers to double-check everyone was well prepared for the more than 9,000 students swamping the schools’ hallways.
"You have good people and the days start out smooth," Mr. Smith said. "If phones had been ringing (in the district’s schools) they would soon be ringing in my office."
Mr. Smith’s first stop: checking traffic on Grovers Mill Road, where three school entrances are no more than a quarter-mile apart. Having anticipated some tie-ups, Mr. Smith arranged for police to be present to handle the congestion during the morning and afternoon.
Because he was in the area, Mr. Smith stopped by High School North, Millstone River Elementary School and Community Middle School.
Since his return to the school system last year, Mr. Smith has overseen the district’s special-education programs, athletics and guidance departments all areas that he attended to on Thursday.
Because of the district’s diversity and size, Mr. Smith said, special-education programs can be designed as a "safe haven" for kids where many students have a strong support system.
After poking his head into the disabled class at High School North, Mr. Smith said, "With a large district you can run unique programs."
At Millstone, Mr. Smith checked in with Mary Ann Isaacs, the school’s principal, ensuring that some of the younger students had made it to the elementary school and on time.
Other than a few children unsure of where to go, Ms. Isaacs said, everything at Millstone was running on schedule.
Without seeing any major glitches in his first series of stops, Mr. Smith made his way to the transportation office, a department often riddled with complaints on the first day of school.
Last year, school officials said, a line of parents waiting to complain of inefficient transportation, including missed stops and late buses, had spilled outside of the building.
This year, as Mr. Smith entered the office on Wallace Road in West Windsor, only three parents were there.
The district’s transportation coordinator, Ed Treadaway, said besides minor mistakes, such as a few missed bus stops on routes for High School South and several late buses for kindergarten classes, most students in the district were on time.
"You’re always going to have some glitches opening day," Mr. Treadaway said.
Moving on to other schools in the district, Mr. Smith visited both High School South and Wicoff Elementary School.
While guiding students to math or language arts classes at South, Mr. Smith noted that having taught at the high school in the 1990s made his job much easier on Thursday.
The high school’s familiar hallways enabled the assistant superintendent to check students’ schedules and direct them toward their next class during the four-minute period allotted.
After the assistant superintendent’s school visits, it was time to reconvene at the Board of Education office in West Windsor to check with other administrators.
Most of the administrative staff graded the first day similarly. Whether helping sixth-graders open lockers or pulling bus duty, administrators said, the start of school this year went more smoothly than in the past as everyone pulled together.
"Last year, from what I understand, it was a lot more hectic," Mr. Smith said. "Not to say we don’t have our moles, our warts and our glitches," he added.

