Norm Goldman, Hopewell Township
There is one thing I have come to respect over my 20 years in the Valley: this community wants straight talk and answers. That is a key attribute we must look for in our next school superintendent.
Monday night’s community session and recent focus groups conducted by the NJ School Boards Association will obviously result in generic criteria to attract a pool of qualified candidates.
But, will the true test be in those questions subsequently asked that will assist in the school board’s final decision? Those questions must face the real challenges faced by the district.
There is a great deal of consensus on the other key attribute: dedication and commitment that it is a 24/7 job. Our next superintendent must live that tenet whether it’s visiting classes in action or nonschool community activities.
The next superintendent — as a child-oriented educator — must have a fundamental understanding that the school’s focus is on the student sharing an intimate learning experience with the teacher. And that there is a commitment to keeping class size small as has been the commitment of school boards over the years.
But, we must also seek the mind set and experiences the next superintendent has in terms of specific critical functions: maintaining and expanding the comprehensiveness of our high school; avoiding fees for co-curricular activities; initiating efforts of shared services with municipalities and other educational agencies to effect savings; in concert with the school board, examining and evaluating administrative positions and structure in terms of an effective yet cost-saving reorganization.
In line with the past two years of school board elections, winners have advocated: review of all administrative positions earning $100,000 or more, rebidding of professional services, and the analysis of capital expenditures.
Past actions have included: attempting to accomplish successful restructuring, providing incentives for retirement, and consolidating and reducing administrative personnel.
The next superintendent should be asked for past experiences in these areas as well as methods for potential future implementation.
In the area of technology, what experiences have been had in: controlling expenses at both district and classroom levels by involving community members who may have more expertise and connections in the field than district personnel; evaluating whether a district’s involvement in cable TV is both a major learning experience for an acceptable number of students and cost effective at the same time; and lastly, after a community has made an investment in its school buildings and related facilities such as the performing arts center, is it getting an appropriate “return” on its investment?
Given the current fiscal sense of the nation, shared at our state level, and obviously represented in the local tax bill we pay next month, the next superintendent must assist our board with leadership in making the right decisions for both our students and our taxpayers.
Experience will count. It always does. But that is not an excuse for hiring a recycled superintendent who may know New Jersey. There has to be a sense of creativity and caring that goes beyond what may have been tried before.
This appears — by process — to be the challenge to our current school board to anoint someone with these attributes and experiences—and will make Hopewell Valley their “home.”

