84317df2f5e2477be97f7a4dfa4cc4f2.jpg

HOPEWELL VALLEY: New schools chief to begin work in June

Thomas A. Smith will replace Thomas Butler

By John Tredrea, Staff Writer
   Thomas A. Smith will become superintendent of the Hopewell Valley school district June 1.
   The full school board voted unanimously Monday night in favor of Dr. Smith’s appointment. He will replace Thomas Butler, who has been at the district’s helm on an interim basis since Judith A. Ferguson retired late last summer.
   Dr. Smith’s four-year contract calls for a starting annual salary of $170,000.
   ”He is known as an energetic leader with an inclusive decision-making style,” said district spokeswoman JoAnn Meyer.
   A former special education teacher, Dr. Smith, 42, has been the nearby West Windsor-Plainsboro district’s assistant superintendent for pupil services and planning since 2005. In that position he oversees special education, athletics, guidance, nursing services, community education, district policy development and enrollment monitoring and forecasting.
   Before the school board voted to appoint Dr. Smith on Monday night, board member Aaron Tellier of Hopewell Township said “the feedback” on Dr. Smith from West Windsor “was overwhelmingly positive.”
   Board President Mel Myers of Hopewell Borough noted that Dr. Smith would depart from the usual practice of assuming a new superintendency on Sept. 1. “He wants to start June 1 so he can meet the teachers and attend graduation,” Mr. Myers said.
   ”I’m very fortunate to be able to work in a community that values education so highly,” said Dr. Smith, after his appointment was approved.
   ”Dr. Smith’s career has been on a steep trajectory since switching his focus to education in the early 1990s,” Ms. Meyer said. A television and film major at Trenton State College, he worked for several years making commercials in Manhattan. “An experience coaching Special Olympics athletes caused him to rethink his professional goals. Working with challenged youth gave him a personal satisfaction that had eluded him in the production studios of New York and he decided to return to Trenton State, this time for a degree in teaching.”
   With his degree in teaching behind him, Dr. Smith started his career at the Newgrange School in Hamilton, teaching special needs students in grades three to eight. In 1994 he joined the faculty at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School, before the district built its second high school, where he worked as a special education teacher and coached the boys varsity lacrosse team.
   Four years later he was named the district’s assistant director of special services, responsible for special education programs in grades six to 12 and the English as a Second Language program K-12.
   In 2001 he moved to the much smaller Spotswood School District, where he became part of a three-person administrative team as director of special projects/special services. He credits his tenure in the cash-strapped district as giving him valuable experience in budgeting and fiscal management.
   In 2005, he returned to West Windsor-Plainsboro, where he was named to one of the district’s highest posts.
   In taking the helm in Hopewell Valley, Dr. Smith comes to a district roughly half the size of West Windsor-Plainsboro, but, according to Ms. Meyer, one with similar characteristics: a high-achieving student body, a strong faculty with a high percentage of advanced degrees, a supportive and engaged parent community, and a well-educated community with high expectations.
   The two districts have adopted many of the same curricular models — including the Responsive Classroom program in the elementary schools and the Everyday Math curriculum — and have tapped national leaders in educational theory, such as author Grant Wiggins, for staff workshops.
   Both systems share a strong commitment to technology. Earlier this year, West Windsor-Plainsboro acquired “Infinite Campus,” the same online student information system now being rolled out in Hopewell Valley.”
   A competitive tri-athlete for more than a decade, Dr. Smith has spent considerable time training and bicycling along Valley roads.
   He lives in Upper Freehold Township with his wife, Louise, a special education teacher, and their three children, 7, 5 and 2 years old.
   Dr. Smith is an accomplished carpenter. In the 1990s he restored and occupied an 1852 Federal-style farmhouse in Upper Makefield Township in Bucks County. The house is part of the quaint and well-preserved Dolington Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
   A former member of the board of directors of Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Mercer County, Dr. Smith belongs to several professional associations, including the Council for Exceptional Children, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development and the Kappa Delta Pi Educational Honor Society.
   Since 2005 he has taught graduate-level courses in education as part of the adjunct faculty at Rider University. Last June, Dr. Smith was part of a delegation of U.S. educators who traveled to China as part of the College Board’s Chinese Bridge Program. A joint project with the Office of Chinese Language Council International, it brings U.S. educators to China to broaden their knowledge of local culture and language.
   Dr. Smith holds a master’s degree in educational leadership from The College of New Jersey and a doctorate in educational leadership from Seton Hall University.
   In response to questions from township resident Anthony Arnone during Monday night’s meeting, board members and Human Resources Director Richard Lang said terms of Dr. Smith’s contract include stipulations that he have no other paid employment while serving as superintendent in the Valley.