Hiring a new district superintendent and easing the transition between middle school and high school lead the list of priorities set by the Red Bank Board of Education for 2014.
Other goals include providing a challenging curriculum for high-achieving students and addressing the teacher-salary gap between the Red Bank Borough Public Schools and neighboring districts.
“The biggest issue that we face now without question is hiring a new superintendent,” Board President Ben Forest said in an interview after the Jan. 7 Board of Education meeting.
“This is going to be the No. 1 priority of this body until we have a suitable superintendent in place.”
The new schools chief will replace Laura Morana, who retired from the district in September to take a position as the interim superintendent for the Mercer County Office of Education.
Harold Reid, who previously served as interim principal of the Red Bank Primary School, became the district’s interim superintendent on Sept. 30. Since then, the board has been working with a consulting company to find a permanent replacement.
“We have résumés, and we have started the process of going through and interviewing candidates,” Forest said, adding that the board hopes to have the position filled within three months.
At the Jan. 7 reorganization meeting, Forest, along with board members Marjorie Lowe and Suzanne Viscomi, were sworn in for new three-year terms. Board member Jill Burden was sworn in to fill a one-year unexpired term.
After being re-elected as board president, Forest quickly set to work establishing an agenda for 2014. “I think we do a good job in the middle and lower areas of student achievement, but we are a mixed bag at the top,” he said. “I would like to improve that with things like more honor programs.”
In addition, Forest said district parents have raised concerns with the transition between the middle and the high schools, citing a low level of participation in extracurricular activities at Red Bank Regional High School.
“We have a soccer team here, but there are only two kids from Red Bank on the soccer team. That was just bizarre to me,” he said. “There are a lot of great things I love here, and I am glad that my kids have gone here. But I am alarmed by some of the things that, as a parent, I don’t see some of our kids involved in. There are a lot of challenges for the middle school over there.”
Board member Ann Roseman said the eighth-grade students don’t understand the process even though high school orientation is provided.
Board member Jill Burden suggested that the middle school hold an assembly for parents to outline all the classes, clubs and sports that freshmen can get involved in.
Reid said that he and Business Administrator Debra Pappagallo have been working with the administration and superintendent at Red Bank Regional to improve the freshman experience.
He said some of the discussions included aligning the homework load in eighth grade to the high school, so students aren’t overwhelmed.
“We are working to bridge that gap,” he said.
Reid added that administrators are working to ensure that middle and high school teachers understand the transition process and that guidance counselors are aware of the problems.
The final objective that Forest asked the board to consider was teachers’ salaries, stating that there is a substantial gap in pay between teachers in the Red Bank district and surrounding districts, leading to teacher turnover.
“People have left the middle school and the primary school for more money. They stay for a few years, and then they bolt. I understand that, but we have lost a lot of talent,” he said.
“School money is very tight from the state, and Red Bank taxpayers are really squeezed, and this is going to be tough for us. We are never going to pass the neighboring districts, but I would like to narrow the gap.”