BY MARK ROSMAN
Staff Writer
Freehold Township Superintendent of Schools Catherine Snyder welcomes William Setaro back to the district after the Board of Education named him the district’s new superintendent. It will not be a problem for William Setaro to familiarize himself with the surroundings of his new job.
Setaro, a former assistant superinten-dent of the Freehold Township K-8 School District, will be back in the district’s admin-istrative offices on July 1 as the superinten-dent of schools.
The Freehold Township Board of Educa-tion ended its search for a new top administrator when its members voted 8-0 on April 18 to name Setaro the successor to Catherine Snyder.
Snyder, who has been superintendent since Sept. 1, 2003, will retire on June 30. Prior to being named superintendent, she was an assistant superintendent in the district for five years.
Setaro was enthusiastically welcomed back to Freehold Township by board members and administrators. He is presently the superintendent of schools in neighboring Millstone Township.
Millstone is a K-8 district with 1,740 pupils and two schools. Freehold Township has eight schools and 4,649 pupils.
“It feels wonderful coming home,” Setaro said after the board voted to confirm his appointment. He will receive a five-year contract that runs through June 2011.
“I look forward to coming back home. The toughest challenge in this district will be filling the shoes of Peter Bastardo and Catherine Snyder (his two immediate predecessors). We’ll have a wonderful team together. It’s a pleasure and an honor … and I hope I can live up to the progress that Cathy and Peter have made,” he said.
As she introduced Setaro at the meeting, board President Rosina Hary said, “Selec-ting a superintendent is one of the most important responsibilities a board has. It is essential to select the right person. We had 23 completed applications and the field was highly competitive.
“From the best applicants, Dr. Setaro was chosen by all nine board members as their No. 1 candidate. The president and vice president of the Millstone Board of Education told us that Dr. Setaro has done a fine job” in that district, she said.
Speaking on behalf of the district’s administrators, Applegate School Principal Barbara Longo welcomed Setaro back to the district.
Beverly Stern, who is the school district’s retired head nurse, spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting and commended the board members for hiring Setaro. Stern said Setaro “is a man of intelligence, integrity, vision and compassion. He cares for his students and his colleagues.”
In a press release, Hary said Setaro was chosen by the board to succeed Snyder “because he was the applicant who met all the criteria and qualifications as determined by the board, and best matched the school district’s educational vision, needs, philosophies and expectations.”
According to information provided by the district, Setaro began his career more than 30 years ago as an elementary school teacher in Red Bank. He then served the East Windsor schools as a middle school math teacher and then as an assistant principal at the elementary school and middle school levels.
He came to Freehold Township as an assistant superintendent in January 1994 and stayed until accepting the superintendent’s position in Millstone, which he began in January 2000.
A district spokeswoman said on April 19 that Setaro’s contract had not been finalized, but was expected to be completed in the coming week.
Setaro later told Greater Media Newspapers that his initial salary in Freehold Township will be $166,000, which he said is $20,000 more than his present salary in Millstone.
Greater Media Newspapers staff writer Jennifer Kohlhepp contributed to this story.