By Greg Forester, Staff Writer
MONTGOMERY — The Montgomery Township School District will have a new superintendent starting July 15.
The Board of Education voted to officially appoint current Verona School District Superintendent Earl T. Kim to the position on Tuesday, setting up Mr. Kim’s eventual takeover of the job from interim Superintendent Sam Stewart this summer.
The appointment ends a two-year search for a new superintendent.
Montgomery’s future district leader is no stranger to this area. He was a graduate student at Princeton University and a math teacher at Trenton Central High School. Mr. Kim also has links to Montgomery’s current leadership, having had an ongoing relationship with Mr. Stewart.
The outgoing superintendent lauded Mr. Kim’s attributes as an educational leader in an interview earlier this week.
”He speaks movingly about the good school, where kids feel safe, where kids are engaged and enjoy learning, and where teachers enjoy teaching at the school,” said Mr. Stewart. “He is well-rounded, has a great disposition and a tremendous work ethic.”
Before serving as superintendent at the Verona district, Mr. Kim was principal of Emerson Junior-Senior High School in Emerson Borough in Bergen County from 1996 to 2003, and as assistant principal of Cherry Hill High School West from 1993 to 1996.
He has received numerous awards throughout his career, including the 2001-2002 New Jersey Principal of the Year award and the New Jersey Star School award in 2004-2005.
Mr. Kim has been a rising star in education, according to district officials, who noted some of the qualities that led to their decision after going through two rounds of searching for Mr. Stewart’s replacement.
”First, he has an extremely high level of integrity. He’s one of the most honest people you will meet, and he has an ability to build relationships and gain trust,” said Board of Education President David Pettit. “He said he has been honing himself for this position since he was 17.”
Mr. Kim will be taking over a district with roughly double the number of students, going from Verona’s student population of over 2,000, to Montgomery Township, where more than 5,200 students attend public school.
Working at a larger district with more resources, and one noted for its high educational standards, were some of the things that Mr. Kim said excited him about his new position.
”One of the biggest draws is the focus the entire community has on learning,” said Mr. Kim. “There is already a remarkable leadership team in place with lots of well-known people in public education.”
At Verona, there was an extremely small central office staff, with the superintendent becoming somewhat of a “bottleneck,” Mr. Kim said.
”We just don’t have enough hours in the day to get it done,” said Mr. Kim, who said he will soon be moving his family into Montgomery Township.
Besides having a background in education, Mr. Kim also served in the Marine Corps as a platoon commander, series commander, and assistant operations officer.
He holds a master’s degree in public affairs, domestic policy analysis from Princeton University, and an undergraduate degree in history from Cornell University.
In his first years pursuing a career in education, Mr. Kim actually applied to be principal of South Brunswick High School and was interviewed by Mr. Stewart, the superintendent there. At that time, he admitted, he was not qualified for the position.
”He asked me, ‘Are you serious about this?’” said Mr. Kim, who is in his middle 40s. “He didn’t hire me, but he kept in touch.”
It seems that with more years and accomplishments under his belt, Mr. Kim has become the kind of teacher and leader qualified for the job in Montgomery, according to Mr. Stewart.
”He’s a wonderful educator,” Mr. Stewart said.
Mr. Stewart took over as interim superintendent in the summer of 2006, when Stuart Schnur retired.
Mr. Kim’s appointment came in the second round of searching, after last year’s round turned up few qualified candidates, according to district officials.
This time around there were several good candidates, they said, but Mr. Kim ended up getting the nod.
