NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—With Superintendent of Schools Richard Kaplan in his final year, the city’s school board has hired a former appointee of ex-Governor James McGreevey to lead the district’s search for a new superintendent.
Tonight will be the second opportunity for residents, parents, students, or other concerned citizens to make their voices heard on what they want to see in the next leader in the auditorium at the Lord Stirling Community School on George Street, starting at 6:30pm tonight.
“At this meeting, Dr. William Librera will ask critical questions that will assist him in developing a leadership profile,” reads a notice sent home with children this week. Â “The profile will guide the board’s decision as to the criteria they desire in the next Superintendent.”
The notice sent home with children appears to be the only notification made to the public about the meeting.
As of 3:30pm, three hours before the meeting, there was no announcement about the meeting on the school district’s website, or the city’s online channels of communication.
A similar meeting held earlier this month at the city’s Middle School was even less widely advertsed. Â It was attended by just over a dozen individuals, not including two of the board’s members and two reporters from New Brunswick Today.
Among the terms suggested for inclusion in the leadership profile at that meeting were “integrity,” “approachable,” and “trustworthy.”
The New Brunswick Board of Education says that they “contracted with West Hudson Associates through former Commissioner of Education, Dr. William Librera to conduct the search for the next Superintendent of Schools.”
Librera is the Executive Director of West Hudson Associates, and served as the state’s Commissioner of Education under Governors Jim McGreevey and Jon Corzine.
According to their website, West Hudson “is a consulting firm that specializes in executive services including, but not limited to, leadership searches as well as analytical studies of organizational effectiveness in education.”
“We have conducted numerous successful Superintendent of School searches in New Jersey. Â The central focus of our work is the creation and modification of strategies that build and sustain organizational effectiveness through leadership as a function rather than the work of one person.”
Charlie is the founder and editor of New Brunswick Today, and the winner of the Awbrey Award for Community-Oriented Local Journalism. He is a proud Rutgers University journalism graduate, a community organizer, and a former independent candidate for mayor of New Brunswick.
