Attendance low at superintendent forum

VERNON — What would happen if you threw a public forum and no one showed up?

This was the dilemma faced by Richard Marasco of Leadership Advantage, the consulting firm heading the Vernon Township School District's superintendent search. Marasco put together a public meeting to find out what the residents of Vernon wanted in a superintendent, and only got nine people. Two of those people were board members and several more were teachers, leaving 4 or 5 members of the general public in attendance.

While crowd may have been small, however, those who did attend had questions and comments.

Resident Jessi Paladini asked why the district needed a consulting firm in the first place. Marasco said that it is an extremely common practice for a number of reasons. First, consultants have the ability to find out information about the candidates in a way that the board can't.

“It's not necessarily what they want to tell us,” he said. “It's what we can find out.”

Leadership Advantage's staff are all seasoned educators and administrators with long careers in New Jersey, he said, which means they know the job and they know people that the board doesn't know. He also explained that the legwork involved in finding a superintendent can be extensive, and the board members are volunteers with other responsibilities. A consultant makes the search their job, which means they can devote more time to it, and that it is easier for them to schedule appointments with candidates.

He also said that there were trust and confidentiality issues involved. Working with a Board of Education means more people are involved in working with the initial pool of candidates, and means there is more of a chance that word could get out to their current employers that their employee is looking for a new job.

Board member Cynthia Auberger agreed, saying that when the board has tried to do its own search, it didn't get as much response. She thinks candidates think that if they are applying directly to the board, that they aren't seriously looking for an outside candidate, and that there is an inside candidate for the job.

“I always say the same thing,” Marasco said. “If you're unsuccessful, just don't pay me. If you're not successful in finding a new superintendent, don't pay me.”

He asked what the residents thought were the most important qualities in a superintendent. Paladini replied that the candidate should be communicative, approachable and not afraid to go up against the teachers union if need be. Her other quality was a person who makes decisions and stands firm with them.

Other qualities that were mentioned were someone from out of the area, free of the politics that often go on in school districts, experience as both a teacher and an administrator. One parent mentioned that they'd like to see a candidate who has worked in a large district with multiple schools. This would hopefully help with consistency among the schools, because she felt like each school is run differently, even down to their websites. Consistency also would help students have fewer issues with transitions as they go from school to school in their educational career. Studies have shown that students lose ground every time they change schools and the loss is greatest in the middle school years.

It was also expressed that communication needed to be better, because parents got a phone call and a text about school fundraisers, but nothing about the public forum. Communication with the students also was important to one commentator, who said that she'd like to have a superintendent who would count the student's voice and hear their concerns.

Marasco reported that the deadline for applications for the position was Nov. 8 and that they had 19 candidates. He feels confident that board will have a good pool of candidates to choose from.

The interim superintendent, Dr. Charles Maranzano, will leave in July of 2015, so the goal is to hire someone soon enough that they will have some time to work with Maranzano before he leaves.

Paladini asked if an AdHoc committee of citizens would be able to interview the candidates as well, but Marasco didn't encourage the idea because it adds people to the process and creates a confidentiality risk.