By MADDY VITALE
The Ocean City Board of Education, with Interim Superintendent Terrence Crowley leading the way, has a big goal: to hire a full-time superintendent in the next two months to guide the nearly 2,000-student school district.
Crowley has been the interim since Jan. 1. During a Board of Education meeting Thursday night, he detailed how he and the board are working together to help make what he said is an “aggressive goal” a reality.
The longtime educator is guiding the school board in analyzing applications received for the top position. The cutoff for receiving applications is the close of business Monday, Jan. 29.
After receiving all of the applications, the board will identify candidates that they wish to learn more from. They will ask the candidates a few questions that they are to respond to in writing, Crowley explained.
That will take the search through the middle of February, Crowley said. There are also preliminary committee interviews scheduled for the third week in February and interviews with the full school board scheduled for the end of February, Crowley said.
The hope is that a successful candidate will be chosen and then approved by the March 14 school board meeting, he said.
“It is kind of an aggressive timeline, but as I mentioned before, I’d like to have a candidate on board,” Crowley said.
The position is posted on the New Jersey Association of School Administrators (NJASA) website (www.njasa.net) and on the district website (oceancityschools.org).
In addition to a swift hiring timeline, Crowley would like to see the successful candidate start in June, instead of the typical start date of July 1.
Crowley explained why the June not July start date would be best.
“It would be important for someone to be on board in the month of June because they could see what happens at the end of the school year, meet with teachers, see kids, look at the facility and just get a handle because in summer months, when you start in July or August, there are very few people around, the teachers aren’t here, it is kind of hit or miss,” he emphasized.
The district has not had a long-term leader since former Superintendent Kathleen Taylor retired in August 2021 after 15 years of service. Interim Superintendent Tom Baruffi filled the void until the district hired Matthew Friedman as superintendent in June 2022.
Friedman resigned at the end of March to become superintendent of the Quakertown Community School District in Bucks County, Pa. Retired longtime educator Dr. Scott McCartney, of Egg Harbor Township, stepped in and served from June through Dec. 31.
Crowley stepped in to replace McCartney and is serving as interim superintendent until the new full-time superintendent is hired. This is the third superintendent search in about three years.
School Board President Kevin Barnes recently appointed board members to the superintendent search committee. He, along with fellow board members Michael Allegretto, Jacqueline McAlister, Fran Newman and Vice President Chris Halliday will serve on the committee.
It is the job of the search committee to do the initial paring down and selection of the most qualified candidates for the position. The full board will then do the interviews and make the final decision.
But board members Catherine Panico and Liz Nicoletti voiced concerns over not being selected for the search committee.
“I fully support the goals of Superintendent Mr. Crowley and I think time is of the essence,” Panico said of the importance of hiring a leader quickly. “I also think it is extremely important for the community, the staff and the board members to be engaged in the process.”
She said that she and Nicoletti disapproved of the committee formation because there was no objective selection of the members. They both would have liked to have sat on the committee, she noted.
Like Panico, Nicoletti said she is supportive of Crowley’s goals, but that she is not in favor of the “small committee if it excludes members of the board who would like to be a part of the search.”
Nicoletti also said she was disappointed about the committee and how the selection for it went.
Barnes pointed out that the committee was created out of the need for efficiency.
“There’s a lot of competition out there. There are at least four different districts competing for the same people. Time is of the essence,” Barnes said. “We think the committee approach is a much more efficient approach. We want to get this done swiftly. Hopefully we will have someone by March.”
The job listing can also be found on Facebook, NJSchoolJobs.com and the websites for the New Jersey School Boards Association (NJSBA), the New Jersey Association of School Business Officials (NJASBO), Stockton University and Rowan University, among others.
For additional information, visit oceancityschools.org.
