WOODBRIDGE — School Superintendent Vincent Smith will be leaving the district at the end of this school year to take a position in another district, according to reports.
Although the move has not been officially made public, school board members were notified this week. Smith declined to comment for this article.
"He's leaving, it was his choice," said board member Diane Acquisto.
Other sources also said Smith's departure is voluntary and came as a surprise to board members.
Acquisto said the district will be looking for candidates to fill the position for the 2008-09 school year.
Smith has been superintendent in Woodbridge for 16 years. He currently oversees a student body of more than 13,000 students for an annual salary of $160,354.
Several sources said Smith will be taking over as superintendent in Point Pleasant Borough in Ocean County.
According to the Ocean County superintendent's office, the current Point Pleasant Borough superintendent, Robert Ciliento, is retiring as of June 30 this year. No successor has been announced.
Ciliento's salary for the 2007-08 school year is $176,974 to oversee a district of about 3,200 students.
Mayor John McCormac declined to discuss the details of Smith's departure, but said, "Vinny and I have enjoyed a great relationship as has the town government and school administration. I hope to keep that going with whoever replaces him."
This is great news for Woodbridge. It's no secret that I've never been a fan of Vinny Smith as the Superintendent of Schools in Woodbridge. He's a pleasant enough man - in fact, he served the district well as the Board Secretary/Business Administrator and wish him the best in his new job - but he was in no way qualified to be in charge of New Jersey's fifth largest school district, having never spent a day in the classroom or a school-level administrator. I hope that a small district with only 4 schools and 3,200 students is a better fit for him.
Again, this is great news for Woodbridge, but it could be an opportunity squandered if the Board of Education drops the ball when it comes to appointing a successor. I am unfortunately not optimistic of the prospects, given that a majority of the current board are the same people who promoted "Mr. Bribery" Kenny Kuchtyak to be Superintendent and then similarly promoted Mr. Smith when Kenny was arrested and plead guilty. Unfortunately, the last two openings at the top spot have shown that insider politics trumps good education policy. Let's hope this incarceration of the Board gets it right this time.
No comments:
Post a Comment