DOE Official: ‘Super’ Superintendents Will Help Education

DOE Official: ‘Super’ Superintendents
Will Help Education

The new ‘super’ executive county superintendent structure promises to benefit the education community if the state recruits the best people possible to serve in the 21 positions, a state education official recently told school board members.

William N. King, an assistant commissioner for the New Jersey Department of Education, gave school board members insight into how the ‘super’ county superintendent process is shaping up. His message was provided to officers of 20 county school boards associations during a quarterly NJSBA County Association Leadership meeting held June 28 at the Robert Wood Johnson Hamilton Center for Wellness in Mercerville.

Far-reaching Authority Under recently enacted legislation,
A-4, the state will create 21 executive county superintendents with far-reaching authority over local school district spending and operations.

The executive county superintendents also will devise plans to eliminate send-all, or non-operating, school districts in their counties within one year. They will propose the restructuring of all districts into kindergarten through grade 12 systems within three years. In addition, they will be responsible for ensuring transparency in local school governance and savings through district partnerships and shared services.

Although the executive county superintendents will not be in place by July 1 as initially expected, department is working with the governor’s office to have the appointments made as soon as possible, King said.

In March, the education department began its process of interviewing candidates for the executive county superintendent positions. It formed screening committees that brought in top candidates for interviews. Additional interviews were conducted by state education commissioner Lucille E. Davy and King. This process resulted in a slate of 20 candidates presented to Gov. Jon S. Corzine in June.

Special Review Panel The governor will have final say on the appointments, with the advice and the consent of the Senate.

So far, the candidate pool brings with it an in-depth range of expertise in a variety of areas such as curriculum, shared services, special education and finance, according to King. All candidates have local school district experience in New Jersey.

“We’re going to be more than the sum of our parts,” said King, who oversees the education department’s Division of Field Services. “The executive county superintendents can use their experience to help avoid some minefields.”

Through its annual budget, the department also has requested funding so each executive county office will house at least four people: an executive county superintendent, a business administrator, an educational specialist and a child study team supervisor. Plus, the department may have additional positions to place more support in counties with pressing needs.

“This person should be thought of as an expert in education in his or her county,” said King, who served as Warren County superintendent of schools from 1996 to March 2007.

Assistant Commissioner of Education William N. King discusses the roles of the state’s soon-to-be-announced 21 executive county superintendents. King, who oversees the department’s Division of Field Services, also spoke about the sound working relationships that he expects the county ‘super’ superintendents will have with local districts. Nearly 45 school board members attended the NJSBA quarterly County Association Leadership meeting in late June in Mercerville.

From left to right: NJSBA President Kevin E. Ciak, Assistant Commissioner of Education William N. King and NJSBA Vice President for County Activities Harry J. Delgado at the quarterly CAL meeting.