The Hoboken Board of Education appointed a new superintendent of schools last week, naming former board president John Raslowsky II to a four-year and four month $175,000 contract this past Wednesday.
Raslowsky started the job immediately the following day, with Superintendent Patrick Gagliardi moving to an assistant superintendent position until he retires this summer.
Raslowsky, the former principal of St. Peter’s Preparatory School in Jersey City and a former school board president in Hoboken, beat out 29 other candidates during the two-month search process for the position.
Raslowsky takes charge of a high school, two middle schools, six primary schools, and two publicly-funded charter schools.
New job, old friends
Raslowsky, 45, is not new to the Hoboken schools. In fact, he stepped down from Hoboken’s nine-member school board last year in order to run for the superintendent position, and it was rumored since then that the board wanted him for superintendent all along.
A long-time resident whose father also served on the Board of Education in the 1970s, Raslowsky also has deep-rooted connections in the city as a whole. This was evident after a public forum held between superintendent finalists Raslowsky and Anna DeMolli at Hoboken High School on Feb. 27, when several community members and elected officials stopped to congratulate Raslowsky and shake his hand after his presentation.
“I was in an interesting position,” Raslowsky said of his participation in the superintendent search process. “I knew all these people who interviewed me at one point or another.”
But he didn’t think they went too easy on him.
“I don’t feel that at any point I was given a pass,” Raslowsky said. “The fact that they knew me didn’t seem to make a difference in what they asked or how they asked it.”
Process sped up
The process of choosing the new superintendent seemed rushed to some observers. Gagliardi announced last year that he would retire, and the board originally intended to run a search process from Feb. 23 of this year until April.
Then, the board approved a proposal made by Gagliardi in December of 2006 that significantly sped up the selection schedule, allowing for a transitional period in which he would serve as assistant superintendent and an advisor to the new superintendent.
The amended schedule allowed the board had just two weeks, from Feb. 9 to Feb. 23, to whittle down a field of 30 candidates to one.
This past Tuesday, the board had an open forum where the public submit written questions for two finalists – Raslowsky and Dr. Anna DeMolli of the Paterson school district. A representative for the New Jersey School Boards Association moderated the forum and chose which questions would be asked.
DeMolli has a doctorate in early childhood education and has served as assistant superintendent for Paterson Public Schools, as well as elementary school principal. A self-described “Nuyorican” who was born in Manhattan to Puerto Rican parents, she also taught bilingual education to grades four through eight.
DeMolli said after the forum that she had found out about the job via an advertisement and had been looking for some time to move up to a superintendent position.
DeMolli also said that she then asked former Hoboken Superintendent of Schools Edwin Duroy, who had also served as superintendent in Paterson for a while, about the district. Duroy, a Hoboken resident, had left Paterson after the state-run district was found to be suffering from financial mismanagement.
7-1 with an abstention
A day after Tuesday’s forum, the board held a meeting to choose the new superintendent.
Wednesday night, the board went into closed executive session for over two hours before announcing the choice publicly. Many residents left before the board’s decision was announced.
The board voted 7-1-1 in favor of a resolution appointing Raslowsky as superintendent, with one abstention.
Trustee Wanda Santana-Alicea abstained from voting, citing a conflict of interest. Alicea is executive director of the Friendship Day Care Center in Paterson, the district where the other finalist for the position, DeMolli, is director of early childhood education.
Board Trustee Theresa Minutillo was the only member who voted against the resolution, citing her disagreement with the way the superintendent search process was run.
“I believe the process as it has occurred wasn’t done properly,” she said before announcing her “no” vote.
“The board was lax in some of its due diligence. In good faith I cannot vote for this process.”
Rose Marie Markel, who has a child in Hoboken high school and is running for school board in the April elections, was at the meeting and at the superintendent forum the day before. While she said that the forum was done well, she echoed Minutillo’s concern that the search process was very short.
“Two weeks wasn’t long enough,” Markel said.
Support for a big job ahead
Though she did not agree with the decision-making process, Minutillo did say that she would support the board’s choice.
“As a [board] member, I do support the new superintendent and I will work with the new superintendent,” she said.
Trustee Magdalena Porrata said after the meeting, “I know Jack, his credentials and I fully support him and I’m sure that he will bring this district forward to where the board wants it to go.”
Board member Frank Raia addressed some parents’ concerns that Raslowsky does not have much direct experience dealing with younger children.
“I believe our early childhood program is the best in the state,” Raia said. “We need help with our middle and upper schools. That’s why I voted for Jack Raslowsky.”
A resolution appointing Patrick Gagliardi as assistant superintendent of schools from March 1 to June 30, 2007 was also approved by the board, with Minutillo again voting against that resolution. During this transitional period, which lasts from March until July, Raslowsky will earn a token salary of $1 for the whole period, and Gagliardi will continue to earn his full salary. Raslowsky will also continue in his current New York job until summer.
New principal for high school
Gagliardi has been serving double duty, as both superintendent of schools and as principal of Hoboken High School. After being sworn in on Thursday, Raslowsky said one of the first tasks he will have to tackle, with Gagliardi’s guidance, is to find a new principal.
“We’ll begin that process and I’ll take the lead in the next few weeks,” he said.
Master’s from Harvard
Raslowsky, who has a Master’s Degree in education from Harvard University, served as the principal of the well-regarded St. Peter’s Preparatory School in Jersey City for 11 years, from 1991 to 2002.
He was then appointed the provincial assistant for Education and Lay Formation of the New York Province Society of Jesus, the Jesuits. In this role, he oversaw the work of the seven Jesuit high schools and five middle schools in New York and New Jersey, and sat on the Board of Trustees of each institution.