After five nights of interviews, the Hoboken Board of Education has narrowed its search for a permanent superintendent down to four candidates and hopes to make a decision before May.
The superintendent would replace interim head Dr. Richard Brockel when his one-year contract expires at the end of June, though the school board has the option of extending Brockel’s service for another year if an acceptable successor is not selected in time.
According to school board president Ruth Tyroler, one of the surviving applicants is Dr. Miguel Hernandez, the district’s current assistant superintendent. Hernandez was hired by the previous permanent superintendent, Dr. Mark Toback, and was considered to fill the interim role after Toback took a job leading Wayne’s school district last year.
Tyroler declined to name the other finalists, explaining that several are superintendents in other districts. All the superintendent interviews and discussion by the board have taken placed in closed session.
Round after round
Advertising and initial screening interviews were conducted by R-Pat Solutions, the same Roselle Park educational consultancy that led the search that found former Superintendent Toback. R-Pat provided all of the resumes it had received to the school board, but recommended only nine candidates for a closer look.
Tyroler explained that the initial stages of the process were placed in the hands of a contractor to “ensure that we are operating in an unbiased, ethical manner.”
The board interviewed all nine recommended candidates over two meetings on Feb. 11 and 19, then held second interviews with the finalists on Feb. 24 and 26.
This past Thursday, the board was scheduled to meet again to hear a presentation from an internal candidate in the final four and discuss all the finalists, but the meeting was postponed due to snow.
“What we were looking for was what the community wanted.”—Ruth Tyroler
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Even if the new pick for superintendent is currently employed in a non-superintendent role, said Tyroler, “an ethical candidate would not leave their current employer high and dry. They would want to give notice.”
According to Tyroler, the main criteria for judging candidates are strong administrative experience, experience as a teacher, communication skills, a documented record of academic improvement in their district, and evidence of stability in prior jobs.
After neither of the past two permanent superintendents, Toback and Jack Raslowsky, lasted more than three years in Hoboken, Tyroler said the board wanted “some kind of indication that the person would be here for a longer period of time.”
The board trustees also considered the results of a public survey on superintendent selection hosted on the Board of Education website, but Tyroler said the views expressed closely mirrored the board’s own primary concerns. “The survey confirmed that what we were looking for was what the community wanted,” said Tyroler.
Mostly from Jersey
Of the nine finalists, seven hailed from New Jersey and two were out-of-staters “that were interested in relocating and particularly attracted to Hoboken because they loved the Hoboken community.”
The superintendent salary cap imposed on New Jersey school districts by Gov. Chris Christie in 2011 is still in effect, but Tyroler said it did not appear to affect Hoboken’s ability to draw quality candidates this year.
“Before they even sent in their resume to R-Pat,” she explained, “the candidates…knew exactly what our limitations were in salary…and we still got a really excellent pool of candidates.”
“The last time, the cap happened during the search,” said Tyroler, “and it did kind of change the pool because a lot of the people that were applying were already at salaries above the cap.”
For districts of Hoboken’s size, the salary cap is just over $157,000, not including merit bonuses.
As the de facto chair of the superintendent search, Tyroler said it is important to her that the final selection be unanimous.
“You want the board to give them unanimous support because you want them to feel that they have a full board that’s committed to helping them succeed,” she said.
Working together
Tyroler stressed that the selection process had unfolded without any notable friction or disagreement. “It’s just been great how the full board is working together,” she said. “There’s no sides. Everybody is there looking for a great educational leader for the district, and we’re all on the same page.”
Regarding the board working together, Tyroler said, “It’s been a pleasure for me as president to see that happening, and I’m happy because that’s what the public deserves.”
This ease may be at least partially attributable to a general consensus in educational philosophy among the board’s current members. Unlike some recent iterations of the school board, which was divided by the same political faction lines that carve Hoboken, the current board hails broadly from the same background. Six of the nine board members ran on the Kids First slates endorsed by Mayor Dawn Zimmer, and two additional members spoke broadly in favor of the current majority’s management of the district in the 2014 election and were endorsed by Zimmer and several Kids First members. Only one current member, Peter Biancamano, is not associated with either Kids First or Zimmer.
“We’re not always viewed as working together,” said Tyroler, “and I think over the last couple of months, this group is really a much more cohesive group than we’ve been in a couple of years.”
Carlo Davis may be reached at cdavis@hudsonreporter.com.