SECAUCUS – The nine-member Board of Education is expected to vote on a new principal tonight for Secaucus High School.
Three finalists for the position will be interviewed in a closed session before a vote will be taken.
The candidate selected will replace current Secaucus High School Principal Deidre Ertle, who will retire on Sept. 20 after 31 years with the school district.
School board trustees have already selected Acting Secaucus Middle School Principal Robert Daniello to continue in the position permanently.
According to one source, the school district received more than 80 applications for the two positions. Semi-finalists for the positions were selected by Schools Superintendent Cynthia Randina and her administration.
The new hires are the second personnel changes the two schools have seen in the past two years. Before the 2009-2010 school year began, Randina shifted three of the four principals in the school district. Ertle, who had previously been principal of Clarendon School, became high school principal.
Former High School Principal Pat Impreveduto was made principal of Secaucus Middle School. Former Middle School head Pasquale Cocucci took over as principal at Clarendon.
Huber Street’s Fred Ponti was the only principal not affected in the shuffle.
Just days into the fall term, however, Impreveduto – who reportedly did not like his reassignment to the middle school – was allegedly injured in a slip and fall accident at work. He spent the next several months out on sick leave and workers compensation, although he continued to attend Township Committee meetings in Holmdel, where he serves as deputy mayor.
Randina appointed Daniello as acting principal at the middle school in Impreveduto’s place. Impreveduto eventually resigned from the school district in March. – E. Assata Wright
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