When a young Robert Van Zanten arrived as a student in the West New York School District in 1956 along with his family, who had emigrated from Holland, little did he know that the district would be the place he would build his life, meet his wife, and start a lifelong career.
Now, he is retiring two years before the end of his contract, due to complications with Parkinson’s disease. Van Zanten is hoping that his dreams for the district will carry on even though he cannot.
“It’s been a wonderful marriage, with both my wife and the school district.” – Robert Van Zanten
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Got yelled at for holding hands
Van Zanten remembered recently that as a student at Memorial High School, he got yelled at for holding hands with the girl who would one day become his wife.
“Something that brings a smile to my face is that after 45 years, my wife and I are still living in West New York and are still involved in the school district,” he said. “It’s been a wonderful marriage, with both my wife and the school district.”
After graduating from college, he returned to West New York to begin his teaching career in 1966, educating fifth graders at the Harry L. Bain School.
He continued working in the district for 28 years before moving on to other districts, including Riverdale, Garfield, and Yorktown, N.Y. He finally returned to work in the district in January of 2007 as superintendent.
Van Zanten will now head to Florida with his wife to begin the retired life, but they will maintain a place in West New York so they can come back to visit their family and their town.
Proud accomplishments
“I’m most proud that we were able to turn around districts that were good districts but had lost the edge,” said Van Zanten last week. “It’s like being able to build a vision and see it come alive.”
Van Zanten said that he is proud of the results of evaluations such as the NJQSAC (the New Jersey Quality Single Accountability Continuum, a monitoring and evaluation system that focuses on the day to day operations of NJ public school districts). The district passed “with flying colors” on its first try, and has been honored as a high performing school district by the New Jersey Commissioner of Education, Van Zanten said.
As for the financial part of his job, Van Zanten said that the last three audits came back without any recommendations because everything was being done properly.
Additionally, he said that improvement in the districts’ participation in “SEMI” or the Special Education Medicaid Initiative has helped the districts’ financial outlook. Under his leadership, the district has attained 100 percent participation in the program, a Medicare-funded reimbursement program from the federal government for special education services.
Hopes for the future
As he moves on from his post, Van Zanten hopes to see completion of the brand new No. 3 School (which he said is currently 95 percent completed). Students are expected to occupy the building by the middle of next year.
With one construction project wrapping up, he would like to see work on the expansion of Memorial High School into the old St. Joseph’s High School building next door.
Van Zanten said that the expansion will be a tremendous asset to West New York students by giving them the facility size needed to continue with the planned creation of a “learning center,” which will provide high school students the opportunity to specialize in areas such as medicine or engineering as they advance into junior year.
“My best time as was as principal of the high school,” said Van Zanten, who was once principal of Memorial High School. “When I was here the first time around as a high school principal, we did a good job in a difficult situation. Memorial has always had a special place in my heart.”
Lana Rose Diaz can be reached at ldiaz@hudsonreporter.com.