Ventnor Educational Community Complex
VENTNOR – The Board of Education Wednesday, Dec. 19 agreed to hire an outside firm to assist with its search for a new superintendent.
Superintendent Eileen Johnson announced her retirement effective June 30, 2020, and the board is seeking help to find the right candidate to replace her.
“We are doing our due diligence to find a qualified candidate whether it is in-house or from outside the district,” board President Doug Biagi said. “Because we are not experts, we agreed to hire a group to do the grunt work for us.”
Biagi said the district would not seek an interim superintendent.
“We want someone to step in as soon as possible,” he said. “Our main focus is to find the best candidate.”
Biagi said the timing is “once again not right” to share the services of a superintendent with neighboring Margate.
“You would think that with two districts so close it would make sense to combine them, but Margate won’t go down that path,” he said.
Thomas Baruffi is currently serving a two-year stint as interim superintendent in Margate while the Margate Board of Education conducts its search for a new superintendent to replace John DiNicola, who retired last year. It is likely Margate’s next superintendent will be hired in-house, Baruffi has said.
Consolidation is still on the table, Baruffi said in July, but it likely not be considered until after the district transitions to a permanent superintendent by the start of the 2020-2021 school year.
“There’s a good possibility the superintendent position will not be filled from the outside,” he said in July.
According to Business Administrator Terri Nowotny, the district received five responses to its request for proposals for companies to find candidates that can be interviewed for the post.
Responses ranged from $4,000 to $17,200.
The board selected Gary P. McCartney of GPM Educational Consulting Services for $15,000.
McCartney has conducted administrative searches in the South Brunswick, Berkeley Heights, North Brunswick, Middlesex and Atlantic City school districts according to his LinkedIn page. He was appointed by the governor to assist the Atlantic City School District, where he served for one year, from 2015-2016. He was superintendent of schools for the Parkland school district from 1992 to 2004, and the Fleetwood area school district from 1986 to 1992. He was also president of the Middle States Association Board of Trustees from 2013 to 2017 and president of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators in 2013.
In other business, the board approved a $15,000 contract for Remington & Vernick Engineers to prepare revised plans for renovations to 10 restrooms in the Ventnor Educational Community Complex, and a second contract totaling $40,000 to design HVAC improvements in five locations in the building.
The board held off approving additional engineering to replace 42 indoor ventilators at a cost of $73,000.
According to Building and Grounds Chairman Albert Battaglia, the district will wait until a new engineer is appointed to address replacement of the ventilators.
