BARNEGAT – As the Barnegat Township School District searches for its next superintendent, district officials say the search process will emphasize community input, careful vetting and transparency, while some residents are calling for an even greater role in selecting the district’s next educational leader.
The Board of Education formally announced in May that Superintendent Dr. Brian Latwis would resign effective June 30 to accept the superintendent’s position in Ocean City. Board President Scott Sarno said the board moved quickly to identify an interim leader after learning of Latwis’ departure because state law requires every district to have a superintendent in place.
According to Sarno, the district posted the interim position for approximately 10 days and received six applications from candidates with varying levels of administrative experience. After reviewing the applicants, the board interviewed two candidates who had previously served as superintendents before selecting veteran educator Kevin J. Carroll.
Sarno said the board wanted to ensure a smooth transition rather than have a new administrator assume leadership without first becoming familiar with the district. “You wouldn’t want somebody to walk in and take over our district without even being familiar with our staff, our schools, or anything else,” Sarno said. “So, we wanted somebody to be able to shadow Dr. Latwis for the month that he’s here.”
Because Latwis remained superintendent through June 30, the district could not legally appoint Carroll as superintendent immediately. Instead, county officials recommended creating a temporary interim assistant superintendent position for June, allowing Carroll to work alongside Latwis before officially assuming the superintendent’s duties on July 1.
According to information submitted to the district, Carroll has spent 26 years in education, including 14 as a chief school administrator. His experience includes service as a teacher, curriculum supervisor, principal and superintendent, as well as military and community service.
“I have come to believe that a child’s education is a shared vision that is developed, implemented and evaluated by parents, educational professionals, community members, and the child,” Carroll wrote. “This team has the emotional, social, and academic resources each other needs to succeed. My job as the chief education officer is to recognize the potential in all participants and foster the countless connections that can develop.”
Board officials emphasized that Carroll’s role is temporary. “The one that is active that we chose as a board has retired,” Sarno told residents during a recent board meeting. “He will be here until we pick a permanent superintendent. He has not applied for it. He did not because he cannot. He’s retired.”
Sarno also said Carroll will not participate in selecting the next superintendent or in filling other major administrative vacancies, including the district’s director of curriculum and instruction position, currently held on an interim basis by Helen Payne, or the Robert L. Horbelt School principal following Dr. Joseph Saxton’s retirement. Those decisions will be left to the district’s next permanent superintendent.
Community Input
With Carroll serving only as a bridge during the transition, the Board of Education has already begun searching for a permanent superintendent.
The district received 20 applications by the May 29 deadline, although board members intentionally delayed reviewing the resumes until they first gathered feedback from parents, staff, students and residents regarding the qualities they want in the district’s next educational leader.
A special board meeting included two members of the Jersey School Boards Association (NJSBA) who explained the search process for a new superintendent. “You will literally be wedded to this person for the next three to five years,” said Mary Ann Friedman, Senior Field Service Representative with the NJSBA, noting that superintendent contracts must run for a minimum of three years and no more than five years.
NJSBA representatives said superintendent compensation must be comparable to administrators in districts with similar enrollment, credentials and challenges. According to the presentation, the average superintendent salary in Ocean County is $198,019.95, while the average salary in county K-12 districts is $216,205.11. Barnegat’s current superintendent salary is $187,938.
The board’s search committee consists of Board President Scott Sarno, Vice President Doreen Continanza, Lauren Washburn and Carol Geene. Sarno said the committee was selected in part because of the members’ varied professional backgrounds.
Sarno noted that Geene previously served as a regional human resources executive for the U.S. Postal Service. Washburn has spent her career in higher education and currently works in adult education. Sarno himself is a certified K-6 teacher who taught for six years and later served as an administrator in the private sector. Continanza previously worked as an assistant to superintendents in multiple school districts.
(Photo by Stephanie Faughnan)
The search calendar calls for the committee to review stakeholder input and applications through mid-to-late June. First-round interviews and narrowing of the candidate pool are expected to begin in early July, followed by second-round interviews later that month. The full Board of Education is expected to interview finalists in August before selecting one candidate.
Contract negotiations and review by the Executive County Superintendent would occur at the end of August, with the board expected to publicly approve a new superintendent in September. Because most administrators are contractually required to provide 60 to 90 days’ notice before leaving their current positions, officials said a permanent superintendent may not begin work until October.
A couple of parents questioned why teachers, parents and community members could not participate directly in candidate interviews.
Resident Liz Bacskai cited the superintendent search process used in Little Egg Harbor and urged the board to consider a similar approach. “You guys are the ones in charge. You guys get to select your community members, but put some more stakeholder involvement in there,” Bacskai said.
Friedman responded that confidentiality requirements limit direct public participation in interviews. “The board is the only entity that’s authorized by state, by statute, and code to appoint the next superintendent,” Friedman said. “The candidates who apply to us for our superintendent searches know that we really rely on confidentiality.”
Information gathered through stakeholder surveys has already been incorporated into the district’s Superintendent Candidate Profile, which officials said will serve as a roadmap as board members begin interviews this summer. The district expects to identify finalists in August, with a new superintendent potentially taking office as early as October, depending on contractual obligations in the candidate’s current district.
