West Milford begins search for new schools superintendent as budget woes continue
West Milford school board members last week agreed to pay a consultant $10,000 to find the district's next superintendent.
With current Superintendent Alex Anemone set to leave the district in June after seven years, board members hired Kathleen Helewa to find a replacement. Helewa, a Warren resident, was until recently the senior manager of the New Jersey School Boards Association's Field Services Department, which also offers superintendent search services.
William Cytowicz, a school board member, said stability in the superintendent's role will be important for the district's future success. It will be key to find someone focused on student advocacy, community engagement and strategic planning, he said.
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The last element could prove vital as the district continues to struggle with finances amid a string of state aid cuts. The 2023-24 school year budget adopted this week is 2.5% higher than the current school year's. Enrollment, meanwhile, is expected to drop 3%.
The projected increased in spending is due in part to a $1.2 million reduction in state aid and an expected $1.7 million increase in the cost of employee benefits, district officials said. The result is a nearly 4.5% increase in the town's school tax levy needed to support the 2023-24 budget, officials said. That amounts to a $235 increase in the property tax bill for the town's average home, assessed at $242,700.
Terry Dwyer, a board trustee who voted against the budget's adoption, criticized the administration for eliminating staff in the high school and failing to see through a redistricting effort that would dovetail with the repurposing of Westbrook Elementary School for special needs instruction later this year. Aside from Anemone's pending departure, Elizabeth McQuaid, the district's director of special services, left the district at the end of 2022.
Residents have also criticized the budget proposal, with some parents particularly discouraged by a plan to cut more than 20 positions across the district. Among them are five teaching positions at the high school, two at the middle school and six in the elementary schools, records show. The elementary school cuts are an offshoot of the board's decision to repurpose Westbrook and consolidate the district's elementary students at five schools.
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Anemone is due to start in Ridgefield on July 1. That four-school district has about 1,550 students and a $45 million annual budget. Before taking the helm in West Milford for the 2016-17 school year, Anemone was the superintendent for the Butler school district.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: West Milford school board begins search for new superintendent
