District hires 3 administrators
Three school board members question experience of new elementary school principal
A batch of new hires was approved by the North Penn School District’s school board last week, including two new elementary school principals and a new business office administrator.
New Oak Park Elementary School Principal Lynne Millard, A. M. Kulp Elementary Principal Cristina Carter and Assistant Business Manager Kristin Johnson were all approved by the board on Nov. 26.
“We have exceptionally strong candidates. I’m very pleased to present them to you for consideration, and I have full confidence in their ability to lead,” said Superintendent Curt Dietrich.
Those three were among a list of 27 new hires, 11 resignations, four retirements and several dozen substitute teacher and tutor hires recommended by staff. The list was approved by a 6-3 board vote after a lengthy debate on whether to break out the hiring of Carter from the others.
School board member Ed Diasio made a motion to separate Carter’s from the others and said it was not due to any issue with the candidate herself but rather with what he termed a difficult situation she would be entering.
“I think Kulp is a very, very challenging administrative assignment for anybody, any day of the week,” Diasio said.
According to biographical information provided by the school district, Carter has previously worked in the Upper Darby School District as districtwide instructional coach of reading, high school department chair of reading and a high school reading specialist.
Before then, she had worked as an art educator at William C. Bryant Promise Academy and John Barry Elementary School in Philadelphia and had worked as the seventh-grade STEM science educator at Toby Farms Intermediate School in the Chester Upland School District. Carter earned her Bachelor of Science in education from Temple University in January 2012 and her Master’s of Education from Cabrini University in 2015 and earned her principal certification from the University of Pennsylvania in 2018, according to the district.
“My concern in not against the nominee at all. It’s based on what I perceive as a very significant lack of experience for that position,” said board member Terry Prykowski.
Board President Tina Stoll said she was on an internal committee that helped vet staff recommendations for the new hires and said seeing that “really enlightened me to what a really good process we go through when we hire somebody.”
“It gave me a lot of confidence, too, that this is a qualified candidate. And I am quite confident that she will do an excellent job for the school,” Stoll said.
Board member Jonathan Kassa said he’d support the staff recommendations “out of a sign of respect, not only to the candidates and the process, but as a sign of 100 percent confidence in our administration.”
Member Christian Fusco said in his own nearly two decades as an educator, he has worked with “I couldn’t even count how many” other administrators and said it counted heavily for him to see that Carter was “an educator of educators” in her prior posts.
“Given her background and where she worked, she has experience working with diverse populations of students, ethnically, culturally, racially, socio-economically,” he said.
“That’s something that, in my opinion, should be very important to the Kulp community, at this point, given the changing demographics of this school district and Kulp, in particular, over time,” he said.
Board member Jenna Ott said she tries not to use age as a criteria when making personnel decisions, as she is one of the youngest members of the school board, but said she was wary of putting a first-time principal in a challenging situation.
“I am a little concerned that we are not setting this person up for the success this person deserves to have,” she said.
Assistant Superintendent Jenna Rufo said five of the district’s current elementary principals went directly from teaching positions, and Carter received her recommendations through several rounds of interviews.
“I would not be sitting here today saying this to you, or supporting the candidate, had I not felt she was qualified at every level of the process,” Rufo said.
Director of Human Resources Cheryl McCue said that process started with a pool of 64 applicants, whom staff narrowed down to a top 20 who were then narrowed down through interviews, background and reference checks and performance evaluations at their current roles.
“The strength and equity and inclusive practices she brings to the district and the focus on diversity, is a lens I think we need. Our administrative team was very convinced and took all measures into consideration in making this recommendation to the board,” she said.
Diasio made a motion to amend the personnel list to withdraw that one nomination from the remaining list, and Prykowski and Ott cast the only other votes in support. Those three then abstained from the subsequent vote on the full personnel list, with Prykowski citing the presence of a relative elsewhere on the list.
According to biographies provided by the district, Millard has worked in the School District of Philadelphia for 30 years, including most recently as principal of Kennedy C. Crossan Academics Plus Elementary School since 2009. Prior to that post, she worked as assistant principal for Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary School for three years and for 18 years as a fourth-grade teacher, learning community coordinator, administrative liaison and Title 1 Program Support Teacher at John B. Kelly Elementary School.
Millard earned her Bachelor’s of Science in elementary education from West Chester University in 1988 and her Master’s of Education from Cabrini College in 2008 and holds a K-12 Principal certification from Cheyney University and a Superintendent Letter of Eligibility from St. Joseph’s University.
Johnson worked most recently as the Downingtown Area School District’s financial operations and analysis supervisor since 2015 and had previously worked as a capital asset accountant and internal audit manager at the University of Montana. Before entering the education field, Johnson worked for over a decade in finance posts for companies including the Dollar Financial Group, Amerigas Propane and Maillie Falconiero & Co. LLP. She has earned a Bachelor’s of Science degree in business administration from Bloomsburg University and a Master’s of Business Administration from the University of Montana and expects to complete a Master’s of Science in school business leadership in spring 2019, according to the district.
Johnson’s official start date in the district business office will be Dec. 20, while Carter and Millard will start at their respective schools “in the coming months,” according to the district.
All three declined to comment after the board meeting.
North Penn’s school board next meets at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 3 at the district Educational Services Center, 401 E. Hancock St. For more information, visit www.Npenn.org.