Board begins superintendent search, seeks community input
LAWRENCE » The search for a new superintendent has begun.
The Lawrence Township Board of Education has awarded a $22,900 contract to Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates to help the district find a permanent schools chief to lead the district.
Parents, staff, community members and students are requested to take an online survey to help the school board and HYA search firm determine the desired characteristics in Lawrence Township’s next superintendent of schools.
Former superintendent Crystal Edwards retired from Lawrence Public Schools effective March 30 to begin working in her higher-paying job down South. The Lynchburg City Schools in Virginia hired Edwards as superintendent effective April 1.
Lynchburg is paying Edwards $190,000 per year to serve as schools chief from now till June 30, 2021, according to her contract. That represents a 13 percent pay increase from the $167,500 annual salary that Edwards collected when she worked as superintendent here in Lawrence. She will presumably collect monthly New Jersey pension payments while working full time in Virginia.
In May 2016, the Lawrence Township Education Association drafted a letter revealing that a majority of LTEA members supported a vote of no confidence in Edwards’ leadership.
“Dr. Edwards exhibits a generic lack of interest in students and staff,” reads a portion of the LTEA letter dated May 26, 2016. “The superintendent is not a visible presence in the district — it is deeply disappointing that the educational leader is seldom seen with students in an educational setting nor seen in the buildings other than the occasional five minute walk-throughs of classrooms.”
The LTEA’s leadership wanted Edwards to address eight key areas of concern and said that “perhaps Lawrence Township is not the place for her” if she did not share LTEA’s vision for how to improve the relationship between district schoolteachers and Edwards’ administration.
When the Lynchburg City School Board officially appointed Edwards in January, Karl Loos, president of the Lynchburg Education Association, greeted Edwards with pleasantries and told her that “the association has had a very successful working relationship with our superintendents in the past, including monthly meetings, having an ongoing dialogue that results in solutions that impact the entire division as well as specific worksites, and we look forward to continuing that tradition.”
Edwards has served as superintendent of Lawrence Township Public Schools from September 2011 till her retirement on March 30. Overall, she clocked in 30 years of public service as a New Jersey public educator. Some of her career highlights include presiding over Lawrence Public Schools when it was named a National District of Character in 2014 and successfully orchestrating a voter-approved referendum in January that will provide over $25 million in district-wide school improvements.
With Edwards out, the township’s school district is currently being led by Acting Superintendent Andrew Zuckerman, who will serve in that role pending the Board of Education’s search for a full-time superintendent. Zuckerman was serving as director of instructional services before getting tapped to lead the district in an acting capacity.
The HYA search firm has already begun advertising the Lawrence Public Schools superintendent positon in hopes of attracting highly qualified candidates to apply for the job.
“Situated in the heart of Central New Jersey, Lawrence Township Public Schools serve a diverse population of 3,900 students in seven schools,” the search firm says in its superintendent job ad. “In close proximity to Princeton University, Rider University, The College of New Jersey and Mercer County College, the district and the community enjoy the many benefits of these institutions.”
Candidates are asked to apply by June 4 for the superintendent position that could be filled as soon as July 1. The next permanent superintendent of Lawrence Public Schools could potentially earn much more than the $167,500 annual salary that Edwards collected here.
The superintendent job ad says the successful candidate could get paid an annual salary up to $191,584 with a possible bonus option.
Lawrence school community members and property owners are asked to go to the Lawrence Township Public Schools website at www. ltps.org to take the online superintendent search survey.