Long Hill Superintendent Search Dashboard

Round 2 interviews have been completed.  Candidates were informed as to whether they would  move to the next(last) round or not.  The committee and the Board of Education as a whole are committed to selecting a Superintendent by the April Board meeting.

This is the last update.  Watch for the April agenda.

Round 2 interviews are scheduled to be in-person and scheduled for between March 1 and March 7.

The committee projects to determine the Round 3 candidates by March 10.

On January 30, the Search Committee began Round 1 interviews. If the schedule can hold, Round 1 should be completed by February 3.

During the week of February 6, the committee will meet to discuss which applicants shall continue to Round 2 and those who will not.

All applicants will be notified personally if they move to Round 2 or not.

Round 2 schedule has yet to be settled.

The goal still remains to hire a Superintendent for Long Hill Township by July 1.

The application window closed on Monday, January 16 at noon.  The final total of applicants was 38.

Our pool is composed of superintendents, assistant superintendent, principals, directors, and supervisors.  It is a very “rich” pool.

On Tuesday, January 17, the committee conferenced with Charlene Petersen, our New Jersey School Board representative, to review applicants.  Prior to this session, the list was divided up amongst the committee. Each committee member was charged to take a “deep dive” into the entire application submitted for the applicants they were assigned. The entire application contains several sections: resume, education history, job history, resume, letter of Interest, certifications, responses to 4 encompassing questions, as well as responses to several questions regarding general background personal information.

A preliminary list of interviewees for the first round was compiled as a result of this discussion with Charlene. On Jan 23, 2023, the committee will meet to finalize the list of first round interviewees.

First round questions have been finalized.  Input from our survey and meetings with staff and administration helped formulate the final set of questions.

Since the application went active on December 1, 2022, applications have been received from acting superintendent, directors of certain offices in a school district and others.

The committee is meeting December 21, 2022, to develop the questions to be used in the first round of interviews.  

Dr. Rene Rovtar, our interim Superintendent has been attending Board committee meetings to get up to date information for her transition.  She has also had several meetings with Dr. Anne Mucci and everything is on schedule for a seamless transition.

Dr. Rene Rovtar, retired Superintendent of Montville School District and former Superintendent of Long Hill Township, was approved last night by the Board of Education as the Interim Superintendent for Long Hill.

Dr. Rovtar was not only a former Superintendent of the district, she is a product of the Long Hill school district.  Her breadth of experience as a superintendent, business administrator, and teacher will be of great benefit to the district during this transition.  Her contract will run from January 2, 2023 to June 30, 2023 with a salary of $600/day.  Per the contract approved by the county, she will only be paid for days she works.There are no other benefits associated with her employment.

Committees have been meeting and Dr. Rovtar has been at many of the sessions and she has already begun transition work with Dr. Mucci.  All activity points to a smooth carryover.

Additionally, the Search Committee met on December 1 and reviewed the survey results.  From those results, categories of questions were determined and work is beginning to formulate the questions.  These initial questions will be used for the first round candidates.  Subsequently in the second round, the subjects will be used to develop more detailed, in depth questions.  During the first round, all candidates must be asked the exact same questions(by law).  In the second round, the committee will have more latitude and can tailor questions to the candidates previous responses and areas we want to investigate further.  The committee will meet again December 20 to review the suggested round 1 questions.

The ad for the superintendent went live on December 1, 2022 and will remain active until it closes on January 17, 2023.  

During this initial stage of the Superintendent Search, the committee has been gathering input  from staff, the school community, administrators and the community in general, who “opted in “. The committee has also been hard at work to hire an exceptional interim Superintendent.  A contract has been negotiated and is for review by the County Executive Superintendent.  It must be approved at the county level to be able to become effective.  All is going well for a December 5 announcement of our interim Superintendent.

As the information from the input sessions has come in, the committee has discussed what was noted and reviewed the ad.  We wanted to make sure that the experience and traits that were identified were reflected in the ad.  This review will continue until the survey is closed.

The committee plans to meet the week of November 28 to finalize the job advertisement which will be uploaded to the New Jersey School Boards website(NJSBA). The ad will be published on their website which reaches every county in New Jersey.  Also the ad will be advertised on their social media outlets as well as to their links with school boards across the country Again, the job will be advertised from December 1, 2022 until January 16, 2023.

During that time period, the committee will be using the information received from the input sessions to formulate the questions which will be asked of our first round candidates.  It has to be understood that the committee is committed to hiring the absolute best.  Only candidates whose resumes and additional information reflect what we need and want, will be asked for a first round interview.

At this juncture, I have to reiterate that should our initial pool of candidates not meet the criteria of the committee, the search will be suspended.

Should we have a first round of interviews, they will most likely be conducted the week of January 23, 2023.  

Another update will be available December 5, 2022.

The Long Hill Township Board of Education (BOE) has formed a Superintendent Search Committee.   The Committee members are: Karen Nyquist (BOE Search Committee Chair), Kim Case (BOE President), Ann Butler (BOE Vice-President), and Katie McLennan (BOE member).

Several activities are already underway.The Committee has advertised and is in the process of hiring an Interim Superintendent.  The Committee has enlisted assistance from the New Jersey School Boards Association (“NJSBA”) for our superintendent search. NJSBA will help the Committee formulate the final position advertisement, post the position opening on their website and social media, compile candidate applications, review the applications and provide ongoing consultation until the new superintendent is hired.

In the coming weeks, the Committee will be reaching out to the school community, faculty and administration. It is important to know what District stakeholders want in their next superintendent.  That input is necessary to formulate those very important questions for the interviews.  

The application is going to be available on-line from December 1, 2022 to January 15, 2023 through the New Jersey School Board Association portal. Once the window closes, the applications will be reviewed.  If there are viable candidates, they will be selected for a first round interview.  Once completed, a selected few may be chosen for a second round interview.  At the end of the second round, two to three candidates may be selected to return for a third or last round interview.  The first two rounds of interviews are conducted by the Committee and the last round is handled by the entire Board.

 At any stage, i.e., the initial application review and the completion of the second and third round interviews, the search process may be stopped.  It is the goal of this Committee to hire the best candidate: one who meets the criteria defined by the school community, staff and administration. If no such candidate rises to the top, the search will be suspended and the Board will decide when to reinitiate the search.

The public will be kept updated on the committee’s progress through bi-weekly postings on the district website. 

Thank you for your support and patience during this process.