Mendham, Mtn. Lakes Administrators Vie for West Morris Central Principal Spot

The West Morris Regional Board of Education hosted a public forum at on Thursday night that allowed members of the public to ask questions and meet the two candidates for the school’s open principal position.

The two candidates—Bill Carpluk, a 10-year assistant principal at West Morris Mendham, and Steve Ryan, who is in his fifth year as an assistant principal at Mountain Lakes High School—each spent an hour introducing themselves to the parents, faculty, and administrators that packed West Morris Central’s school library for the event.

Either candidate, if chosen to be the school’s next principal, will be filling the shoes of long-time West Morris Principal Dr. Michael Reilly. Reilly retired following the 2008-09 school year, and handed the position of principal temporarily to long-time assistant principal Gil Moscatello. This was done in order to ease the transition as the school searched for its next long-term principal.

“I spent 41 years of my life here, I want the school to be handed off correctly and properly, and that’s why I had no problem with staying on the extra year of working with the board and making sure this was done properly,” said Moscatello.

“Part of my close-out would be to help mentor whoever comes in. Whoever comes in, I could work with them in traditions of the school, expectations of kids, and expectations of staff,” continued Moscatello. “There’s a lot that goes into it, (as well as) our own rules and regulations, so the transition from Dr. Reilly and Mr. Moscatello to the new person is smooth and that it works best and efficiently for kids, the educational programs stay intact, and our school life and school community maintains its high level.”

The selected candidate enters into a school that is doing fairly well considering the economic climate, but is not without its issues. Chief among them is the fact that the district’s teachers are approaching the two-year mark without a contract. Both candidates expressed his concerns on the matter.

“It does have an affect on faculty and faculty morale. The approach when you’re meeting with faculty is that they have a job to do in classroom, the students come first, and to try everything you can to keep morale up as they enter,” said Carpluk. “I can’t bring negativity into a faculty meeting or during conversations that you have with them when talking about instruction and what needs to be done. You need to be cognizant about it, but I wouldn’t open a faculty meeting with that discussion. It has been hard for teachers, but they have to keep the faith and realize that they are doing an excellent job and separate the economics and business end of it from the educational end of things.”

Ryan's thoughts were similar to Carpluk, saying, “Everyone that comes to education comes customarily with a desire to help our young people grow and become as highly-developed young adults as they can be. If we’re being mindful of that objective, there’s a lot of inspiration intrinsic to that. That doesn’t mean to say that it’s easy for our educators when they go subsequent years without increasing their earnings.”

Each candidate brings a different method to the table when it comes to getting the most out of students and helping West Morris continue to provide a quality education for its students.

“SAT scores and those types of things are one measurement, but other things, like involvement that kids have in activities (is important),” said Carpluk. “I also think that the amount of rigor that’s available to kids (is a measurement of success), as we begin to see more students in more rigorous programs, I think that’s a measure of where we should be at.”

Ryan, on the other hand, believes that building a foundation for success begins with developing relationships with all within the school community.

“Fundamental to the success of students in this building is understanding what’s going on each and every day, so my first task and number one priority would be to get to know all of the kids and the staff, and what their practices are, day in and day out,” said Ryan. “From there, we collaborate together to decide what the future of our school is. When you bring people together, and as I understand, they have been working together to identify future goals and move collectively toward those goals, then you realize a model for schooling that everyone endeavors to achieve.”

Both candidates were generally well-received by the public in attendance, even though their styles differed in certain areas.

“I thought both candidates tonight did an outstanding job presenting different qualities that they have, and I think either candidate will be an excellent addition to this school,” said Dan Moylan, a Washington Township resident and parent of a West Morris Central student. “Both showed their passion for education, which I think is really important, but their core values of teaching and learning I think are extremely important. Both bring different styles, but both are innovative, with certainly a strong passion for learning.”

The Board of Education will now decide which candidate is the best fit to be the principal of West Morris Central, which, according to District Superintendent Anthony di Battista, will not be an easy decision.

“What I promised to the Board of Education was that we were going to bring them two excellent candidates, and that’s what happened this evening,” said diBattista. “The board is going to meet both this evening and perhaps early next week and finalize the decision, based on the various strengths that both of these candidates would bring to the position.”