Schools

Englewood BOE Appoints Assistant Superintendent

Former Paterson principal and assistant superintendent Michele James will serve in the role through the end of the current school year.

The Englewood Board of Education voted Thursday to appoint a new assistant superintendent.

Michele James, who has served as a principal and an assistant superintendent in Paterson, where she has worked throughout her entire career, was appointed by an 8-1 vote to serve in the role from Dec. 10, 2012 through June 30, 2013. James will be paid an annual salary of $145,000, which will be prorated.

Superintendent Donald Carlisle said the search for an assistant superintendent has been an ongoing process since he arrived in the district, and that he interviewed five of 14 external candidates and the only internal candidate for the job.

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He said he liked the fact that James comes to Englewood with both elementary and secondary experience, and that she has been an assistant superintendent in a large school system with multiple high schools and multiple elementary schools.

“Experience matters,” Carlisle said. “I think it’s everything, in fact. We’re not in a position here in Englewood to necessarily groom.”

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He also said he believes James will fit in with the administrative team and have a positive relationship with the unions, calling her “fundamentally fair.”

“The fact that she’s a female certainly helps me in terms of [providing] some balance, and the fact that she’s African-American and certainly can relate to all students I think gives balance as well,” Carlisle said before the school board voted on James’s appointment, adding that if approved, one of her major areas of focus would be on curriculum.

Former school board member and longtime Englewood resident David Matthews criticized the board for not recruiting people from higher performing districts like Ridgewood or Tenafly.

“Paterson is one of the worst school districts in the state,” he said. “I can’t blame Patterson’s woes on one person, but I just think that we need to start looking for not only administrators, but instructors from very high-performing districts.”

After the vote, James thanked Carlisle and the school board for “having faith” in her and said she was “excited and really happy to be on board.” She also responded to Matthews’ remarks, saying she didn’t take them personally.

“I just want to assure you that I have a proven track record as a building principal, as well as an assistant superintendent,” James said. “And your comment about bringing someone here from Ridgewood, I can tell you right now, you can take a teacher from Ridgewood and try to put them in Paterson; they don’t have the issues that we have in a district like Paterson.”

She added that she would help move the district forward through “dedication, hard work, perseverance and accountability.”

“If you have someone who’s coming from a district like Paterson that’s been able to improve student achievement at an accelerated rate, you have an asset,” James said.

Carlisle emphasized a need for stability, something he said James would bring to the district.

“I think it begins with people who really like working in the community,” he said. “It’s diverse; it has challenges. It’s not for the light-hearted, and we knew that coming in. But I want someone who wants to be here, and I can tell you right now that Dr. James wants to be here.”

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