BY LAYLI WHYTE
Staff Writer

RED BANK — The borough Board of Education was expected to hire a consultant this week to help in the search for the district’s new superintendent of schools.

The board interviewed a consultant last week and was expected to vote to hire the consultant at Tuesday’s board meeting, according to board member Barbara Horl.

District Superintendent Dr. John Krewer tendered his resignation last month to take a position as superintendent in the Spotswood School District, Middlesex County.

Krewer has been with the district for three years of a five-year contract.

His resignation will become official in mid-January, giving the board two-and-a-half months to find a replacement.

Red Bank Board of Education member David Tarver said at the Nov. 8 board meeting that he was disappointed that the board hadn’t been prepared to hire the consultant sooner.

“We need to engage any consultant to facilitate the board’s process,” he said, “especially if we’re acting as a committee of the whole to avoid any unfruitful discussion. There has been a recent example in town of boards who are unable to come together for a single purpose.”

Tarver said that although some board members believe that because so much work had gone into the superintendent search three years ago, which brought Krewer to the district, the board could just modify that process.

He said that others believe the process should start from scratch.

“We need to engage a consultant from the very beginning of the process,” said Tarver.

He also stressed the importance of reaching out to the community for input, which is what the board did three years ago.

“Sixty-six percent of students in this district are from Latino families,” he said, “and we don’t have a single Latino person on this board.”

The district has about 770 students in the primary and middle schools.

Board President Janet Jones said that although the board is disappointed by Krewer’s departure, they appreciate the work he has done for the district during his three years there.

“We wouldn’t be where we are if it weren’t for him,” she said in an interview last week.

She said the board will take its time finding a replacement that will meet the current needs of the district.

“The first step is to figure out what sort of leadership we want at this point,” she said, “and we’re developing a process for getting that leadership.”

Jones said that the district is in the third year of its five-year plan for improvement, and that reevaluating the plan could very well be a step in choosing a new superintendent.

“We know what leadership it took to get us where we are now,” she said. “Now it’s time to figure out the kind of leadership that we need to get us where we want to go, because the reality is that there are not a lot of Dr. Krewers in the marketplace.”

Jones said that the five-year plan has provided a structure which has, so far, delivered results and the district has made tremendous progress.

“That progress didn’t grow up out of the Board of Education,” she said. “It grew up out of everyone in those buildings. It grew up out of the staff and teachers and students and community.”

If the board moves too hastily in choosing Krewer’s successor, said Jones, it could put that progress in jeopardy.

According to Horl, who gave a report for the personnel committee, financial issues must be discussed simultaneously with the search for Krewer’s replacement.

“The fiscal environment is important because it’s one of the reasons we’re going to have to take this action to begin with,” said Horl.

Krewer has said his resignation is due to discontent over the financial strain put on the district by several factors. Those include, he said, S-1701, new legislation that puts limits on school budgets, and a $1.5 million transfer student payment to the Red Bank Charter School.

The board is already beginning the process of creating the budget for the 2006-2007 school year, with Krewer’s help.