Albrizio to retire from RBRHS
Board will begin search; new principal expected by February
BY LAYLI WHYTE
Staff Writer

LITTLE SILVER — C. Arthur Albrizio got a different perspective on the high school he has worked at for three decades when his son attended Red Bank Regional (RBR) High School.

Although Albrizio lives with his wife of 34 years in Oceanport, which is outside of RBR’s sending districts, his son, Christopher, graduated from the school in 1996.

“The significance of my son attending this school is that when I just worked here, I only saw the school through the eyes of an administrator,” said Albrizio, who will retire Sept. 5 after 30 years at RBR, seven of those as principal.

“Now, I was seeing it through the eyes of a parent. It changed my perception. Not for better or worse, but more realistically.”

He said that listening to his son and his son’s friends sitting around talking about the school really gave him a sense of how the students viewed their education.

When he succeeded Robert Nogueira as principal, Albrizio made it his mission to listen to all of the school’s stakeholders, including the students.

He started meeting regularly with a subcommittee of the student council for breakfast and would ask them for input about the school.

That’s what started the once-a-marking-period buffet breakfast for select students.

Students on the subcommittee told Albrizio that they were tired of athletes getting all the recognition, so the breakfast, held during second period, was for students who had achieved perfect attendance during that marking period, had made the honor roll, or were recognized, based on teacher recommendation, as the most improved student in the class.

“We had breakfasts for over 500 students,” said Albrizio. “The kids encouraged us to do positive things, not just the negative things.”

Albrizio said he doesn’t regret a minute of his long career at the school.

“I couldn’t see myself working anywhere else,” he said last week. “To me, this always felt right.”

Principal since 1998, Albrizio started at the school in the 1970s as a guidance counselor. He also headed the administrative team at the school, as well as being the director of pupil personnel services, and overseeing special education and guidance.

At the end of this, his final year at the school, Albrizio said that he can leave the school on a high note, with student attendance, advanced placement scores and High School Proficiency Assessment scores all going up, and the drop-out rate having been cut in half.

This summer, he has seen the Summer Leadership Institute debut, in

which students can set personal, academic and physical goals.

“It’s for kids who have potential,” he said, “but need a little encouragement to improve their academic standing.”

For all that Albrizio has given to the school, he feels the school has given so much more to him.

“I think being in this environment,” he said, “has made me more aware of the culture of this country, because we are a microcosm.”

Albrizio said that he now better understands the plight of the disadvantaged, and that has made him more well rounded.

“I’ve learned more from the students than they’ve learned from me,” he said. “I’ve learned that you have to sit and talk to someone before making a judgment.

“You see every kind of kid here. Every one of them has a niche.”

Albrizio said he had an excellent school handed over to him by Nogueira and Dr. Donald Warner, the former superintendent, and that he focused on the work they had begun.

“Success begets success,” he said.

Albrizio lists both Nogueira and Warner as among the influences in his career at RBR.

“This was not a school in need of fixing,” said Albrizio.

He said that although the school district’s needs are changing and evolving, he does believe that the future of public schools is uncertain.

“To fund a quality education,” he said, “should be a priority over some of the other things we spend money on, both personally and governmentally.”

Dr. Edward Westervelt, superintendent of RBR, sent out a press release last week announcing Albrizio’s retirement.

“The hallmark of Art Albrizio’s principalship at RBR has been his visibility and connection to students,” Westervelt said in the press release. “He remarkably knows the first name of almost the entire student body (nearly 1,200 students).

“While the nature of the principal’s position frequently led to many difficult decisions, nearly every student, parent and teacher has respected his judgment and sincerity.

“Commencement ceremonies in the past were often delayed by seniors posing for pictures with Art, warmly embracing him before their departure from Red Bank Regional,” Westervelt said.

The RBR Board of Education will begin the search for a new principal, and one is expected to be in place by Feb. 1.

An interim principal will be appointed shortly.

Albrizio said that although he is retiring from educational work, he will be working full time in September helping to manage a construction company.

“I can’t sit still,” he said. “This job will give me nights and weekends off, which, as a principal, you don’t get. I want more free time.”

Albrizio’s educational background includes undergraduate work and a bachelor of arts degree from Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey), Ewing, a master of arts degree from Seton Hall University, South Orange, in 1973, and additional graduate studies at Kean University in Union, Georgian Court University in Lakewood, and Monmouth University, West Long Branch.