'I Am Not Here To Keep A Seat Warm,' Pinelands' Interim Superintendent Says

LITTLE EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, NJ — Maryann Banks has been around the schoolyard a few times.

She's was an English teacher in the Elizabeth public schools and an administrator in Edison. She was the English supervisor at Howell High School in the Freehold Regional School District and the acting principal of the Burlington County Special Services School District. And she has been a superintendent, of the Vineland School District from 2009 to 2011.

Now the Toms River woman will be serving the students of the Pinelands Regional School District as the interim superintendent while the district seeks a permanent replacement for Superintendent Robert Blake, who resigned effective June 30, according to a news release.

Banks was named interim superintendent of the district at the June 15 Board of Education meeting, and took over July 1. She has a one-year contract that pays $600 per day, according to the contract on the district's website.

Banks said she has held “every administrative position there is, and I bring that experience to Pinelands in my ‘toolbox’ to help this community.”

“One of the first things I told the Board of Education in my interview,” Banks said, “was I am not here to keep a seat warm. I have been hired on a one-year contract to run this school district until this board hires someone it wants for the long-term, and I will take any action necessary to keep this district moving forward.”

Banks, who spent last year as interim superintendent of the Hamilton Township School District in Mays Landing, had served as the interim superintendent in the Little Egg Harbor School District for the 2014-15 school year.

Banks said working collaboratively to make decisions that are in the best interests of the students has been a very rewarding part of her career.

“I am looking forward to working with the entire community at large: parents, students, staff, and community leaders," during her time at Pinelands, she said. "Schools don’t operate in a vacuum; we are the community.”

Blake resigned from the superintendent position as of June 30. Blake's resignation came with a year remaining on his contract, according to a report in The Sandpaper. Blake had been the superintendent since 2011. District officials did not say why he was resigning, only that it was a mutual agreement, the paper reported.

In addition to Blake's resignation, Pinelands Regional High School Principal Thomas Normile retired effective July 1.

“I believe my LEH experience enables me to come here with an advantage,” Banks said. “Working last year in LEH provided me an opportunity to become familiar with Pinelands and all of its sending districts. I was afforded an opportunity to learn about how Superstorm Sandy devastated this community and its continued impact, as well as the needs of the children in this community.”

Banks began her career in the Elizabeth schools in 1971, and worked for the Freehold Regional High School District, the Edison School District, and then the Burlington County Special Services School District before serving as superintendent of the Vineland School District, which serves 11,000 students and has a staff of 2,400, from 2009 to 2011, when she retired.

She has a doctorate in educational administration and supervision from Rutgers University and a master’s degree in administration and supervision from Seton Hall University. Her bachelor’s degree is in English from the College of Wooster in Ohio; she is certified to teach English for grades 7 through 12. Banks also holds certifications for K-12 school administrator and K-12 principal/supervisor.

A member of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators, Banks also holds memberships in the New Jersey School Boards Association, and the New Jersey Council of Educators. She is a member of the Kappa Delta Pi International Honor Society, and is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities grant, according to a news release.

Photo courtesy of Laura Bishop Communications