Brick Schools Superintendent Resigning After A Year

BRICK, NJ — Brick Township Schools Superintendent Gerard Dalton has announced his intent to resign as superintendent, just under a year after he was hired to run the 8,500-student district.

Dalton, who began his tenure as superintendent July 1, 2018, confirmed he is stepping down, but a final date is to be determined, he said Friday.

"I have a 90-day clause in my contract," he said. "I am not leaving immediately."

When he does leave, Dalton will be returning to the West Windsor-Plainsboro School District to become a building principal, a job for which he is expected to be approved when that district's school board meets Monday.

"I want to get back to working more closely with kids," he said.

"I met with the (Brick) school board last night to let them know, because my name was publicly going out on an agenda today," Dalton said. He will tender his official resignation on Tuesday, June 26. But his departure from Brick will not be set until he and the board reach a mutual decision on the date.

Brick school board president Stephanie Wohlrab said she would comment after the district gets through its graduations. Eighth-graders at Veterans Memorial Middle School and Lake Riviera Middle School are graduating Friday, and the Brick Memorial and Brick Township high school graduations are Monday.

"This is a special time for these kids and that needs to be the focus," she said.

Dalton was hired by the board in April 2018 and given a four-year contract with the intent of bringing some stability to the top of the district, which had been through nine superintendents dating back to 2000. His departure means the board will be faced with starting the hiring process all over and choosing someone to lead temporarily until someone is hired.

Dalton, who was an assistant superintendent in West Windsor-Plainsboro before coming to Brick, said the decision to step down as superintendent was not easy.

"Leaving the people here is the hardest part," he said. "The people here — the staff, the parents, the students — have been awesome. Everyone has been supportive."

"But when I really reflected on it, my skills and my passions are better suited to working directly with the kids," he said.

Note: This report has been updated to correct the length of Dalton's contract.

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