Special Meeting Set to Launch Search for High School Superintendent

The West Morris Regional Board of Education will hold a special meeting this week to begin the search process for a new superintendent.

On Wednesday, March 11 at 6 p.m. in the Mendham High School library the board of education will meet with Charlene Peterson from the New Jersey School Boards Association before taking action to establish a Special Committee that will oversee the superintendent search.

According to the board’s agenda, the committee “will be established to coordinate and oversee the recruitment, selection and hiring of a new Superintendent of Schools.”

The meeting, which was postponed from last week due to inclement weather, comes as a result of current Superintendent Mackey Pendergrast announcing his resignation on Monday, Feb. 23.

Pendergrast, who was hired as the district’s chief in March 2012, will take on the same position in the Morris School District, which oversees Morristown High School and associated middle and elementary schools. Pendergrast has been part of the West Morris Regional district for 15 years as a teacher, guidance counselor, and administrator.

In a joint letter to the community after Pendergrast announced his resignation, the regional board stated, “Change is never easy, but the Board of Education looks forward to the opportunity that this change provides. We know that the hiring of a superintendent is the single most important job of the Board. Our focus will be to find a superintendent who shares the vision and goals of our community.”

A new superintendent will be capped by law at a salary of $155,000 in accordance to the district’s enrollment. The new schools chief will be the third in the district since 2005.

Pendergrast’s last day on the job in West Morris Regional is June 30, 2015. The meeting on Wednesday is open to the public and begins at 6 p.m.

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