The Glenfield School Principal Search: I Think We Missed Someone!

Tuesday, April 1, 2025 was the third round of interviews for the Glenfield Middle School permanent principal position. This session was conducted in-person at the George Innes Annex and included a presentation by each of the three final candidates. Questions from the parent community followed each presentation.

In order for the candidates to have advanced to the April 1st event, they all would have had an initial interview and a second interview clearing them as the third and final candidates. The final three candidates were Glenfield interim Principal Marcos Vargas, Melanie Alston-Balaputra (from Bergen County, NJ), and Dr. Frances Aboushi (current Bradford principal).

As someone who has kept my ear to the ground and sources close and confidential for a number of years, I’m quite aware of a regulation that exists in the employee contract regarding interviewing internal candidates for available positions. Without quoting the contract verbatim, I’ll tell you that when internal candidates apply for an available position within the district, they must all be interviewed for that position if they are qualified and have the proper certification. If the qualified employee is not interviewed, it is grounds for that employee to file a grievance against the district.

There was no surprise when I got a number of calls and texts Tuesday evening following the Glenfield principal interviews (from staff, parents, and community members). People were inquiring the whereabouts of former interim principal Dr. Lisa Rollins. Dr. Rollins was the interim principal for 8 months during the 2022-2023 school year. Under her leadership, Glenfield not only thrived, but also enjoyed a number of newly created initiatives and opportunities highlighting much artistic creativity and academic capabilities of the beloved Glenfield community.

Dr. Rollins helped initiate a number of historic events and programs at Glenfield. A few of these programs, events, and achievements include:

• Relieving Glenfield from the position of Comprehensive School
• Providing the necessary educational tools that factored into students achieving the highest state test scores for Glenfield in the past 10 years
• Glenfield’s Historical Drumline Initiative in Partnership with the Montclair Board of Education, Glenfield PTA, Glenfield Parents & Montclair Public community – Glenfield now has a fully up and running percussion program; a bridge from the 40+ year old Hillside Drums of Thunder program.
• Approval of Glenfield’s first After School Explorer’s Program
• Glenfield’s first ever Community-Partnered Black History Month Event, Greenwood at Glenfield
• Creating a step-team that provided a creative outlet for students who weren’t necessarily connected to the performing arts.
• Working with our Montclair community partner, Brother to Brother to give an outlet to our young males.

Upon Dr. Rollins’ exit in April, 2023, the community, both students and staff, was literally in tears.

Following her departure, a list of some of the domino effects were:

• Removal of a math teacher where students lost almost a year of math skills
• Increase in student conflicts
• Failing test scores and/or flat line on state testing
• Elimination of highly impactful after school social clubs
• Removal of the 8th Grade end of year social event at the Richfield Regency venue
• The loss of the remaining state funding (Title I)

As someone who unfortunately has to admit that I did not give Dr. Rollins a fair chance when she first arrived at Glenfield in 2022, I also have to admit, her credentials are absolutely impressive. Some of Dr. Rollins’ professional history includes:

• Superintendent Certification, NJ Department of Education
• Ed. D., Teacher Leadership
• Principal Certification, NJ Department of Education
• Supervisor, NJ Department of Education
• Interim Principal, Glenfield Middle School, Montclair, NJ
• Title I Administrator & Educator, Montclair, NJ (District-Wide)
• Principal on Special Assignment, Montclair, NJ (District-Wide)
• Supervisor of Restorative Justice, Montclair Public Schools
• Standard Elementary School Teacher, State of New Jersey

Organizations do not typically get the opportunity to actually see someone’s prior work and claimed successes that align with the position that they are advertising. Employers, Montclair School District not exempt, may take a chance on who they place in a role based on the interview, credentials, recommendations, etc. But when you have someone that has clearly demonstrated success, professionalism, and the extreme dedication, you’d expect them to have at least an interview for the role, right?

The position of Glenfield Interim Principal was first advertised in the summer of 2024. However, upon the appointment of interim principal Marcos Vargas, that advertisement was removed. The Glenfield community later received notification that the search for a permanent principal would be underway.

I must first apologize in advance to Dr. Lisa Rollins for what I am about to publicly reveal. Not only did Dr. Rollins not make it to the second or third round of the interviews, she was allegedly not interviewed at all. My confidential sources tell me that the Montclair Board of Education allegedly did not consider Dr. Lisa Rollins for the recent available position of permanent principal at Glenfield Middle School. I truly wonder how many other internal candidates were also (allegedly) not called to interview for the position of permanent Principal at Glenfield. This, my readers, is grounds for a grievance.

From my parent community, I learned that Dr. Rollins is currently the Restorative Justice teacher at Hillside Elementary school and is quite phenomenal in her role. And while I think it’s absolutely fantastic that Dr. Rollins continues to make a difference in students’ lives in the Montclair district, I, along with many others, would much rather see her serving our district in a capacity where her impact would have a much greater reach.

I write this from the perspective of someone who has worked with Dr. Rollins in the past and I can tell you, that not having her at Glenfield is a huge loss. Not only from my personal experience, but I can also tell what a loss this is by how many district employees appear to be dissatisfied with not seeing Dr. Rollins as a potential candidate for Principal at Glenfield school. How do you look at 8 months of successful progress and say, “so what!”

I inform the community of this injustice as we are on the heels of learning the outcome of the Montclair Public Schools Superintendent search. Why are we still not following proper protocol when it comes to our human resources? With all due respect to the wonderful candidates Melanie Alston-Balaputra and Dr. Frances Aboushi, excluding Dr. Rollins from consideration is solid evidence that the Glenfield community is still not being given the quality leadership that it deserves. Why weren’t all candidates considered for this role?

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