Assistant Superintendent Godett to Retire

Dr. Beth K. Godett, assistant superintendent of schools, will retire at the end of the 2011-12 school year, according to a personnel resolution passed at Tuesday night’s board of education meeting.

“She’s certainly a very warm person and very professional,” said Board President Karen Cortellino. “She gets along with people as her job would require and from my prospective, has provided (Superintendent Dr. Paul Fried) a great deal of support with the massive regulations we see here in the state of New Jersey.”

“I will be later voting 'yes' to approve Beth’s retirement, but it’s with a great deal of regret,” Cortellino added.

Fried was quick to echo those exact sentiments.

“I do want to congratulate Beth on her decision to retire. She truly has allowed me, I think, to do some of the work that I hoped to come here to to do,” Fried said. “I knew nothing about the rules and regulations that New Jersey seems to have a lot of and Beth knew everything about those rules and regulations and has worked seamlessly for the district to move us forward.”

Godett looks back on her time in the district as a prosperous time for Montville’s schools, especially in the realms of human resources and the formation and implementation of district policy. It is because of this that she takes great pride in the job she has done.

“It was a very, very difficult decision (to retire) because I enjoy working with the district, with Dr. Fried and with the board,” Godett added. “It’s been an absolutely amazing experience. This is just an amazing board.”

“I’ve just gotten to do what Montville needs to have done and I’ve gotten tremendous cooperation from everyone in the district,” Godett said.

The advance notice with which Godett has notified the board will allow the district to conduct the type of extensive search it likes when choosing someone to fill such an important administrative role. While specific dates for the hiring of a new replacement were not specified, Fried did state that choosing a new assistant would be a collaborative, districtwide process.

“We used a collaborative process last time and we will, in fact, use a similar process moving forward as well,” Fried said.