Princeton Board Of Education Names New District Superintendent

PRINCETON, NJ —The Princeton Board of Education on Thursday announced it has selected Dr. Carol Kelley as the next Superintendent of Schools.

Kelley’s appointment will be voted on by the Princeton Board of Education at a public meeting on Thursday night.

Kelley is currently superintendent of the Oak Park Elementary School District 97, located just outside of Chicago, Illinois. She is expected to assume her role at Princeton on July 1.

Barry Galasso has served as interim superintendent since July 1, 2020 and will continue through June 30.

Board President Beth Behrend said the board was “delighted” to have found a “talented and accomplished educator” to lead the school district.

“We remain committed to the pursuit of equity and academic excellence in an environment that supports the success of all of our students... Dr. Kelley shares our vision and values; her passion, intellect and experience will help us deliver on this commitment, benefitting our students for years to come,” Behrend said in a statement.

Before taking up her current role out Chicago, Kelley served as school superintendent in Branchburg Township, New Jersey, from 2012 to 2015.

Her previous stints including Director of Curriculum and Instruction for the Hunterdon Central Regional High School District in Flemington, Principal of Milltown Elementary School in Bridgewater, K-12 supervisor of mathematics in the Franklin Township Public Schools, assistant principal of Franklin Park Elementary School and Sampson G. Smith Middle School in Franklin Township, and teacher at the Smith Middle School.

Kelley said she was honored to join PPS as the new superintendent.

“The district’s long legacy of academic excellence, deep commitment to helping all students find their own pathways to success, diverse student body, and core values of innovation in education are just a few of the reasons why this opportunity excites me,” she said ina statement.

She said she was glad to move back to Central Jersey to be close to family and friends.

An engineer by training, Kelley earned a B.S.E. in systems science engineering at the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from the University of Virginia. She worked at Bell Atlantic and Johnson & Johnson.

She began teaching in 1994, and earned an Ed.D. in Organizational and Educational Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania in 2005.

While working at Oak Park, Kelley passed a comprehensive racial and educational equity policy and developed programs to help eliminate opportunity gaps.

She partnered with the National Equity Project to support a district Equity Design Team that works to improve the school experiences of African American students.

Under her tenure the percentage of new teacher hires of color increased by 37 percent, from 27 percent in 2017.

Princeton’s board of education began its superintendent search last summer.

Thirteen candidates were shortlisted and interviewed for the role.

Semifinalists were asked to respond to a writing prompt, and finalists made substantive presentations based on data from the district.

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