May Schwarz Be With You: New Ridgewood Superintendent Talks About Principal Search, More

RIDGEWOOD, NJ — With the first day of school a little less than 50 days away, new Ridgewood Schools Superintendent Mark Schwarz held an hour-long "superintendent coffee" on Thursday, addressing the search for a new middle school principal and other issues.

Schwarz — who was chosen for the role in March after serving in the Madison schools — said the district is using a "solid process" to find a replacement for Benjamin Franklin Middle School Principal Tony Orsini.

Orsini was recently hired to lead Chatham Middle School.

"Obviously this creates a big void, where he has provided a tremendous amount of leadership for some time," Schwarz said.

He said parents and others who took a recent schools survey shared similar ideas about what they want in the next principal.

"If for some reason this process doesn't find a candidate that we are very excited about, we'll start the process over again, because a school principal is far too important for us to settle," he said.

He said that because the process may take a while, an acting principal will open the school year.

The district will hold a "stakeholder panel" in August in which candidates for the job share their thoughts about the district.

Schwarz said he's used the same process before and it worked out well.

Schwarz also addressed the process of finding a new before- and after-care vendor, the potential changes to Ridgewood High School start times, and "pretty significant" construction at the high school to improve ventilation.

Schwarz took questions at the end of the session.

See the video here.

Got Ridgewood news? Reach out to Patch.