Assistant Principals to Help Coordinate Curriculum, Content

Assistant principals will share responsibility for content and curriculum at the district's schools under a reorganization approved last week.

The Board of Education approved a sweeping restructuring plan April 20 that Superintendent Ray Gonzalez developed. The plan eliminated 13 supervisor positions and replaced them with nine assistant principals.

The assistant principals' responsibilities will be divided between them and the nine principals to coordinate all “content and program areas” for the schools. They will work with the directors of elementary and student support services to ensure that curriculum and programs are being supervised, evaluated and developed, Gonzalez said. They also will help the elementary principals manage their schools.  

The nine assistants will be deployed at all district schools: three among the nine elementary schools, two shared among the three middle schools and four at Wayne Hills and Wayne Valley high schools.

Additionally, each high school will have 12 non-supervisory department heads that will help develop content and programs.

Two teacher coordinators of student support services will be hired under the new plan. One of the district’s part-time nurse positions will be changed to a full-time post.

Some resident and administrators, including Wayne Valley Principal Robert Reis and Wayne Education Association President Sean Spiller, criticized the plan at the meeting last week. They said it gives the assistant principals power over content and curriculum areas they may not be as familiar with as the people who currently hold the 13 supervisor positions. They said the possible workload may be too much for the assistant principals to handle.

Gonzalez said the reorganization will not negatively impact the budget. Of the 13 positions, only five are full-time positions. The others are part-time at 10 months a year.

District officials will consider internal and external candidates to fill the new assistant principal positions.

“The application process remains the same for the current supervisors as it is for every other candidate,” Gonzalez said. “If they possess the appropriate certification, they will have the opportunity to apply for the new assistant principal positions.”

Gonzalez said officials want to interview and fill the positions “as soon as possible.”

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