Roxy's Report from the Mendham Township School Board Work Session Meeting Tonight -- Tuesday, November 18, 2008

At the Mendham Township Home and School Association (HSA) meeting following Elementary School Principal Michael Craver’s resignation, School Board President Mark Ford urged interested parents, “If you want to know what’s going on with the School Board, what issues we’re addressing, go to the School Board meetings. They’re open to the public.” Before tonight, I had only attended one other School Board meeting, the one in September welcoming our new Superintendent, Kristopher Harrison. While I certainly would have preferred to stay home tonight and do math facts and read stories with London and Maddie, I wanted to learn more about the recruitment process for our next Elementary School Principal. The agenda included quite a few items, none of which were clearly labeled, “How’s the Principal recruitment process going?” That was eventually covered when Mark Ford asked for questions/issues from the public, but before we got there I learned a few things that I’d like to pass along.

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Roxy's Report from the Mendham Township Home & School Association Meeting on Elementary School Principal Transition and Recruitment

Since we received the news on Halloween that our Mendham Township Elementary School Principal Michael Craver had resigned suddenly, there's been a great deal of concern and discussion among local parents, both about the reasons behind his departure, and the transition process. The leaders of our Home & School Association reacted quickly to our concerns, enlisting School Board President Mark Ford and members of the transition team to join the regularly scheduled HSA meeting this morning. The meeting was well attended by concerned parents, and I had trouble finding a parking space when I arrived at the school at 9:15am. Pushing the discussion of Fall Fundraiser ieas and Sally Foster wrapping paper profits to the end of the agenda, we got right to the subject of the transition.

School Board President Mark Ford started out by trying to calm our concerns about the transition and recruitment process, including:

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Mendham Township Elementary School Principal Update: Board President Mark Ford and Interim Superintendent Catherine Mozak at HSA Meeting Tomorrow

I just received an e-mail from the Mendham Township Home and School Association (H.S.A.) with the following important change to tomorrow's scheduled meeting:

Mark Ford, School Board President, and Catherine Mozak, Interim Superintendent, will be speaking at the Wednesday, November 5, H.S.A. meeting at 9:15 in the Elementary School staff development room. They will address, among other things, the process for finding a new Elementary School principal.

I don't ordinarily attend the monthly H.S.A. meetings and I had been planning to take the train in to work in my office in New York City, but this is a meeting I just can't miss. I'll hope the short notice doesn't prevent too many interested parents from attending, and I'll hope to see many other Mendham Township parents there.

If you're unable to make it to the meeting, I'll do my best to take notes and provide an objective update here at Roxiticus Desperate Housewives and over at my Roxy's Best Of... Mendham, New Jersey site.

Mendham Township Elementary School Principal Michael Craver Resigns

Updated Saturday, November 1st with official Board of Education letter to parents and staff.

It started with rumors whispered at the Mendham Township Elementary School Halloween Parade this afternoon, and I confirmed it with Principal Craver himself after the parade. Mendham Township Elementary School Principal Michael Craver has resigned. He intends to pursue a doctoral program that will lead to greater opportunities within education in the future.

I'm disappointed to report that I did not receive the official letter from the Mendham Township Board of Education in today's mail, and there is nothing on the MTES web site, but as soon as I get a copy of it I will post it here. I'd also like to use my Roxy's Best Of... Mendham, NJ site to create a forum for discussion. When the Mendham Township School District hired our new superintendent Kristopher Harrison away from Maplewood, I was impressed with Maplewood's active online forum where parents lamented their loss and our gain with raves about their experiences with Harrison in their schools.

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