As the WW-P school district said goodbye to another senior class this month, it also parted ways with four of its principals and its director of guidance.
But it also welcomed two new administrators and promoted a third as the school year came to a close. The WW-P school board hired Gerard Dalton to replace longtime principal Art Downs at Community Middle and Rick Charwin to replace Nancy Icenhower as the district’s director of guidance.
The WW-P school board has not named replacements for South Principal Charles Rudnick and Millstone River Principal Mary Ann Isaacs.
What began as a career in the financial industry has transformed into nearly two decades in public education for Gerard Dalton, who has been appointed as the new principal at Community Middle School.
Dalton, who replaces longtime principal Art Downs, who is retiring this year after serving as the school’s only principal, is bringing with him longtime experience at the middle school level. The WW-P school board appointed him as the new principal during its meeting on June 15.
A native of Kearny, Dalton earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees from St. Peter’s College in Jersey City. His father worked for the United States Post Office, and his mother worked as a secretary at the Newark Housing Authority.
When he was 16 years old, he worked after school with students from a Catholic school. He continued to do so through high school and college, where he went to school for business. He worked in the finance industry for a few years, but always missed working in a school environment. “It’s your first love; it’s the thing you’ve always done,” he said.
He began teaching sixth grade, and throughout his career, found that teaching at the fifth, sixth, and seventh grade levels was the best fit for him. “I found that the middle school was a favorite place for me,” he said. “I enjoy working with the young adolescents and all the challenges it brings.”
For the past eight years, Dalton, who lives in Asbury Park, has worked in the Clinton Township school district, where he served as principal of the Clinton Township Middle School for the past six. Before Clinton, he was working as a principal of a small school of only 83 children nearby. The role was part of a shared services agreement, and officials were looking at the possibility of merging the school. That’s when he moved over to Clinton Township.
He has previously taught in Chester Township, Warren Township, and Newark. In Clinton, he has had experience over the last few years in school expansion. He was charged with building a new school: everything from working with school staff in the referendum process to designing and actually opening the school. The new facility is now in its third year of operation.
“I think I can bring with me experience of great instruction and being able to supervise, and a knowledge of middle schoolers and their development needs,” Dalton said.
Dalton said he looks forward to getting to know his colleagues and understanding what is in place to analyze what needs to continue and what needs to be improved.
“I’m going to be going through a lot of discussion and analysis,” said Dalton. “I don’t think it’s the proper thing to go in and make changes unless you’re charged with it. You need to see what’s going well and honor history before you jump in and make dramatic changes.”
Dalton said he was drawn to the WW-P district because of its reputation. “I needed an opportunity for growth where I could bring my contributions, and where I could also learn,” he said. “After the first interview, I had that feeling that this could be a place to do that.”
Dalton’s salary for the upcoming school year will be $147,530.
Rick Charwin began his career as a music teacher, moved on to guidance counselor, eventually becoming a guidance director, and then became an assistant principal. Along the way, he has served as a radio talk show host, run his own business as a therapist, and has also enjoyed life as a musician.
Now Rick Charwin will begin a new chapter of his life as the WW-P school district’s newest director of guidance, replacing Nancy Icenhower, who retired this year.
How he got to WW-P is even more interesting. The opportunity to come to WW-P came as a result of a lost one, particularly a job he lost at the high school in Bernards, where he was an assistant principal. His position, as well as several others, were eliminated this year due to budgetary constraints.
“I had a lot of different interviews and offerings, but the only one that really seemed to be perfect for me was this one in WW-P,” he said. “Had I known about this, even if I were still here, it would have been a position that would greatly interest me because of the quality of the district and the people in it.”
Charwin says he hopes to apply his myriad of life experiences to his new role in the district. Because of those varied experiences, “you’re much more real when you work with kids,” he said. “I’ve been out in the word and have done some interesting things.”
He grew up in Woodbridge, graduating from high school there before attending Berklee College of Music in Boston. He earned his undergraduate degree from Kean University in music education. He later earned a master’s in counselor education, also from Kean, and then a doctorate degree in education from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale.
Charwin began his career as a music teacher and band director. “That’s where my original love is, and I carried it with me through today,” he said. He then became a guidance counselor and became interested in administration. “I thought I could do a lot of good things for kids if I got to be in charge of the department, including setting directions and putting everybody on a consistent path,” he said.
He began at the Rumson-Fair Haven district, and later moved to the Bridgewater-Raritan school district. He served as a guidance counselor and later as a director for about 20 years before coming to Bernards High School, where he acted as an assistant principal. Because there were only four administrators, though, his duties were widespread.
“I’m excited about this new challenge,” he said, adding that he is excited to work in a district “so dedicated to excellence. It seems like a perfect fit.”
Charwin lives in Asbury — a Hunterdon County town outside of Clinton — where he and his wife, Melissa, moved last November. Even before he began his career, Charwin was exposed to the educational process. His father was a salesman for Wrigley’s gum, while his mother was a business manager for the Eagleton Institute of Politics on Rutgers’ Douglas Campus.
Outside of education, he has done voice-over work for commercials and has spent the last 10 years as the host of an entertainment talk show on WDVR FM, a full-service, family-oriented FM station operating at 89.7 Mhz from Delaware Township, NJ. It utilizes a translator on 91.9 Mhz in Lawrenceville to serve the Lawrenceville, Princeton, and Trenton area and points south.
He views the volunteer gig as his way of giving back to the community that is also “fun and rewarding.” In addition, he is a musician and also a licensed therapist who runs his own private practice in Warren. “You work hard all day and maybe do a radio show one night, and see some patients on another,” he said, pointing out that he usually works every day except Sundays. “Life is short, and you want to get the most you can.”
Charwin said his therapy work allows him to hone his skills in working with parents and kids.
The WW-P school board approved his hiring at its meeting on June 15. He said he has already been communicating and planning with his new colleagues through E-mail. “Everybody has been so welcoming and wonderful,” he said. “I think transitions can be very easy if everybody is on the same page, and it seems like everyone in this district is on the same page.”
Charwin said he looks forward to seeing what is working well and what he can do to encourage those initiatives, but also see where he can make improvements. “I’m not looking to reinvent the wheel, but bring the knowledge I have and experience I have and make the excellent work even better,” he said.
“I couldn’t be more excited about the new challenge and looking at what was an unfortunate incident with the budget, which has become such a blessing, a gift,” he added. “I feel really lucky.”
Charwin’s salary for the upcoming school year will be $137,076.
David Argese is excited about returning to the elementary level in WW-P, this time as Dutch Neck’s acting principal.
Argese was approved by the school board on June 15 to move from his current position as assistant principal at Grover to principal at Dutch Neck. Prior to being appointed as assistant principal, a position he has held for one year, he spent the previous five years as the district’s elementary math and science curriculum supervisor.
Argese has an undergraduate degree from Trenton State College (the College of New Jersey) and has done graduate work at Arcadia University, Georgian Court University, and Rider University, where he recently completed his principal certification.
He started off his teaching career with two years at Notre Dame High School in Lawrence, coming to WW-P as a teacher at Community Middle School. From there, he became a teacher at Grover Middle School when it first opened in 1999. He left the district for about a year to become a K-12 math supervisor in Hillsborough before coming back as WW-P’s math and science curriculum supervisor, where he spent five years before taking on the position of assistant principal at Grover.
“I knew I wanted to eventually go back to the elementary level because I really loved it,” said Argese about his newest position. Because of the number of retirements, the opportunity became available this year after administrative realignments. Argese said he spoke with the superintendent about the possibility of going back to the elementary level.
Because of his former position as an elementary level supervisor, he has previously worked with the staff at Dutch Neck. “They’re very passionate about teaching, about kids, and about best practices,” he said. “They’re constantly learning.”
One example is the school staff’s recent formation of a book group after reading a book that focuses on the learning styles specific to boys. During a meeting earlier this year that was facilitated by a retired teacher from Dutch Neck, Argese was telling a group of teachers from Dutch Neck about the book that he and others at Grover were reading, and over 20 of the teachers at Dutch Neck formed a group and began reading the same book. “Someone took the lead, and over 20 people signed up to learn more,” he said.
Further, the district’s PTSA organizations were able to get the author of the book to come to the district in November to speak to anyone in the district who is interested.
“They’re a really passionate group of teachers who are very open to continuously learning to provide the best possible program to their students,” said Argese. “I’m very excited to go over there.”
Argese said his main goal for the year is to get to know the parents, students, teachers, and staff, spending time “getting to know them and soliciting ideas from the staff and the community regarding what they would like to see at Dutch Neck.”
Among his ideas for the future are carrying over the “Let Me Learn” program that has been piloted at Grover. “You can actually start it lower in the sixth grade,” he said. “They learn about their learning styles and learning patterns,” he said. “You really empower kids to make those decisions on how they are learning.”
Argese said he does not know whether he will implement the program this year, but hopes to include it in the future.
