Russell Lazovick, WW-P’s assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, has submitted his resignation, effective Thursday, June 30, to become superintendent in Nutley in northern New Jersey.
Lazovick, along with David Aderhold, the assistant superintendent of pupil services and planning, was hired by WW-P in June, 2009. Both came from the New Brunswick School District.
School Board President Hemant Marathe said Lazovick handed in his resignation on May 10, the same day of the vote, because the Nutley board had not voted on the matter until May 9.
“He just resigned, so we will advertise and do the same thing as we did in the past,” said Marathe about the process for finding a replacement. “Although he was here for just two years, he started intiatives and put the district on a great path. That’s certainly going to be felt, and it’s going to be a challenge to continue that” without him, he added.
The fact that Lazovick and three other assistant superintendents from WW-P have moved on to take superintedent positions in other districts speaks to the quality of administrators hired in WW-P, Marathe said.
Some residents have consistently called upon the board to reduce its number of administrators. However, “administrative costs-wise, we are in the bottom 15 percent of comparable districts,” he said. “We are doing really well. We don’t have too much left to cut in terms of personnel, especially since we are expecting them to do more.”
He also noted that the district has cut 15 percent of its administrators recently, despite the growing population of students each year.
In the interim, central office staff will “pick up the slack” until Lazovick’s replacement is hired.
