Principal Shake-ups at West Deptford Schools

The first day of school in West Deptford isn’t until September 5, but already there are a number of changes on the horizon for 2013-14.

In fact, West Deptford High School will be the only school in the district that will have the same principal next year that it did in 2012-13.

At the elementary-school level, the district accepted the retirement of Oakview Elementary principal Sally Cohill and is also switching the assignments of Green-Fields principal Jon Cohen and Red Bank principal Karry Corbitt. 

West Deptford Middle School principal Michael Fannelli has also been replaced with new hire Christine Trampe´, who joins the district from Gloucester City High School. 

There’s no underlying reason for the scope of so many changes at once, said Superintendent Kevin Kitchenman.

“I think we’re just trying to find the right fit for the district to make it successful,” he said.

Changes at the middle school

Kitchenman did not comment on the decision to not re-hire Fanelli except to say only that his contract was not renewed, and that Fanelli was not tenure-eligible.

West Deptford Board of Education President Chris Strano described Trampe´ as “someone who has her finger on the pulse of the paradigm shift.

“She’s a lead-by-example kind of person and she throws off a lot of leadership qualities that we were looking for,” he said. 

“We’ve been really managing change, and I think this is a good time for somebody to come in with very strong leadership.” 

Strano and Kitchenman both pointed to the district focus on technology, including its 1:1 laptop initiative, as a key component of the educational experience at West Deptford Middle School. 

Both also acknowledged the social aspects of managing a school of teens and pre-teen adolescents as another critical charge of the position. 

Trampe´ “comes to us with a strong working knowledge of curriculum, strong leadership skills, and an ability to communicate with staff, parents and students alike,” Kitchenman said.

Swapping elementary school principals

At the elementary school level, both Cohen and Corbitt “had expressed an interest in a professional change,” Kitchenman said, and in trading assignments, “we decided that it was a good move for the district.”

Each will have his own set of challenges to address, Kitchenman said. 

For Corbitt, it will be running Green-Fields, the largest elementary school in the district, without the benefit of any assistant principals. 

For Cohen, “having every single first-grader in the district in your building, that’s a challenge,” Kitchenman said. 

In addition to managing those changes, Cohen and Corbitt will join Cohill’s replacement in implementing a new K-6 literacy curriculum and a new student assessment package, Renaissance Learning.

“We’ve spent more on curriculum this year than we had in the past 10 years combined,” Strano said. “Now it’s the time to execute it.”

West Deptford also fully rolls out new professional evaluation systems for principals and teachers this year, two new mandates that will require a lot of administrative oversight, Strano said.

“All the things that we have to do, we have to do, but the reality is the school day doesn’t get any longer,” he said. “You need to have strong leadership to get this stuff done in an efficient manner.”