The Princeton Public Schools is seeking a professional search consultant to help it find a permanent superintendent of schools.
The school board is preparing a request for proposals from consultants, which is the first step in hiring a search consultant, school board president Dafna Kendal said.
“Once we determine who we will be working with, we will have more information about the scope of the superintendent search,” Kendal said.
There may be focus groups, surveys and other ways for the community to be involved in the superintendent search process, she said.
The Princeton Public Schools has been without a permanent superintendent of schools since Superintendent of Schools Carol Kelley unexpectedly took a paid leave of absence in October 2023, ahead of her early resignation that takes effect Aug. 31.
Kelley is being paid $249,696 during her leave of absence.
The school board scrambled to find a temporary superintendent of schools. The board hired Kathie Foster to serve as the acting superintendent of schools for the remainder of the 2023-24 school year. She was paid $171,400 plus $2,000 for travel and expense reimbursements and professional development.
At its June 11 meeting, the school board appointed Foster to serve as the interim superintendent of schools for the 2024-25 school year. The new contract started July 1 and ends June 30, 2025. She will be paid $273,920 plus $2,000 for travel and expense reimbursements and professional development.
Foster is a retired superintendent of schools who had previously filled in as the interim principal at Princeton High School. She also served as the interim assistant superintendent curriculum and instruction in the Princeton school district.
Kelley, meanwhile, was in the third year of a four-year contract when she took a paid leave of absence and also gave notice of her resignation in October 2023. The contract began July 1, 2021 and would have expired June 30, 2025. She would have been paid $254,690 in the fourth year of the contract.
Kelley’s tenure in the school district was punctuated by the controversial dismissal of popular Princeton High School Principal Frank Chmiel in March 2023. He was placed on an administrative leave of absence after Kelley recommended that his contract should not be renewed.
No reason was given for placing him on an administrative leave, although Chmiel claimed it was done because he would not resign so the school district could advertise a vacancy in the high school principal’s post.
Chmiel appealed Kelley’s decision in a Donaldson hearing before the full school board in public in May 2023, but the school board upheld her recommendation not to renew his contract. A renewal for a third year meant he would have been granted tenure.
