Dolan Excited About New School Staffers

The Board of Education received 1,600 resumes for the 30 open teaching positions for the 2009 - 2010 school year, according to Schools Super. Margaret Dolan.

The large amount of resumes allowed school officials to be choosy in the hiring process and appoint what they believed to be the best teachers to work in the Westfield system, according to Dolan. Westfield remains a top choice of many teacher candidates, because of the district's reputation and compensation package.

"We really were able to be selective and choose highly skilled teachers," Dolan said of the appointment process.

Dolan has had a chance to meet with the new teachers and administrators in the district and said she is excited by the staffers who have started in the district. These include a new autism program teacher at Lincoln School, who is teaching a second early childhood autism class which is being funded by federal stimulus dollars, and new teachers in most of the schools.

Dolan said the district's decision to consolidate several administrative positions will not show any problems for the student body. These include combining two district wide technology jobs into a chief technology officer position, which is being held by Brian Aucker, a new appointment over the summer. She said Aucker has been hard at work in the district offices learning the information technology systems and developing plans for his department.

Dave Stonebeck has moved from overseeing science for Westfield High School to science issues district wide and Andrea Low will handle high school special education issues along with her previous duties in the elementary schools. At the high school, Jeremy Davies has been confirmed as a permanent assistant principal and Lydia Suarez-McNulty has assumed another assistant principal slot. Colleen White has started as the district's new guidance director, working out of a high school office and overseeing issues district wide.

Dolan mentioned the district's new social studies supervisor, Andrea Brennan, who joined the district from Wall Township this year. She said Brennan has jumped into the position and has spent the summer developing new plans in the social studies arena.

Dolan noted that in her meetings with the new teachers and administrators they have been mentioning working with the students as their top priority in Westfield. She noted they expressed excitement at the district's new teacher academy earlier this month.

"They are excited and can't wait to work with the students," Dolan said. "It's a good group and we've given them everything they need to succeed."