BOE Promotes Middle School Principal
William Allen Middle School principal Carole Butler was selected as the district's new director of curriculum and instruction.
The Moorestown Board of Education promoted William Allen Middle School principal Carole Butler Tuesday, then named her replacement.
Butler takes over as the district's director of curriculum and instruction today, replacing Kate Burke Reilly, former assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, who retired at the end of last year.
Butler was one of approximately 20 people—both within and outside the district—who applied for the position when the district advertised for it in December, according to Superintendent Brian Betze. Former administrator Jane LaMare has been filling in the position on a part-time basis.
Betze said Butler was chosen because of her success at the middle school, where she's spent the last six years as principal.
"She's very knowledgeable with our current standards," he said. "She knows the district very well."
She'll earn a prorated salary of $144,840 effective Jan. 23, 2013 through June 30, 2013.
Butler spent the first 14 years of her career teaching special education, before becoming assistant principal in the Montgomery Township School District in Somerset County.
As much as she enjoyed her experience at the middle school, Butler said she'd been looking to move into an administrative role that would give her the ability to "make an impact district-wide," preferably in Moorestown.
"The hardest part, truly, is going to be not seeing the kids every day," she said. "I'm not looking forward to losing the kids. But I also don't want to miss an opportunity to stay with Moorestown and further myself ... It's definitely a step (up) for me."
Betze said having a full-time director of curriculum and instruction is critical to move the district forward.
"It's such a key position with professional development and curriculum," he said. "We've kind of been status quo the last few months. We're piloting a new reading series, working on technology integration—a lot of those things came to a standstill (after Reilly left). It's full steam ahead with Carole now."
Reilly, who spent four years as assistant superintendent, was in the running for the superintendent position early last year, before Betze was selected to replace former superintendent John Bach.
The board of education also named Matthew Keith, assistant principal at the high school, as Butler's interim replacement at the middle school. Keith will earn a prorated salary of $102,000, effective Jan. 23, 2013 through June 30, 2013.
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Mtown Mom
7:10 am on Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Mid six figures! Wow how does someone get that job!! Hope to BOE is looking at the outrageous salaries like the above to start saving us some money. Tie salaries to performance for jobs like this one. If we aren't the best schools in south Jersey, lower it. If we aren't top 10 statewide, lower it. I just don't get why the school salaries are going up and up while our rankings are sliding down.
Townie
8:46 am on Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Mom - you get those jobs by getting a Masters or Doctorate in Education.
Let's not argue about the salary (Butler is already making $130k), let's argue about the need for that salary everywhere. Mary Jo is right, it's important...but is it important enough that Moorestown, and Mt. Laurel, and every other district in NJ pay someone a six figure salary...I don't believe it is.
Do you need PhD's in every elementary school as principal? Counselors, aides, etc? The structures are from the 50's and 60's, and have little relevance to the requirements of an education today.
The reality is that nobody is going to risk cutting off their own career to fix it; just too much pressure from union and their peers. The only way it gets fixed is when people literally run out of money. This town is in better shape financially than most, so it'll take longer. There are many homes in nearby towns that are for sale in the $150k-$200k range with $4k, $5k even $6k real estate taxes attached. They are literally un-sellable solely because of taxes. When (or should I say if?) interest rates even go back up those houses are near worthless. It's going to be a huge issue....so just sit back and wait, not much else anyone seems interested in doing right now, most notably those in charge of the schools.
Yah Mo B There
9:36 am on Wednesday, January 23, 2013
This is not personal against the people listed above, but my gosh that's good amount of money. I don't imagine that factors in benefits. Does anyone know the staring salary and benefit package for a teacher in this town? Just curious so come budget time I have a refrence when everyone cries poor.
Townie
10:11 am on Wednesday, January 23, 2013
The link below will give you the list (for 2011 I believe). Click on the Years of Service (twice) and you'll see the new hires...including the $5k/month gym teacher with no prior experience.
http://php.app.com/edstaff/results2.php?county=Burlington&district=Moorestown+Township+Public+School+District&school=%25&lname=&fname=&job1=%25&tfm_order=ASC&tfm_orderby=EXPTOT
Townie
10:25 am on Wednesday, January 23, 2013
So if you want to consider the "reality" of education, this is a perfect example of the Unions and entitlement not aligning to the world in which we live.
This person (and this has nothing to do with her personally) is able to go from an estimated $130k to $160k for taking a new job. She'd probably do it for nothing. I'd bet heavily she'd do it for $10k, but we'll give her $30k because that's what the last person made. Then we'll back fill someone with a pay raise for her old job...and so on ...and so on.
It's ludicrous. There is an entitlement in education that isn't sustainable. At my company dozens of people have accepted promotions without pay, without complaining. They're happy to think they're seen as critical instead of possibly at risk. At risk isn't an issue in education (i.e. tenure), so you have a group that talks themselves into feeling undervalued and entitled, because they don't face the possible downside EVERYONE ELSE in the country does.
Yah Mo B There
1:08 pm on Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Spot on with not aligning in our current world. I'm sure everyone works very hard. I wonder how a recession impacts people that are guaranteed not to be fired and get a raise every year. Also, I think public unions are exempt from Obama care or will be? I guess I choose the wrong career path. Nothing personal, but this will end out of necessity. Well I guess 1 thing is personal. I would bet 80%+ of union employees voted for Obama and thus obamacare and they won't participate. So they voted me into it. That’s not appreciated.
Joiner Fee
1:43 pm on Wednesday, January 23, 2013
All of these ridiculous salaries and BOE past history of high spending is the reason for our high property taxes. A principal of a school that only has two grades makes $150K ?? No teacher with less than 20 years teaching should makes more than 90K. Look at the public record ! We are paying for all of that? We should only vote for BOE candidates that are fiscally conservative and responsible.
A new playing field needs to be put in place.
Soon our enrollment will plummet and we may need to consolidate our grades. The UES and over expanded MHS will be underutilized. With that does that BOE has plan for the next 10 years?
Our Town
3:47 pm on Wednesday, January 23, 2013
I'd be happy with a curriculum that challenges the kids during school instead of being weighted so heavily on mass amounts of homework that I would consider busy work. Don't get me wrong, each night we work with our kids to ensure they have everything they need to do their homework correctly, but when we spend an hour or two repeating the same thing over again at night only to find out they watched a movie for an hour during the day, I would much rather see the kids doing something more productive than watching TV during school time. Also, if the new director is taking tips, let's look at reinstating live second language instruction at the elementary level rather than Muzzy.
Yah Mo B There
3:58 pm on Wednesday, January 23, 2013
This also begs the question, why do kids in Moorestown, or any affluent town, seem to outperform? It's most likely do to parents like "Our Town". It has little if anything to do with salaries and benefits. Parents in affluent towns are more likely to have more involvement. Given the average cost per student in some of the more disadvantaged towns there is probably a negative correlation between money spent per student and performance.
mtwnres
4:48 pm on Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Of course it has to do with parents. That's part of the equation that leads to success for kids learning. What, your parents took no interest in your education when you were growing up ?
Shocker, kids have homework, and sometimes they need help with it.
In other news, the earth is still round.
Yah Mo B There
5:07 pm on Wednesday, January 23, 2013
If you read the post that was the point. I think the "shocker" is some of these salaries when home life, parent involvement are a huge driver of performance NOT money which the unions and (some) teachers would have you believe. And my folks did take an interest, thus my comprehension of comments.
Our Town
11:58 am on Thursday, January 24, 2013
It's an easy glimpse to compare the level of spending at performing districts against under performing districts to discover that the performance problem of the students has nothing to do with the amount of money thrown at the problem. Parental and societal involvement is crucial to the success of the performing districts. Unfortunately, those are things that money cannot buy for the under performers.
I have no basis to be critical of the individuals mentioned although I will question things like why the High School needs several, non-teaching, 6 figure administrators within a single school or why there can be as much as a 60+ thousand dollar a year difference between two teachers teaching the same curriculum within the same school within the same grade, for no other reason than the length of time a teacher has remained employed and why the performance of those two teachers is not even a determining factor.
What the district needs is not someone the manage the status quo curriculum, we need someone to revolutionize it into anything that is remotely applicable to the world we live in today or more importantly, the world in which we hope to live tomorrow. I would be happy to pay 6 figures for that.
Bobby29
4:46 pm on Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Salaries do seem ridiculously high. I would like to know how the board spends it money and if all of it is needed! I guess with a great school district comes high salaries!
Elizabeth
10:00 am on Thursday, January 24, 2013
On the plus side, Carole Butler is a phenomenal educator and administrator and aside from the fact that it's a loss for the Middle School, I'm thrilled that she's staying in the district and will be contributing in this way for the foreseeable future. Carole is worth every penny of that salary and I'm certain that she will earn her keep. She has been so approachable and such a uniter at WAMS....it's the best school in the district and I think it's because of her leadership. Congratulations to her.