Schools

'You Can Point At All of Our Achievements ... That's His Legacy'

Moorestown Superintendent John Bach's colleagues offer praise as he prepares to end his five-year tenure.

When John Bach took over as superintendent for in 2007, it was agreed there would be a “honeymoon” phase, as School Board President Don Mishler put it, while Bach got the district back on track.

Bach came in after a relatively quick succession of superintendents, starting with longtime superintendent Vito Germinario—“a lifelong educator,” Mishler said—who was with the district for many years. Germinario was replaced by Paul Kadri.

Kadri approached the job from a business background, and less of an education background, Mishler said. “His tenure was unsettling.”

Kadri resigned in 2006 and was replaced by interim superintendent Timothy Brennan, whose job was, in a sense, to mind the store while the district searched for a permanent replacement.

The board brought Bach on in 2007.

“Our directions to him, and his directions to us, was that there would have to be a relatively long honeymoon … We had set a timeline goal of a year and a half,” Mishler explained. “We felt after six to nine months he had already achieved that goal. It was in much less time than we expected to right the ship. That’s a testimony to his leadership.”

Bach’s colleagues used a wealth of flattering adjectives to describe him: leader, educator, gentleman, bright, patient, principled, professional.

After five years at the helm of the school district, Bach will walk away at the end of this month, a casualty of Gov. Chris Christie’s superintendent salary cap.

But the professionals who worked alongside Bach know he’s leaving the district in a far better place upon his exit than it was in when he took over.

‘He never thinks his idea is the only idea in the room’

Custom dictates when someone is on their way out the door, people say nice things about them—publicly, anyway.

Moorestown Education Association (MEA) president Lisa Trapani, however, wasn’t afraid to admit she and Bach occasionally butted heads.

“He was not always easy to work with,” she said. “He was set in his ways,” which sometimes clashed with hers.

That said, their at times “adversarial relationship” yielded positive results.

“Through our differences, we were able to be productive. That is what is missing today from all politics,” Trapani said, likening her professional dealings with Bach to the relationship between Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill. “(Bach) used all of his skills to create partnership through true collaboration to move the district forward.”

It may have also helped Bach’s image that he followed in , who Trapani described as “divisive and arrogant.”

“We’re probably even more appreciative of a true collaborative effort because we know what division was,” she said.

Assistant superintendent Kate Reilly was another colleague who didn’t always see eye-to-eye with Bach. But neither of them ever viewed that as a bad thing, she said.

“That’s what you want in a team. You want people with various opinions,” she said. “He has allowed that type of communication because it makes us all better. Part of his professionalism is he never thinks his idea is the only idea in the room.”

Reilly worked with Bach in the Hopewell Valley Regional School District, where he was assistant superintendent before coming to Moorestown. Among his virtues, Reilly said Bach keeps an even keel. He’s very calm, and not easily flustered.

He ran the district at a time of great change throughout the state, and country, and weathered it and brought the district out the other end stronger than it was before, Reilly said. “Over the last five to eight years, there have been more changes than in my previous 20 years in education … and we’re still a notable district.”

A natural leader

In their search for a superintendent to replace Bach, of what they wanted to see in the next school chief. One of the first criteria mentioned was someone with a background in education.

That’s what the district got in Bach, who has more than 25 years in education at various levels. Speaking about Bach, Board Vice President Kathy Goldenberg quoted her father: “‘It’s very hard for someone to be dean if they’ve never been part of the faculty.’

“(Bach) is a true academic … I recognized that right away and was very appreciative of that,” she said.

Mishler also said Bach’s position as a lifelong educator was a major factor in his landing the job, as well as the added bonus of him being a longtime resident of Moorestown.

During the aforementioned brainstorming session, after multiple criteria had been given, one teacher summarized the ideal new superintendent: “This is John Bach. He is that natural leader. If you want to know literally the criteria, it’s him.”

Couldn’t Bach have stayed on though, and just accepted a lower salary, below the governor’s cap (around $165,000 for a school district of Moorestown’s size)? It’s a fair question.

But Mishler said it wasn’t a feasible option, as it would have caused Bach to take a sizable hit on his pension, affecting his payout once he retires.

“The way the pension system’s set up, there was no opportunity to discuss that,” said Mishler.

Though they’re unsure where Bach’s next destination lies—and Bach himself declined to be interviewed for this story—his colleagues have every confidence he’ll be successful there.

“I’m quite sure, wherever he decides to go next and do, that he will be an asset to that as well,” said Goldenberg. “He’s quite a gifted individual. We were very lucky to have him here in Moorestown.”

“It’s never going to be the same without him,” said Reilly. “You don’t replace people. You replace positions.”

, former Berlin Township School District superintendent, will have big shoes to fill no doubt. , he said, “I look forward to working with the staff and teachers and parents in continuing the tradition of excellence here in Moorestown.”

The school board, teachers and the rest of the staff are hoping he can carry on his predecessor’s successes.

“(Bach) helped us bring in new talented employees, and we feel particularly strong right now,” said Mishler. “You can point at all of our achievements over the last five years—improving test scores, better financials—and say that’s his legacy.”


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here