School board hires new superintendent

BY PATRICIA KELLER
WEST MILFORD — The West Milford Board of Education approved the appointment of a new Superintendent of Schools Tuesday night. Alex Anemone, Ed.D, was appointed to the position effective July 1, 2016. Anemone's salary will be $165,500.

Trustee Debbie O’Brien, chairperson of the school board’s Personnel/Student Affairs Committee read the resolution aloud. It is a five-year contract with Anemone, running through June 30, 2021. The contract has already been approved by the Passaic County Interim Executive County Superintendent.
It was noted the appointment was pending fingerprint and medical clearance.
School board President Jim Foody welcomed Anemone to the West Milford School District by handing him a district motto “All In” token chip.
“Dr. Anemone, we had a motivational speaker come… (in November) and part of what that was all about was being ‘All In’," said Foody. "So West Milford Township Public Schools (are) ‘All In’; and that’s something we talked about too, so it’s very appropriate.”
Anemone, of Butler, was invited up to the podium to say a few words.
“Good evening and thank you for reading the resolutions. For sure I know my mom is going to be watching when we post the video,” he said. “She’ll be the first person I‘ll send the link to.”
“I want to thank the board individually and collectively for this wonderful opportunity,” he continued. “I want to thank you once again for having the confidence in me and the faith in me to bring me on board, and I look forward to a long relationship here in West Milford.”
Anemone introduced himself with a little personal and professional background information, and shared a brief statement of his vision for what a great district looks like.
Anemone said he is originally from New York, but has lived in New Jersey for the past quarter century. He and his wife have been married for 16 years, and they have four school-age children ranging from grades two through eight. Professionally, Anemone said July 1 will start his 23rd year in public education in New Jersey and he has worked in numerous different educational positions over the years.
“I think I've done every job in a school district,” he said. “I've been a teacher, a home instructor, coach, assistant principal, principal, director of special services, superintendent, and I feel as though I bring a piece of each of those jobs to this district come July. Part of me still thinks like a teacher, a part of me still thinks like a coach, like an assistant principal, and so on. So I'm very happy to come here and work with this community.”
He said in looking at the overall vision, West Milford could perhaps be, and probably is already, the premier K through 12 district in this region.
“And that’s our goal: to be the best, to benchmark ourselves against the best and to be the best.”
Trustees James Devor, Teresa Dwyer, Glenn Huber, O’Brien, Marilyn Schultz, and Foody voted to approve the appointment.
Huber commented that he “…had reservations about the probable longevity of Dr. Anemone, but after seeing how he negotiates a contract, I’m feeling somewhat reassured; so I’m going to give him a vote of confidence; yes.”
Trustee Rodney Robbins voted against the appointment, saying, “I’m hoping to build my confidence.”
Trustees Greg Bailey and Steven Drew were absent from the meeting.
Anemone said he hasn't spent a day in the district yet so he doesn't know what's working or what could be done better. Not yet anyway. He identified four broad areas to touch on briefly, areas he said are those which superintendents typically spend a lot of their time: curriculum, pedagogy, assessments and customer service (see box).
“That's not to say that legal issues don't come up or finance issues or things of that nature; but those are four big areas that I'm really passionate about and that I think if you do well (in those areas) you’ll have a really great district,” he said.
His initial goal is to listen to stakeholders, he added, and figure out what the district is doing well- what programs are working and the district wants to continue, and also identify the areas where the district can make improvements.
“So my initial goal would be to come in and not necessarily change everything," he concluded, "but to listen and learn and talk to you all about what we're doing and to help me transition into this district.”
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