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PLEASANTVILLE - About two weeks ago, New Jersey's state-appointed school-finance monitors convened their monthly meeting. The outgoing Asbury Park monitor was among those listening to Mark Ritter talk about his new post in Pleasantville.

"He was saying he didn't really like the job, it just wasn't a good match," Mark Cowell said Thursday, in a telephone interview with The Press of Atlantic City.

And within days, Education Commissioner Lucille Davy would offer it to Cowell.

Ritter resigned, effective today, after beginning a two-year monitor job Oct. 1. Cowell will take over next week, instead of going to Charleston, S.C., on the vacation he had planned.

Ritter cited "personal reasons" when he announced his resignation at Tuesday night's Board of Education meeting. He did not elaborate, either in his remarks to the board or in response to a reporter's question.

"I've always found Mark to be extremely qualified and talented," Cowell said of Ritter.

Superintendent Gloria Grantham was hired after the district's original monitor instigated the removal of her predecessor. In a written statement to The Press, she said she and former monitor James Riehman "worked in harmony" in his three-month term, but she did not get to know Ritter well: "He was here for only a short time, and it takes time to build strong working relationships."

Although Cowell said he believes he "might have the right personality" to work well with Pleasantville's school officials, he lives nearly two hours away, in New Hope, Pa., so he told Davy he was unwilling to do the job full-time or long-term.

Cowell instead will work two days per week through Jan. 15, he said.

The former Pemberton Township superintendent said he is philosophical about how much he can accomplish in the next two months: "Two days a week in a district like Pleasantville ... Pleasantville needs a full-time monitor. I think I'm just going to keep a lid on what's going on."

Cowell was pleased with Asbury Park's progress in his two years there, and he said his full-time tenure there is being followed by a three-day-a-week monitor.

Pleasantville's school board objects to having any kind of monitor; board President Doris Graves has said the district's audits have improved more than enough to deserve a return to financial autonomy.

In her statement, Grantham said of state monitors, "They have veto power over Boards of Education in order to ensure, and in some cases, restore fiscal responsibility. They are at their most effective when they combine their fiscal expertise with a thorough understanding of the unique needs of the communities they are serving."

Contact Eric Scott Campbell:

609-272-7227

ECampbell@pressofac.com

1 comment:

• tigerrose (12) posts 8:13 am

  lucille davy in the remaining two months left of your employment do your job. remove three board members. you know which ones. as long as certain members are on that board there will always be a monitor in this district. just in case you don't know which ones to pick just listen to their protests to having a monitor. bring back JOHN DESERABLE.

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