montgomery township school district superintendent

But now the whole American system of public education, which once made us so proud, seems to have become suspect. When, exactly, did public education become a blood sport? Granted, there were vicious battles over busing in the 1970s.

“But I’ve since learned that the powers-that-be don’t like me testifying anywhere against a position the administration holds, and it really is a blood sport.” “I thought it was tongue-in-cheek,” says Kim, a former college wrestler and ex-Marine. People have been so riled up that earlier this year, when Kim was preparing to testify before a state Senate committee against a Christie initiative on teacher evaluation (not long after testifying in a Supreme Court challenge to state funding cuts), one veteran of New Jersey’s public-education wars, the executive director of the Education Law Center in Newark, advised him that he might need “protection.” Kim’s positions have led bloggers and at least one newspaper columnist to call for his ouster. Chris Christie’s pitched struggles with the teachers union.Įquitable funding.

He has managed all the sensitive issues that crop up in any fast-growing, affluent school system with high-achieving students and demanding parents.īut on top of all that, Kim increasingly finds himself a major player in the battle over public education that is raging across the United States but is especially potent in New Jersey because of Gov. He has coped with a hurricane that left district schools flooded and teachers unable to get into their classrooms.

Like other schools chiefs during the recession, he has had to steer the district through budget cuts that forced layoffs, larger classes, and program reductions. It’s been a busy and bruising few years for Earl Kim *93, the superintendent of schools in Montgomery Township, just north of Princeton.

Montgomery township school district superintendent