Families who send their children to Ocean City Public Schools may sometimes feel like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. When Dorothy arrives in Munchkinland, she says, “People come and go so quickly here!”
It seems to be training for a revolving door of superintendents. The district, which serves fewer than 2,000 students, is preparing to hire its fifth new superintendent since 2021.
What is causing this confusion?
According to former board member Robin Shaffer, it's the school board's fault, but not the members' fault. The district is small, about the size of some high schools, but has 12 school board members, nine representing Ocean City and three representing Upper Township, the sending district. There are also two additional non-voting members (Sea Isle City and Long Port) from sending districts that do not send enough students to secure voting seats.
In this way, Ocean City Public Schools is a caricature of New Jersey's overcrowded school districts, boards of education, and superintendents. The late Congressman Alan Karcher called it “multi-municipal madness.”
Shaffer, a former board member (and a resident of Maryland, whose county districts are a model New Jersey could emulate), calls the size of the school district outlined in the ordinance, which no one can touch, “dysfunctional.” By design.”
“When you have 12 or 14 people in a room, it’s difficult to find any kind of consensus,” he explains. “Dynamics tend to coalesce around groupthink, with the strongest personality in the room holding all the power.”
Ocean City was once much more functional. From 2006 to 2021, Kathleen Taylor served as Superintendent. When she retired she became dysfunctional, at least when it came to choosing her next local leader. First, the board hired interim Superintendent Tom Baruffi. He served until June 2022, when the board appointed Matthew Friedman. He signed a three-year contract starting at $190,000 per year, but quit after eight months to take a top job at the Quakertown Community School District in Bucks County. (According to reports, the Ocean City Board of Education learned of the news from an article in the Bucks County Herald.) Then, in August 2023, the board hired Scott McCartney on an interim basis. He left in December and the new interim employee is Terrence Crowley.
The school board is currently conducting a search as students and teachers endure their fifth superintendent in three years. Now they need someone to look at Ocean City and say, “There’s no place like home.”