We hope that the Ocean City Board of Education’s hiring of Dr. Brian Latwis as the new superintendent of schools last week breaks the trend in recent years.
The current superintendent, Dr. Christian Angelillo, is leaving after only two years, following a superintendent who lasted only a year and multiple interim superintendents in between that followed the retirement of Dr. Kathy Taylor after a long tenure.
Taylor left in summer 2021 and the district hasn’t been able to hang onto a replacement for the long haul, something that is crucial for the long-term stability of the district.
School board members have heaped praise on Angelillo and what he has done over the past two years, but they were admittedly shocked when the relatively young leader announced he was retiring earlier this year. Clearly, it wasn’t what they expected.
The school board made a poor choice before that when they hired a superintendent who was commuting from Pennsylvania, working other jobs and spending far too much time not on the ground in Ocean City. When the district’s leader starts looking for a new job just months after taking over, that’s not a good sign. (He lasted longer in a new job back in Pennsylvania, but is already out of that job, too.)
Latwis, who is coming to Ocean City after eight years as superintendent of the Barnegat Township School District just up the coast, told the Sentinel after he was introduced last week that he plans a long stay in the resort, possibly even making this his last stop.
It’s a bold statement for someone in their mid-40s, but if he proves to be the leader school board members believe him to be, it could prove beneficial to the district.
He, too, plans to commute, but on the brighter side it’s from about 45 minutes away, not a few hours.
Latwis said that is to help ensure some stability for his twin 14-year-old daughters heading to freshman year in high school next year, a transition parents who’ve been there can understand.
Barnegat’s district made the news in a negative way about a year ago with allegations that some staff members taped an 8-year-old student with disabilities to a chair. A teacher and four staffers were subsequently fired.
Latwis, who came up the ranks through special education departments, was quoted in media reports saying that the district did not tolerate that type of behavior. We expect Ocean City’s school board members were aware of the incident and Latwis’s response to it.
One aspect that does concern us about the entire search process is that we have been told some candidates from within the district were not seriously considered or offered second interviews.
We are sure there are pitfalls when hiring from within, even though other area districts have been quite successful with that, but after the earlier missteps in hiring and dealing with the interim leaders, it would seem worth greater consideration and that inside candidates are provided due respect.