Christian Angelillo talks longevity over his 29 years in education
OCEAN CITY – The Ocean City Board of Education unanimously approved a contract for a new superintendent of schools Thursday evening, welcoming Christian Angelillo.
“It’s wonderful to have a full vote on this without any dissension,” board President Kevin Barnes said.
“I do want to really thank everybody involved,” he added. “There were a lot of stakeholders involved …. The input was invaluable. The committee itself I’ll never be able to fully express my appreciation for your commitment.” He also thanked Interim Superintendent Terrence Crowley.
“I want to thank the board, obviously, for the confidence and trust you have in me for leading this wonderful district,” Angelillo said after being introduced at the meeting. “I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to getting boots on the ground and getting to know all of you, appreciating and understanding what’s important to all of you. That’s become very evident to me dealing with the board through this process.”
“I truly am looking forward to getting started,” Angelillo said. “One of the things that’s important to me and has been over the years … in order to accomplish great things you have to immerse yourself into the fabric of the community, become a part of it. That’s how we accomplish great things for all of our students.”
Angelillo told the audience he has 29 years in education. He noted his path “has been an interesting one” that he shared with the board and will share with the community over time.
“At the end of the day, what I am passionate about is seeing kids from start to finish reach their potential, grow and ultimately leave the school system much better people than they were when they started,” he said. “And that doesn’t happen by accident. It happens with the support of parents, family, friends and the community at large.”
Angelillo said he can’t wait to get started.
Barnes had Angelillo sign the contract in front of the audience to a round of applause.
“I’ve been in education. This is my 29th year,” Angelillo told the Sentinel. “I have been fortunate to be blessed with longevity in a number of districts so I think one of the things that’s important to me is you have to get to know what’s important to the people in your community and having that longevity enables you to do that.
“And it really helps from an initiative standpoint as well,” he said. “Once you understand what’s important to people it helps to catapult you to what should be next in the eyes of where you’re heading as a district.”
Angelillo said his most recent posting is in Boonton, a town of just under 9,000 people in Morris County. He is the superintendent of the K-12 Boonton School District, which had an enrollment of about 1,450 students in the 2020-21 school year.
Asked what attracted him to the Ocean City School District, Angelillo said he and his wife are north Jersey transplants who had been vacationing in the area for many years “and had always dreamt of ultimately ending up down here, knowing it was going to be challenging with two kids at home.”
With two of their kids now in college – a daughter who is a freshman at Stockton University in Galloway Township and a son, a senior lacrosse player at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, N.Y., that became possible.
“It was the right time for us,” he said. He expects to start work in the district this summer.
While Angelillo spoke of his longevity in his previous positions, that has been an issue in recent years in Ocean City.
The K-12 district was without permanent leadership in the 2021-22 school year after long-serving superintendent Dr. Kathleen Taylor retired in summer 2021. An interim superintendent served for a year before the district hired Dr. Matthew Friedman, who ran the district for the 2022-23 school year, but Friedman left for another district after a tumultuous one-year tenure.
Another interim superintendent served for the fall of 2023 while a search for a superintendent was conducted but was not able to come up with a candidate. The search began anew this year under Crowley, who made it one of his priorities.
“The superintendent search generated over fifty applicants. With this large pool of interested educators, the board had the opportunity to review and eventually interview several finalists for the position,” Crowley said in a press release issued early Friday morning by the district. “Dr. Angelillo presented himself as an experienced and qualified individual who would contribute to and lead the Ocean City School District as it provides an outstanding education for our students. He will bring to the district a wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm.”
According to the district, Angelillo has worked as a social studies teacher, assistant principal, principal at both elementary and high school levels and superintendent in New Jersey. His latest roles include being the superintendent and principal at Boonton Township School District, and an adjunct professor at Centenary University in Hackettstown.
Angelillo is involved with multiple professional affiliations such as the New Jersey Association of School Administrators and the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association. He earned an Ed.D. in K-12 administration from Seton Hall University, a master of arts in educational administration and supervision from Montclair State University and a bachelor of arts in history and a minor in philosophy from Fordham University.
– Story and photos by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
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