By Scott Brinton
Caramore, who was with Bellmore-Merrick for 28 years in a variety of posts, will remain with the Central District through September, when Kiernan will take Bellmore-Merrick's reins.
Kiernan has served as superintendent of West Morris Regional School District in north-central New Jersey since 1998. In many ways, West Morris resembles the Central District. It's a 2,400-student district with two high schools, which takes in children from five K-through-8 elementary districts. By comparison, Bellmore-Merrick, with its three high schools and two middle schools, boasts more than 5,000 students from four K-6 districts.
West Morris Central High School serves Washington Township. West Morris Mendham High takes in Chester Township, Mendham Borough and Mendham Township.
Newsweek, which annually rates the 1,000 best high schools in the nation, ranks Mendham High School 140th on its list, two places behind Calhoun High School and 18 ahead of Kennedy High. West Morris Central is No. 962 on the list. Newsweek bases its rankings largely on the number of students at a high school who take Advanced Placement courses.
West Morris's communities, which lie a little less than an hour outside Manhattan, are described as middle-class to upscale, with a mix of landed estates, corporate headquarters and leafy suburban neighborhoods full of well-manicured homes.
West Morris is one of six New Jersey regional school districts that offer the International Baccalaureate, an advanced high-school diploma administered by the International Baccalaureate Organization. According to the IBO Web site, the diploma is intended to "cultivate internationalism and respect for other cultures. ... Students are taught to be active learners, well-rounded individuals and engaged citizens, who gain practical experience of being part of an international community."
A relatively small number of Long Island districts offer the International Baccalaureate. One is Rockville Centre.
A former English teacher, Kiernan earned his bachelor's degree from Rowan University in New Jersey, and his master's and doctorate in educational administration from Rutgers. Before becoming West Morris's superintendent, the award-winning administrator served as the district's curriculum director.
West Morris is well known for its history program. In 2003, Kiernan was invited to take part in a White House forum on American History, Civics and Service. In his superintendent's message to the community that year, Kiernan wrote, "President Bush is initiating a much-needed academic focus on our national tradition of service. This is a unique and admirable endeavor, and it could not come at a better time."
Kiernan also wrote, "As a school superintendent, I know that students learn best in classrooms where teachers are also continually learning about the content they teach. ... History must not be taught passively from textbook passages, but rather from engaging students to discuss, debate and read from a variety of historical documents and personal narratives."
Comments about this story? SBrinton@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 203.
West Morris by the numbers
Dr. Henry Kiernan, the new Bellmore-Merrick Central School District superintendent, comes from the West Morris School District, where he served as superintendent since 1998. The following provides a short profile of the district.*
€Number of schools: 2
€Grade levels: 9-12
€Student enrollment (as of Oct. 15, 2002): 2,315
€Student attendance rate: 95 percent
€Number of professional staff: 227
€Per-pupil spending (2003-04): $12,862
€Length of school day: 6 hours, 55 minutes
€Student/faculty ratio: 11:1
€Student/computer ratio: 3.5:1
€Average class size: 22 students
*Numbers come from the district's most recent New Jersey State Report Card, March 2004.
