In an announcement made through tonight’s meeting agenda, the Board Of Education (BOE) announced BOE Superintendent Patrick Spagnoletti as well as Roselle Park Middle School (RPMS) Principal Jeannine Grasso would be retiring at the end of the 2012-2013 school year.
“Roselle Park’s loss will be the Grasso family’s gain,” Superintendent Spagnoletti began his comment regarding Mrs. Grasso. He spoke of Mrs. Grasso’s welcoming of an eighth grandchild and her desire to spend more time with her grandchildren and family. He offered a brief history of Mrs. Grasso’s career in the Roselle Park school district by outlining that she started out as a Physical Education teacher then moved up to guidance director and eventually to principal of RPMS. He commended her as having ’embodied the culture of what a middle school philosophy is’ and understanding the behavior as well as the mental, physical, and emotional changes of a student body preparing for high school. He concluded his comments by saying, “It’s been my privilege to work with her and I wish her a very healthy, happy, and successful retirement and I think the Board will have its work cut out out for them in looking for a replacement.”
The Superintendent then spoke of his own retirement which he stated will be effective June 13, 2013. Mr. Spagnoletti commented, “In my 30 years of education, I’ve been given the pleasure of working with [and] serving under a diverse group of students, teacher, colleagues, and forward-thinking community members. I do think though that I saved the best for last in coming to Roselle Park . . . Together we have accomplished great things. Not I, but we. Education has been my life and I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity of a lifetime.”
He offered his assistance in working with board to find a new superintendent.
“It will be a big void that we have to fill,” BOE President Rinaldi stated in her comments, “I have seen wonderful things he did do for this district and great strides we’ve made over the last ten years and I know it will be hard [to] find someone else but we thank him and we wish him the best.”
After the meeting, the BOE went into closed session to discuss the process of finding and appointing a new superintendent and principal.