Crystal Lovell Unanimously Approved as Lawrence's New Superintendent by Township School Board

The search for Lawrence Township’s new superintendent of schools is over and, in the end, the township board of education did not have very far to go to find their replacement for retiring Superintendent Phil Meara.

Crystal Lovell, who has served as assistant superintendent for Lawrence Township Public Schools since 2005, was appointed as the new superintendent during Monday evening’s (Aug. 8) school board meeting.

Lovell’s appointment to the township school district’s top post came immediately following a public gathering that was held at Lawrence High School Monday afternoon to thank Meara for his 5½ years of service as Lawrence Township’s schools head and to wish him well in his retirement.

“I just want to say thank you to the board and thank you to my team that I work with every single day and my family and just Lawrence in general,” Lovell said after her appointment as new superintendent was unanimously approved by the board.  

“This has really come to be my home. I said during my interview, ‘It doesn’t matter whether you choose me or you don’t and I’m working for the person you do choose.’ I have a vested interest here. And I want to make sure that I give the best to the kids because I really, really, really love this place and I think it is just a wonderful, wonderful place to be, and we do some dynamic things for children,” Lovell said. “That’s where I’ve always wanted to be – someplace where it really is about the kids. Phil set that tone early on. Every meeting, he was always, ‘Let’s keep it about the kids.’ And I want to continue keeping it about the kids and moving things forward. I’m just so grateful to be sitting here.”

She went on to thank Meara and called him the “absolute best mentor ever.” She added, “I’m just so thankful to him for all his leadership and guidance. Thank you Phil so much.”

Meara responded by saying, “One of the reporters asked me tonight what would my legacy be. So here it is – I paved the way for Dr. Crystal Lovell and she will make history here in Lawrence… There are certain times in education – they’re very rare – where all the stars are in alignment. The team that you have [in Lawrence], the staff, the teachers, the board – it’s very, very rare that you have people like that all working toward the same common good… I look forward to all the articles in the newspapers and I can read about all you guys and your successes. It is just so nice to retire on such a high note. It couldn’t be better.”

Lovell will take over as superintendent on Sept. 1, the day Meara’s retirement becomes effective. A search will now be launched to find someone to replace Lovell as assistant superintendent. That replacement could possibly come from within the district.

Lovell’s contract, as approved by the school board Monday night, will run through June 30, 2015. Her salary for the 2011-2012 school year will be $165,000, however that amount will be prorated to $137,500, according to school district Business Administrator Thomas Eldridge.

Lovell, 45, lives with her three daughters – ages 19, 14, and 13 – in Hillsborough. She holds a doctorate in educational leadership from Seton Hall University, a master’s degree in chemistry from Rutgers University and a bachelor’s degree in secondary education from Penn State University. Her career in education spans 24 years, and she has worked in East Orange, Hillsborough, Metuchen and Highland Park.

(For more information about Lovell’s career, read the news release that was issued by the school district about her appointment as superintendent.)

Among her priorities for the first few months as superintendent, Lovell said, will be to make sure the district remains focused on its strategic plan and that the launch of the is successful.

During Monday’s meeting, School Board President Laura Waters explained that after , the school board retained the services of the New Jersey School Boards Association to help conduct a regional search for his replacement.

“We knew we had an amazing talent here [in Lovell], but as part of our due-diligence as board members, we felt that we needed to go through the process of doing a really thorough search to see who is really the best person, the best candidate, to be superintendent of Lawrence Township Public Schools,” Waters said.

“This board, about half of us, actually did a search five-and-a-half years ago, when we found Phil. And that was really a different kind of search. Then, we didn’t have a superintendent; we had an interim. And we were really looking at the pool of candidates that came in...” Waters continued. “This was, to me, a very different kind of search because we had Dr. Crystal Lovell here, and so every application that came in was measured relative to her. In other words, we were looking [to see] if was there anyone else out there who was better than her. So we had a very clear benchmark, which I think is not typical of searches at this level.”

Nearly three dozen candidates applied for the position. “Because we had such a high benchmark, we were able to eliminate a lot of candidates, for various reasons,” Waters said.

With the candidate pool narrowed to just four, including Lovell, the school board conducted interviews over the course of two nights at the end of July. Lovell was the last of the four to be interviewed.

“We had some good candidates, we really did,” Waters said. But during the board’s interview with Lovell, “the whole room seemed electrified by her energy and knowledge and intelligence and commitment to the kids here… There was so much insight and strategic thinking about where Lawrence Township schools need to go. Finally, we got her out of there and I looked at the board and they just said, ‘Let’s vote,” because Crystal had so vividly surpassed the capabilities of the top candidates in the field.”

Moments after the board approved Lovell’s appointment, the packed library at Lawrence High School erupted in applause and family members presented Lovell with flowers.

Then, during the first public comment segment of the meeting, several well-wishers took the opportunity to congratulate Lovell.

 “I’m here on behalf of the Lawrence Township principals and supervisors association and I’d just like to thank the board and tell you we support you 100 percent,” said Judith Bronston, principal of . “We think you did the best thing for Lawrence. We know that there’s nobody out there who is any better than our Dr. Lovell. She is amazing. We see her talent every day. We know and feel confident that with her leadership we will move forward and do what’s best for Lawrence. We support Dr. Lovell and we look forward to working for her and with her.”

Barbara Levine, co-president of the Lawrence Township Education Association, the district’s teachers’ union, wished Meara well in his retirement and welcomed Lovell. “We look forward to working with you and are thrilled at you being the choice of the board,” she said.

Former school board member Deborah Endo, , commented that the choice of Lovell as Meara’s replacement was an obvious one.

“I have to say when I heard Phil was leaving I was really sad, but I said to Laura [Waters], I said to anyone in sight, ‘This is a no-brainer.’ I am so, so excited,” Endo said.

Pepper Evans, president of the , said “I’m very sorry to see Phil go – my children have flourished under his leadership. I’m so happy to have Crystal taking Phil’s place. The sad part for us is that Crystal won’t be at the foundation meetings anymore.”

Eileen Bright, a second-grade teacher at , said she is “elated with the news. I’m looking forward to a great year.”

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