At its meeting on August 15th, the North Hunterdon-Voorhees Regional High School District Board of Education hired candidates for the positions of Assistant Superintendent of Schools and Principal of North Hunterdon High School.
The Board of Education approved North Hunterdon High School Principal, Dr. Richard A. Bergacs, to be the new Assistant Superintendent of Schools for the North Hunterdon-Voorhees Regional High School District. He succeeds Mr. Michael Hughes who retired from the district on July 31, 2017.
“I am excited and humbled to be appointed to the position of Assistant Superintendent, and look forward to moving our district in a positive direction in the future. I am very proud of the accomplishments we were able to achieve at North Hunterdon over the past four years and look forward to serving both our high schools in this new capacity,” said Bergacs.
Prior to becoming Principal of North Hunterdon High School in July 2013, Dr. Bergacs was an Assistant Principal at North Hunterdon High School for two years. For 12 years prior, Dr. Bergacs was the high school district’s Director of Technology. Dr. Bergacs was an Adjunct Professor at The College of New Jersey for eight years where he implemented a course on Network Technology for the Master degree students in the Educational Technology department. He was an Applied Technology Teacher at Stillwater Township School from 1994 to 1999. Dr. Bergacs received his Bachelor of Science in Technology Education degree from The College of New Jersey, and his Masters of Education and Doctor of Education degrees in Educational Administration and Supervision from Rutgers University.
With the promotion of Dr. Bergacs, the district conducted a search for a new Principal for North Hunterdon High School. A committee interviewed two internal candidates and four external candidates. On August 15th, the Board of Education hired current North Hunterdon High School Assistant Principal, Dr. Gregory Cottrell, to lead the high school.
“I am very honored to have the opportunity to serve as Principal of North Hunterdon High School. I am genuinely committed and dedicated to the positive future of NHHS students and staff. I look forward to applying my educational experience as I continue to form positive relationships with the community and continue moving North Hunterdon High School along a path of success. I feel very fortunate to serve as Principal of this distinguished organization, one with a strong reputation of academic achievement and an outstanding student body with strong parental and community support,” said Dr. Cottrell.
Dr. Cottrell has been a member of the North Hunterdon community for 12 years. He served as Assistant Principal of North Hunterdon High School for the last four years. From 2004 to 2012, he was a Technology Education Teacher. He left for one year to be an Assistant Principal at Warren Hills High School, but returned to North Hunterdon when an Assistant Principal position opened. Dr. Cottrell received his Bachelors of Science degree from California University of Pennsylvania, and his Masters of Education and Doctor of Education degrees from East Stroudsburg University.
To fulfill the vacancy left by Dr. Cottrell’s promotion, the Board hired Ms. Yulee Kim as an Assistant Principal for North Hunterdon High School. Ms. Kim comes to North Hunterdon from Newark Public Schools where she was the Assistant Principal of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment.
In addition to the above two positions, changes were made to the supervisory and administrative structure at both schools in July. The department supervisor positions were eliminated and new assistant principal positions were added at both high schools. At Voorhees High School, former department supervisors Kelly Anne Kieffer, Chris Maslonka and John Simpson are the new Assistant Principals; Susan Hammerstone remains an Assistant Principal as well. At North Hunterdon High School, former department supervisor Chris Schumann and former student activities director Tim Flynn are the new Assistant Principals; Carol Skidmore remains an Assistant Principal. At the district level, Rich Broan, formerly an Assistant Principal at Voorhees, is the Director of Curriculum, Articulation and Student Achievement, and Mike Squarcia is the Director of School Counseling Services, which is an expanded role from his previous position as Director of Guidance.
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