Departing Superintendent Formally Bids Farewell

Outgoing Superintendent of Schools Raymond Bandlow likely attended his last Fort Lee Board of Education meeting Monday. Bandlow technically still has two weeks left on the job; he officially leaves the district on Oct. 31 to assume to the duties of Superintendent of the Beacon School District in Beacon, N.Y. the next day, when Acting Superintendent Steven Engravalle takes over for him for at least the next four months.

Bandlow opened Monday’s BOE meeting with a report on violence and vandalism—incidents of vandalism, violence, weapon possession and substance abuse are down by 42 percent across the district over a four-year period—but it was his farewell comments to the board and members of the public that highlighted the “Report of the Superintendent of Schools” that drew the biggest reaction, including polite applause at the end.

Bandlow said, “There’s always an element of regret in leaving this kind of commitment because even though you work 24/7, you cannot help but feel that your work is incomplete.”

“My greatest regret is that the referenda did not pass,” Bandlow said. “We came so close—some 30 votes out of over 3,000 the other way would have given our community the school facilities we need for the next generation.”

Instead, he said, the school board and administrators are instead taking a “more piecemeal approach” with the current, $30.2 million referendum and urged people to support it when it once again comes up for a vote in January.

“We need those repairs and renovations; even a few more classrooms will help,” Bandlow said. “Because it is our last chance to benefit from $10 million in state aid—one-third of what the [referendum] costs—it’s very significant.”

Bandlow went on the highlight what the school board and the district did accomplish “on my watch,” proudly noting that he’s “held this chair longer and provided greater stability than any of the eight superintendents since Alan Sugarman.”

Bandlow enumerated those accomplishments as follows:

• Overcoming fiscal challenges and offering Fort Lee school children “a high-quality education,” the likes of which haven’t been seen in decades, while dealing with severe cuts in state funding.
• Saving “millions in operating costs by providing our most needy children with excellent programs here in our own schools, rather than shipping them off” to other schools in the region “at great expense.”
• Seeing two schools labeled “Schools in Need of Improvement” shake that “undesirable status” and achieve “high benchmarks in every subgroup.”
• Forming the International Baccalaureate program at the high school—“one of only a handful of high schools in the state that have met the challenge of offering this rigorous program.”
• Seeing a 65 percent increase in the number of students taking Advanced Placement classes since 2007.
• Seeing Fort Lee High School in the past three-plus years reach the “highest ranking it’s ever had, both nationally and in our state.”
• Seeing one elementary school—Fort Lee School No. 3—achieve National Blue Ribbon status—“the first time for any school in Fort Lee.

Bandlow said that whatever regrets he may have about leaving the district are “are not about unfinished business,” but rather about the colleagues, faculty, staff, parents and community leaders he’s going to miss—people, he said, “who really care about schools and who work tirelessly to make things better for school children.”

He concluded by thanking the school board and community “for giving me the opportunity to practice my profession on behalf of your children, our incredible, wonderful students.”

“I especially want to thank the three board presidents I worked with: Art Levine, Joe Surace and Charlie Luppino,” Bandlow said, quipping that he should actually thank Luppino twice because he served as board president twice.

He also said that during his time with the Fort Lee School District he’s “come to love and appreciate these kids,” whom he called “the very best,” and who he said “deserve the very best.”

Other business Monday

Bandlow also presented a report on “incidents of vandalism, violence, weapon possession and substance abuse” across all six Fort Lee Schools from the 2007-2008 school year through last year. The report, which is required every year, showed a 42 percent drop in such incidents district-wide—down from a total of 97 in 2007-2008 to 56 in 2010-2011.

“I’m very pleased to see that in four years we’ve reduced violence and vandalism by 42 percent,” Bandlow said. “I’d especially like to point out the high school, where you can see the number of incidents dropped from as high in 2007-2008 of 72 to this last year 29 incidents, which is a very, very significant change … And that is a result of good leadership and good work from faculty and administrators.”

The complete rundown of of vandalism, violence, weapon possession and substance abuse as presented to the board Monday is as follows:

Also at Monday’s meeting, the Fort Lee Film Commission on behalf of its sponsors presented the school district with a $3,000 check—from funds it raised via its summer programming—to the Fort Lee High School Academy for Performing Arts.

“In this time of budgetary constraints on the schools, usually the first programs cut are arts programs,” said Fort Lee Film Commission executive director Tom Meyers prior to the meeting. “This check will support, in a small way, the talented students of Fort Lee High School as they continue to excel in theatre, music, art, digital media and film.”

Sponsors this year included The Greater Fort Lee Chamber of Commerce, The New Jersey Education Association, Capital One Bank, The Fort Lee Suburbanite, Fort Lee Patch, New York Waterway and Norm's Ice Cream.  

“We also thank a sponsor that chose to remain anonymous whose donation challenged us to meet it,” Meyers said. “And we did.”