By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Primary School will have a new principal in September, and she’s a tweeter.
The district board of ed approved the selection of Erin Mulligan-Pierre, right, Tuesday night to replace Rick Cohen, said Superintendent Laura Morana.
The two-school district will also have a new business administrator, replacing Annie Darrow, who recently took a job with the Howell school district.
Now working as the director of curriculum in the pre-K-to-12 Keyport district, Mulligan-Pierre is scheduled to start work July 1 at an annual salary of $108,000, said Morana.
Cohen left the district in March after six years as principal to become director of curriculum in Metuchen.
Mulligan-Pierre was one of 67 candidates for the job, 10 of whom were interviewed by a selection committee comprised of primary school teachers and staff, the PTO president administrators.
The names of the top three candidates were sent to Morana, who said she was pleased to recognize one. She said she had met Mulligan-Pierre at a conference a year ago, and the South Amboy resident had in recent months visited the primary school to see some Red Bank initiatives in action.
The job of principal, Morana said, “is not the same as it was 10 or 20 years ago.
“You have to come in, with the set of expectations that are in place, having the self-confidence that ‘I am capable of leading the school in a way to produce the desired student outcomes,'” she said.
Mulligan-Pierre posted a tweet on Thursday night linking to an Asbury Park Press article about her selection with a comment, “Hey! That’s me!”
The school board also named Debra Pappagallo as business administrator and board secretary, effective July 15 or sooner.
Pappagallo joins the district from Red Bank Regional, where she has more than ten years of experience as an assistant business administrator.
