New Superintendent of Schools for the Sewanhaka Central High School District Ralph Ferrie was officially sworn in at a board of education organization meeting on Tuesday, along with the appointment of the new assistant principal for H. Frank Carey High School, Marc Isseks.
Ferrie, 57, was a middle school principal for nine years before becoming superintendent of schools in the Absecon, NJ, school district where he served for three years.
Ferrie then served as superintendent of the Monroe Township School District in New Jersey from 2001 to 2008. During his tenure there, student enrollment increased from 3,500 to 6,000 students and Ferrie said he oversaw the addition of two elementary schools to the district, as well as plans for a new high school.
Ferrie said working in a smaller school district was a good way to learn all aspects of the district.
“When you’re in a smaller district as superintendent, you sort of do everything,” Ferrie said in an earlier discussion. He said his first objective in Sewanhaka is to “get up here and meet as many people as possible and learn, learn, learn.”
Isseks had been the acting assistant principal for at H. Frank Cary High School since last November, when he took over for retired assistant principal Lorraine Wright.
Until Tuesday, Isseks had been the social studies coordinator for the district since 2005.
“I loved that job, but I had the opportunity to take on more responsibility with the position of acting assistant principal,” Isseks said. “When the opportunity came to apply for the position, I jumped at it.”
Isseks said he enjoyed working with the social studies department, but he liked seeing the building in a more global perspective as acting assistant principal.
Sewanhaka Central High School Board of Education President Jean Fichtl retained her position along with vice president David Fowler, and the acting representatives on the board remained the same.
