P'burg hires schools chief

PHILLIPSBURG | The head of schools in Newton, N.J., is in line to become superintendent of the Phillipsburg School District after being offered the job by the school board Monday night.

The seven-month search for the administrative position ended when Mark B. Miller, superintendent of the Newton School District, accepted the offer by the school board.

Miller said his grandmother, a 1930s Phillipsburg graduate, would be proud.

"She always told me, 'One day you're going to be a Stateliner,'" he said after the board's vote.

Miller thanked the board for what he called his opportunity to "join the Phillipsburg family" and said accountability, visibility and an emphasis on the students would be among his foremost concerns.

Two board members, Rosemarie Person and Christopher Whittman opposed the motion to extend Miller the offer. Both declined to comment on their decision.

School board President Paul Rummerfield did not have an exact number of the applicants that had been considered for the position but said the process was a long one.

New Jersey School Boards Association representative Joanne Borin said in June the Phillipsburg School Board had interviewed seven candidates.

"We had a very extensive and comprehensive search and review," Rummerfield said. "I don't think any of us anticipated it taking as long as it did."

Miller can start his new job after a review from the Warren County Department of Education and the New Jersey Department of Education.

Until then, board Attorney Donald Souders said, no figure for his salary could be released.

"We're still tying up lose ends," said Souders, who added that the board hopes to see the review finished by the next school board meeting in two weeks.