Fresh faces in high places

Blairstown Elementary Superintendent Mark Saalfield wears sus penders in homage to his school principal dad, who accented his suspenders with a belt.

"The suspenders kept his pants up; the belt was for me when I was bad," laughed Saalfield.

Two miles away, North Warren Regional Superintendent Brian Fo gelson wears a Winnie the Pooh tie, part of a collection that grew expo nentially over the years after colleagues learned of his fondness for the popular A. A. Milne bear.

In Saalfield and Fogelson, Blairstown has two new superintendents with two unique personalities and more than seven decades of combined experience.

They have been at their respective schools for two months. But a school building without students is just a building, so the new era for superintendents in Blairstown officially began yesterday, when stu dents filled the halls.

Saalfield, a 39-year educator, who last was principal in North Dover, was the first "outsider" hired at Blairstown Elementary, where there have only been three superintendents since 1969, all rising from the ranks. Highly respected Mike Feeney recently retired after a 37-year career at the school.

"I lived in Warren County previ ously, so I knew of Blairstown and its fine academic reputation," said Saalfield, a Somerset County native and father of six. "It's unusual here. From my first time here, I thought it was a very special place."

In a career that spanned private and public schools, Saalfield has done everything from teaching special education and serving as principal to coordinating sports activities as director of athletics.

Respectful of Blairstown's heritage, Saalfield said he brings a different perspective.

"Sometimes, fresh ideas and a different look at things is a positive," Saalfield said.

Behind his desk is a photo of basketball greats Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain battling for position.

When a visitor asked why he kept the picture, he replied: "Two warriors. It just reminds me of the work ethic required to be successful."

At North Warren, serving stu dents in grades 7-12, Fogelson has in only two months seen the best and worst sides of the community.

He watched with pride as mayors, councils and employees in Blairstown, Frelinghuysen, Hardwick and Knowlton townships provided the resources and manpower to create a new parking lot and athletic fields, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars.

He watched with sadness after vandals broke into the football field press box, wrecked a concession stand and spray-painted swastikas and graffiti on the school.

Fogelson's goal is to instill more pride in the school, which goes by the moniker the Patriots.

"If kids feel safe, secure and cared for when they come into the building, they feel better about being there, and they have better academic performance," he said. "Schools are a family. That may sound a little hokey to some folks, but I believe it's true."

Fogelson -- a Sussex County native whose 32-year career has taken him from teaching music in a small town in Nova Scotia to being an administrator in Florida and Pennsylvania to serving as principal at Delaware Valley Regional -- said the strength of North Warren is in its staff and students.

"I love the place," he said. "It's a solid school."

Other new Warren County superintendents at the start of the school year are Mark Miller in Phillipsburg and Edward Kemp in Mansfield Township and interim superintendents Albert Purdy (Greenwich Township) and William Caldwell (Lopatcong Township).