The Shamong Sun
Christine Vespe was recently named the new superintendent for the Shamong Township School District.
“It’s very exciting,” Vespe said. “Shamong is an amazing district with a great reputation and I’m ready to get to work.”
Vespe is currently the principal at Pemberton Township High School, a position she has held since January 2011. Previously, she was acting superintendent for the Palmyra School District where she served as high school principal from 2007 through 2010. She received both her master’s and bachelor’s degrees in business education from Rider University.
With aspirations of continuing her career as a superintendent again, Vespe first applied for the position in January. She had a prior relationship with current interim superintendent Dolores Szymanski and through conversations with her was encouraged to apply.
“Dolores only had great things to say about the district,” Vespe said. “She said the community is education-focused and heavily involved in the betterment of their schools. Clearly, that’s an attractive situation to come into.”
“From the first interview, I was impressed by the board,” Vespe said. “Their passion, their involvement, the initiatives they had in place and ones they were planning were just great.”
She was officially approved as the new superintendent April 9. Vespe is still extremely busy with graduation upcoming in just a few weeks for Pemberton Township High School.
Vespe leaves behind an impressive legacy at Pemberton. In fall 2012, New Jersey Magazine named it one of the top 10 most improved high schools in the state.
“That was definitely a proud moment for me,” Vespe said. “The entire community, parents, students, teachers, worked very hard, and it was definitely a source of pride for all of us.”
Having worked at both the high school and middle school level extensively, Vespe mentioned she had an attraction to the opportunity because it would allow her to oversee an elementary school environment.
Vespe couldn’t think of any specific concerns or apprehensions she had about starting in a new district.
“I am most looking forward to working with the staff in place to discuss what initiatives are working well already as well as what things we want to plan,” Vespe said.
After meeting with both Principal Tim Carroll at Indian Mills Memorial School and Principal Nicole Moore of Indian Mills Elementary, Vespe was excited to work with them to learn what problems they face and what can be done to address them. “I’m coming in with a very collaborative mentality,” Vespe said.
Vespe will officially finish at Pemberton June 30 and begin with Shamong on July 1. She will be in attendance at June’s BOE meeting, currently scheduled for Tuesday, June 11.
