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Superintendent Seidenberger Steps Down
Brick's Top School Administrator Accepts Job In Pennsylvania
By Catherine Galioto
Brick schools will lose its superintendent, Thomas Seidenberger, to East Penn School District, which voted to hire him this week.
Come next week, the Brick Board of Education will vote on an interim school superintendent, School Board President Brian DeLuca said.
DeLuca said Seidenberger left to be reunited with his family at their home in Pennsylvania. Seidenberger had to commute and lived in an apartment near his job in Brick in order to carry out his superintendent duties. The new job will allow him to be with his family more, DeLuca said.
East Penn's board voted 6-1 to hire Seidenberger at its Monday meeting. The one "no" vote, from the East Penn board president, was because the salary was higher than their current superintendent's.
DeLuca said Seidenberger is in the $150,000 range. The East Penn Board approved a $156,000 annual salary for five years.
At Brick, Seidenberger had about two years left on his contract. He joined the district more than three years ago, after leaving a superintendent job elsewhere in New Jersey.
Seidenberger, a Lehigh Valley native, has 18 years of experience as a top administrator in several school districts. He served as a superintendent in West Grove, Pennsylvania before coming to Brick. Prior to that, he worked as a superintendent in Phillipsburg and as principal of the Bethelem Area School District, where his wife works as a teacher.
DeLuca praised Seidenberger's work during his tenure with the district, saying he was immense in improving the district's technology.
"It is tremendous, everything is rewired, and we have new graphics labs thanks to him," DeLuca said. "It was his vision that brought us to where we are today."
August 13 will be Seidenberger's first day in his new job.
The search for a new superintendent will take up to eight months, DeLuca said. The district will have an interim superintendent announced at the next board meeting to oversee the schools after Seidenberger leaves in August.
DeLuca came to the township council meeting to explain to students and parents that the superintendent's departure should not be cause for alarm.
"We have a plan in place to cover six to eight months of interim," DeLuca said. "We've made arrangements … We have things in practice in case this were to happen."
Seidenberger's departure did not come as a surprise. He was also a finalist for the superintendent position for Parsippany School District, and is known to have continued hunting for a new position since.
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