Last week, Livingston Public Schools superintendent Matthew Block announced that he will resign from his position at the end of the school year to take another superintendent job in an upstate New York school district.
Superintendent Block began his tenure in Livingston during a tumultuous period. After just a few months on the job, the school district was the victim of a ransomware attack, where hackers broke into the network and took data hostage from Livingston’s schools. Just as that mess was cleaned up, the COVID pandemic hit. The next few years in school involved a lot of difficult planning and conversations around remote schooling, masking, budgetary issues, staffing, absences and more. It was, to put it lightly, an unenviable time to be in that role and he handled it well, given the once-in-a-lifetime circumstances.
As we have pulled out of the pandemic in recent years, things began to stabilize, though there is never a dull moment in the district. Attend a Board of Education meeting, and you will quickly learn the variety of concerns of Livingston parents and the challenges facing the schools (most recently, for example, the superintendent’s trip to Israel proved divisive). Once COVID-related issues were pushed to the back burner, however, Block focused on implementing a five-year strategic plan and a long-range facilities plan, among other district initiatives.
Through the past five years, Block has been a steady hand, something particularly welcomed in the district following the quick exit of the previous superintendent. That stability was greatly appreciated when he started in 2019. We wish him the best in his next role.
At the same time, we are saddened to have to begin another search for a district superintendent. Livingston Public Schools remains one of the best districts in the state; people move to this town specifically because of our schools. Hiring the right superintendent is as crucial as any one decision in ensuring LPS remains as successful as it has been for decades.
The Board of Education said that it is currently in the “early planning stages” of the search process; the Board held a closed executive session to discuss the matter this past Wednesday. We have several months left with Block in Livingston (it appears that his resignation announcement was timed to give 90 days’ notice leading to the end of the school year), so that should afford the district time to undergo a deliberate search. We look forward to hearing more about that process in the coming weeks as we anticipate a likely hire sometime this summer, prior to the start of the 2024-25 school year.
