By Katrina Grant
Dr. Dolores Szymanski has been the interim superintendent for the Shamong Township School District since September, and now it looks like she may be around to stay.
Szymanski came to the school district after the retirement of the previous superintendent. Szymanski’s contract was expected to end in January, but she has been in talks with the Board of Education to extend it.
“I have been having conversations with the board about extending my contract,” Szymanski said. “I love it here. It is a wonderful community and a wonderful school system.”
“Things are going phenomenally well with Dolores,” Melissa Scott, Board of Education president, said in an email. “She has told us recently that she would accept our offer to extend her contract, and we plan on doing so.”
Szymanski is implementing several ideas that she had in the beginning of the year and hopes to continue them through her tenure.
“We are continuing to look at data to drive assessment,” Szymanski said. “We are setting some benchmark assessments and teacher evaluation measures. We have the NJ QSAC visit coming up, and we are setting some big initiatives for that. I want to enhance the curriculum and continue to drive technology into the teacher and learning environment.”
Szymanski graduated cum laude from Temple University in 1974 with a bachelor’s of Science degree in Secondary Education/Social Studies. She then went on to earn a master’s of Education degree in Psychology of Reading, also from Temple University. She earned her doctorate in education at Wilmington University.
Beginning her career as a social studies teacher and reading specialist in the Camden City and the Camden County Vocational Technical school districts, she spent nine years in those positions before accepting a position as an assistant principal at BCIT. She was appointed assistant superintendent in 2003.
Szymanski has also served in many leadership roles at local, state and federal education associations, including president of the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association. She was the 1991 recipient of the NJPSA Golden Lamp Award for Educational Excellence in Education; the 1994 NASSP/McDonald’s Corporation’s Assistant Principal of the Year; the 2000 Burlington County Outstanding Woman of the Year in the Field of Education, and the 1996 Temple University Alumna of the Year Award in the Field of Education.
Currently, she serves as a board member of the United Way of Burlington County and chairs the Education Impact Committee. She is treasurer of the Temple University Alumni Association and South Jersey chair of the Wilmington University Alumni Association.
Szymanski came from Burlington County Institute of Technology as its superintendent where she retired one month before accepting the position at Shamong, after spending 37 years in public education in the state. Making the transition from high school students to younger children has been a learning experience for Szymanski, but she is enjoying herself along the way.
“The best part and the worst part are the same because I have no experience on the primary level,” Szymanski said. “It’s a real learning curve. I was a middle school teacher, so I’m familiar with that, but K-4 is a different learning experience.”
“This is a really positive atmosphere, K-8 is wonderful” Szymanski said. “The foundational experience of what happens at this level predicts what happens in high school. I have so much interaction with the students and staff. I get to go into the classroom and get a real idea of the work the teachers are doing.”
