After nearly five years with the Tabernacle school district, Superintendent George Rafferty is moving on.
At a special meeting Feb. 10 of the Mt. Laurel Board of Education, the board approved a resolution appointing Rafferty as the district’s new superintendent with a four-year contract and a starting salary of $162,500.
According to the resolution, Rafferty will start his new position in Mt. Laurel later this year on or before July 1.
Rafferty’s contract with the Tabernacle school district was set to last through June 30, 2018, but also includes a 90-day resignation notification clause.
“That’s mutually under discussion depending on the district and the superintendent, so it all depends,” Rafferty said. “Strictly under the terms and conditions of the contract, it would be 90 days upon my notification to the board.”
Rafferty is a graduate of Hahnemann University and Holy Family College with a degree in special education. He also holds a master’s degree in school psychology, an education specialist’s degree from Rowan University and a certificate of advanced study in administration.
His teaching career first began in 1990 as a special education teacher in Pennsauken Schools. He then served as a school counselor in Gloucester Township before returning to Pennsauken as a school psychologist, and later moving on as the supervisor of specials in Somers Point.
Rafferty then served as the director of special education in Haddon Heights schools for the three years prior to his appointment as Tabernacle superintendent.
Rafferty described his time with the Tabernacle School district as a “great run” and said he was able to help do great things in Tabernacle under several different initiatives.
“We’ve worked very well with the administrative team there to help see things through, and I think I’ve been honored to be able to work with their students,” Rafferty said. “They have awesome students, they have outstanding parental involvement.”
However, Rafferty’s time in Tabernacle was not without its share of critics.
Throughout the last year in particular, a significant portion of several Tabernacle Board of Education meetings were spent with parents criticizing Rafferty and blaming him for various problems in the district, with some parents even as going as far as placing signs on their properties and signing petitions that said “Fire George Rafferty.”
While Rafferty didn’t comment on those specific parents and that movement in particular, he did say parents in Tabernacle in general were very involved in their children’s education, and it was important to get feedback from parents regardless of whether that feedback was positive or negative.
“It’s when you don’t hear anything, I think maybe there’s some stagnancy going on,” Rafferty said. “When change is happening and it’s meaningful, you’re going to get positive reviews and you’re going to get negative reviews and you’re going to have those different perspectives, but I’m very pleased with the progress we’ve been able to make there together.”
Looking to the future, Rafferty described the Mt. Laurel district as a “very selective application” for him, and said it was the only district he applied to.
“I haven’t applied to every superintendent opening, I’m very selective and I was very selective on them,” Rafferty said.
As someone who was already part of the Lenape Regional sending district, Rafferty also said he was familiar with Mt. Laurel schools.
Rafferty said he is pursuing a doctorate in educational leadership from Wilmington University, and hoped his new position in Mt. Laurel would allow him make a more substantial impact in education.
“I’m so honored to be able to come on board and I’m filled with optimism and hope and positive attitude in terms of what we’re going to be able to do here together, and they’ve already done so many great things and they continue to do good work, and like I said I’m grateful to become part of that,” Rafferty said.
