Page 9 - 40thAnniversaryNJPSA

A Move to Monroe Responding to Member Needs

As NJPSA was growing in size and scope, Bartoletti set out Meeting the needs of the members was always the most
to find a new home, more centrally situated and easier for important factor in guiding Bartoletti’s decisions, and it is
members from all over the state to visit than its former location what gives her the most satisfaction today. One example
in Hopewell. She also wanted to ensure that the building could was NJPSA’s response to its members’ criticism about the
accommodate Council meetings, committee meetings, and need to earn a master’s degree in educational administration,
other programs that were being held at more costly locations a master’s degree in leadership, or a master’s in public
such as Forsgate Country Club. In fact, it was during a administration in order to be certified as a principal. The
meeting at Forsgate that Hank Miller, who was on the Monroe members also said that they did not want to be taught by
Township Planning Board and Town Council, suggested that professors in higher education who had never been in a
the Board Committee look at an available lot across the street school, who had never been a principal, or had never been a
that could meet all of NJPSA’s needs. Shortly thereafter, supervisor.
NJPSA purchased the land and began construction on its new
headquarters at 12 Centre Drive. The building opened in 1996, “So, I went to the Commissioner of the NJDOE with
and a dedication ceremony was held in 1997. a proposal for NJEXCEL, a non-traditional program
for those who want to be certified as principals and
In addition to offices for NJPSA/FEA staff, the building included supervisors,” Bartoletti said. “He shook my hand and
meeting rooms that could not only house Council meetings said ‘Let’s do it.’ Ellie Forster was hired to write the
curriculum for NJEXCEL and all its permutations. She
and smaller professional development opportunities, but also was brilliant. She knew how to write curriculum and
the many outside groups that began to request use of the how to organize it. At the time nobody was doing what
building to run programs as well. In particular, the Department we were doing with the online portfolios.
of Education rented space in 12 Centre Drive for many of its We were the only ones doing it.”
training programs. Unfortunately, the building did not wholly
accommodate all of the professional development that FEA “More important, we had business administrators, we had
intended to offer, with multiple programs running at the same principals, we had supervisors, we had superintendents, we
time. “So that was when we decided to put the addition on the had people who really were practitioners in the field doing the
building and created the FEA Conference Center, which could instruction in NJEXCEL,” she said. “That’s why I think it is as
do so much on-site professional development,” Bartoletti said. successful as it is.”

Relationships and Credibility Similarly, NJ Leaders to Leaders was created because
principals called and said that they were having difficulty
getting their standard principal certificate because their year
Bartoletti looks back on her time at NJPSA with great fondness did not officially begin until the day they were assigned a
and points to a few highlights of her 20-year stint as Executive mentor. But the Department was telling them they didn’t have
Director, before she moved on to become the Executive enough mentors and that nobody wanted to be a mentor.
Director of the National Association of Secondary School
Principals. “So I, along with Mary Reece and Ellie Forster, took a look at
NAESP’s mentoring program and found it was not that great.
“I am proud of the relationship I was able to build with So we said, ‘Why don’t we do our own mentoring?’” Bartoletti
the Department of Education. That relationship had been said. “And it was David Nash who came up with the name
contentious for years. When William Librera became the Leaders to Leaders. Again, this was created in response to
Commissioner under Governor Jim McGreevey, a really what our members were telling us. They said, ‘We don’t like
positive relationship with the Department of Education began this. We don’t want to have to wait for the department.’ I hear
and then continued with Commissioner Lucille Davy in the that all the time from principals. How much the association
Codey and Corzine Administrations. There were too many listened to them and responded to them.”
years in the past when people weren’t paying enough attention
to the principals, and we were just as important if not more so Bartoletti said she is proud of her time at NJPSA and has
than the superintendents and school boards,” Bartoletti said. nothing but wonderful memories of helping principals,
“I also think that the Legislature always viewed NJPSA as the supervisors, and all members throughout their careers.
reasonable organization. This was one of Debbie’s Bradley’s “Principals are the glue that makes a school stick together and
great strengths. She was able to express the concerns, express the gears that move a school forward,” she said. “We have to
the criticism, but then offer opportunities for solutions. She be sure that they get their money’s worth as a member, and I
would provide options for the Legislature to consider. So, I think always felt that the members felt they were getting that from
we had as good of a reputation as you could have because of us in terms of professional learning and in the areas of legal
Debbie and her team throughout the years.” service, field service, negotiations, and advocacy.”