BOE Appoints New Woodside Avenue Principal

This story was written and reported by Devin McGinley. 

The Franklin Lakes Board of Education appointed a new principal Wednesday night to lead Woodside Avenue School, filling a vacancy that has emerged as a central issue for the district in the last year.

Kristine Cecere, a former principal of School 1 in Fort Lee who now teaches at the borough’s middle school, will begin at Woodside this summer. An exact starting date is contingent upon negotiations with the Fort Lee district on how soon she can be released from her current position, she said. Her annual salary at Woodside will be $126,759.

Cecere was appointed twice for one-year contracts as principal of the Fort Lee elementary school, the second time after a state error in reporting her certifications cast doubt on her continued employment. The Fort Lee board opted not to renew her contract after the second year, but at the time declined comment on the matter.

Helen Attenello, who has served as interim principal at the school since the resignation of Dominick Rotante last year, will remain at Woodside through July to smooth the transition.

“The school’s been very successful, and you need to honor that,” Cecere said of the transition, explaining that she would aim to provide continuity at the school heading into September.

The vacancy at Woodside has at times been trying for the district. Last year, Rotante filed a lawsuit against the district in an attempt to get his job back, alleging that he was pushed out by the administration for personal reasons, an accusation that superintendent Frank Romano has categorically denied.

Then, in May, Christine Laquidara, a candidate approved by the board, suddenly withdrew her acceptance of the principal position, telling Patch that she had concerns about the relationship in the district between the board of education and school administrators.

Members of the board and public expressed satisfaction Wednesday night that the district will now move past the uncertainty that has surrounded the position for much of the last year.

“I think parents will be happy to see that Mrs. Cecere is truly excited to be joining the Woodside community and wants to make a home at our school,” Woodside PTA president Rebecca Rund said Thursday. “The commitment and stability will be welcomed by parents.”

Cecere said she’s completed graduate work at Columbia and holds a master’s in educational leadership as well as an elementary teaching certificate from Farleigh Dickinson University. But as she tells it, her path to education was unexpected.

Born and raised in Tenafly, she was a car dealer until she sought a change of career after becoming a parent.

“I thought education would only help as a parent, and I fell in love with it,” she said.

Cecere spent a decade teaching in Old Tappan before moving to the Fort Lee district, where she has worked for three years, two of them as a principal and one as a classroom teacher.

According to Romano, the exhaustive search that zeroed in on Cecere began with 173 candidates, whittling the number down over multiple rounds of interviews until the new principal was selected from a pool of seven finalists.

Cecere said in her comments to parents after her appointment that she had been attracted to the district for its reputation, and that she viewed the new position as a long-term phase of her career.