SBHS Principal Moving On

On the same day the district learned South Brunswick High School had been named one of the top public schools in America, it was also announced the school would be losing its leader. After eight years on the job, SBHS Principal Tim Matheney will be leaving at the end of the school year to take a job as Director of Evaluation for the New Jersey Department of Education.

"I have had an extremely fulfilling eight years as the principal at South Brunswick High School," Matheney said. "We have accomplished a great deal that I'm proud of. We've been named a  and were named to the  for the second year in a row. It's a great time to move on, when all of our efforts have started to come to fruition."

At Monday evening's Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Gary McCartney announced that current SBHS Assistant Principal for Academic Leadership Peter Varela would serve as acting principal through the 2012-13 school year. The district will begin a wide-scale search for a new principal towards the end of 2012, with Varela also a candidate to fill the position on a permanent basis.

"(Matheney) worked hard as a leader to make South Brunswick High School what it has become," Dr. McCartney said during the meeting. "For that we are eternally grateful."

In addition to the achievements in the classroom during his time at SBHS, Matheney said one of his proudest accomplishments during was the character initiatives that were embraced by the students and staff.

"I think we've made great strides in building a very positive culture of achievement in the high school," he said. "Along with that, I believe our focus on building character and having a positive learning environment are the accomplishments I point to the most. As Dr. McCartney said, it's nice when outsiders see the value in the efforts of the people here at the high school, but we know we do good work everyday, and I'm very proud of the work we do here everyday at the high school."

With his role at the DOE being teacher evaluation, Matheney credited his colleagues for helping to shape that evaluation process.

"The message I expressed to the faculty is that one of the reasons I'm excited about the new challenge of leading teacher evaluation is that I worked with exemplary teachers building leaders here in South Brunswick," Matheney said. "I'm taking with me a vision of excellence based on my experience here in South Brunswick. The standards that I've seen here will influence my work in Trenton."