Administration

Superintendent's Narrative

I was honored to have served this year as the leader of this very unique and cutting edge high school. The incredible opportunities and support our students enjoy from the many courses and programs we offer at RBR coupled with the strong guidance from both school and at home have facilitated the success our students enjoy today. This is reflected in a recent accolade whereby Newsweek lists RBR among the top high schools in the country. Last week RBR once again was recognized by NJ Monthly in its Top High Schools List in the State of New Jersey. The list is published every other year. RBR improved its standing moving up in rank from # 64 to #61. RBR follows only Holmdel and Rumson Fair Haven as the highest ranking high schools in Monmouth County.

While 2009 was a very difficult year for public education in New Jersey and the nation, RBR is better placed then most to weather these difficult times with alternate sources of revenue acquired through competitive state and federal grants. The Small Learning Communities grant funds our small learning community academies as well as some summer programming and enables us to provide important teacher and tutor training for our AVID program. We recently won another grant through Kean University which will provide additional teacher training. The SOURCE, our School Youth Based Services Program, provides very valuable services to our students and is primarily funded by a state grant. Tuition from our award-winning four-year academies in Visual and Performing Arts, Finance, Information Technology and Pre-Engineering also supplements are funding. While we had to make sacrifices in personnel and delayed some projects and purchases, we are fortunate to have retained our full teaching staff going into the new school year.

We begin the year with a reorganization of our administrative staff. Our Principal, Risa Clay, has a very strong team supporting her with newly appointed assistant principal Will Smith, Dean of Students, Allen Choback, and Robert Donohoe, who holds supervisory responsibilities for AVID and small learning communities. While we are sad to say goodbye to Director of Student Guidance Services Lenore Kingsmore, we congratulate her in her new challenging position as Principal of Henry Hudson High School. We are presently in the process of a search for the right individual that will continue to support and enrich our guidance department. During the search process, Risa Clay will supervise pupil personnel, giving us continuity in the Guidance Department. We wish former SOURCE coordinator Gilda Rogers the best of luck as she follows her pursuits in media and higher education. We are confident that her successor Suzanne Keller, who has enjoyed a seven- year tenure with The SOURCE and has years of professional business experience, will be an excellent Coordinator.

We look forward to another year of providing the most comprehensive high school programs and services for our students.