Watchung Hills' Elizabeth Jewett 'Off and Running'

Watchung Hills Regional High School’s newly-appointed Superintendent, Elizabeth Jewett, is already “off and running.” 

Her first two weeks as chief administrator of the 2,200-plus student body have been filled with meetings, conferences and plans for the school’s future, its staff, its students. 

Jewitt succeeds Dr. Frances Stromsland, who retired on June 30th (Stromsland served as Assistant Superintendent to Gary Reece and Robert Baly, and then became the top administrator in  her own right from May of 2005 until June 30 of this year). Jewett  will be Watchung Hills Regional High School’s eighth superintendent.

Each succeeding superintendent in Hills’ history has been faced with challenges brought about by a fast-evolving society and the changing makeup of the student body. The school’s offerings (the curriculum) will be drastically different by the end of the decade to reflect these changes. Teaching methodologies, state and federal requirements, technological enhancements and the learners themselves will impact and shape high school curricula of the future.

Distance learning, for one, will be taken to the next level to enhance students’ learning opportunities. With the expansion of distance learning (i.e. programming via computer, television, etc.) and the (hopefully) concomitant increase in students’ technological capabilities, the role of the teacher may evolve; no longer the “deliverer” of content, the teacher’s role will be to synthesize, decipher, apply.

The teaching of subject matter is, indeed, important, and many would regard it as the school’s foremost task. However, says Jewett, “It is essential to teach youth as well to have a strong sense of values, to focus on ethical (and civilized) behavior. It is our responsibility to be ‘models of propriety’—how we, as adults present ourselves, how we treat others,” the new Superintendent states.

Most teachers, like students themselves, will be influenced by others in the profession, Jewett herself credits a “remarkable educator,” Dr. Michael Reilly, as her mentor/model. Because of Reilly, principal of West Morris High School, she embraced a valuable concept: “Everything we do is for the student.” And its corollary, “It is important to see students and staff as individuals.” It is a philosophy she has adopted in her own career.

Jewett is counting on the support of the sending districts, its school officials, its mayors and other administrators, with all of whom she would like to meet on a regular basis. This is the way of feeling out sending districts’ needs and expectations. She also plans to meet with Watchung Hills board members, one-on-one in the near future.

“Watchung Hills is a remarkable, outstanding district. That is what drew me to the position,” said Jewett. She was “intrigued by its performance record, its high-achieving student accomplishments and engaged teachers.” It will be a challenge to take the district to the next level, the new superintendent said.

Jewett is a graduate of Drew University, where she majored in math and economics and served as captain of the acclaimed soccer team in junior and senior years. She continued her education at Montclair State University, while teaching math (and soccer!) at West Morris Central High School (in Chester), finishing a degree in Administration & Supervision in 2006. She went on to become K-12 Math/Science Supervisor for the Cedar Grove (Essex County) school system, Assistant Principal, then Principal, of Cedar Grove High School for three years.

She served in the Verona (N.J.) district as Director of Curriculum for four years, and also as its Acting Superintendent.

Jewett has found her first two weeks as superintendent of Watchung Hills Regional High School “inspiring.”  She says she was instantly embraced, staff members were “extra helpful,” and her administrative team “extremely talented.”