Three Retiring School Administrators Connected by Care for New Brunswick Students

NEW BRUNSWICK – The three men who recently retired following distinguished and dedicated careers as school administrators in the New Brunswick Public School District had more in common than just their effects on untold numbers of young lives.

Their journeys began in other fields.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE FREE TAPINTO.NET NEWSLETTER

William Smith, who most recently served as the principal at Livingston Elementary School, was an accountant for 15 years with Johnson & Johnson.

Ken Redler, who has been the principal at Lord Stirling School the past two years or so, ran his own business for about 20 years.

Thomas Crane, who has served as the vice principal at Lord Stirling the past four years, spent about eight years in the after-college workforce before hearing the call to become an educator.

The other thing that connects the three men, each of whom saw their last days in the school district on June 30, is that they each offered a quote that offers a glimpse into their approaches as educators and human beings.

DOWNLOAD THE FREE TAPINTO APP FOR MORE LOCAL NEWS. AVAILABLE IN THE APPLE STORE AND THE GOOGLE PLAY STORE .

William Smith

“What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.”

- Nelson Mandela

Smith, whose mother and grandmother were longtime educators, spent 24 years in the New Brunswick School District.

He has been guided by a simple motto, going back to his first job at Woodrow Wilson Elementary School as a math teacher without a classroom who wheeled a cart from class to class.

“Treat the students like they’re your customers,” Smith said. “You look at it from a different vision. You have a vision of what the students are. As customers, anything dealing with customer service, the customer is always right. You want to establish an ongoing relationship with them. If you treat them right all the time, they will continue to come back. And that’s what you want.”

He eventually served as vice principal of New Brunswick Middle School for four years, then vice principal and principal at Woodrow Wilson before becoming the principal at Livingston two years ago.

A month-long trip to South Africa in 2007 through a Fulbright Scholarship opened his eyes to the wisdom and works of Nelson Mandela.

Smith said he feels like an athlete hanging up his uniform while still at the top of his prowess. The district under Superintendent Dr. Aubrey Johnson is in good hands. The leaders have great vision, and that allows the district to stay several steps ahead – like when it placed Chromebooks in the hands of students when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Livingston School, too, is in a good place. Smith said he’s worked to build a family culture that permeates the hallways and classrooms. It includes the students, staff members and members of the community. He cited events such as Hispanic festivals, and Mother’s Day and Father’s Day activities that have promoted a feeling of unity.

“We bring the community in and the relationships that I’ve had with the families in this area, I’m really going to miss,” Smith said. “It’s great going to events in New Brunswick and having students come up to you and greet you and remember you and seeing the impact that you’ve had in their lives. But I still think I will also be able to walk down the streets in New Brunswick and still get that sense of pride as folks start recognizing you, remembering how you’ve impacted their lives."

Ken Redler

“Don’t cry because it is over, smile because it happened.”

- Dr. Seuss

Redler didn’t begin his career as an educator until he was 50, but has still managed to leave a legacy of compassion and kindheartedness. Stories about him reaching into his own pocket to buy a student a winter jacket, school supplies or clothes will surely circulate around the district for some time.

“I just think it’s really caring about the whole individual and not just the fact that a student comes to school,” he said. “We want to make sure they’re present, make sure they’re safe and that they get home. A student without the primary needs and sometimes without their wants has difficulty focusing on what they’re here for, which is to learn not only academically but how to be a social person. So, it’s really about from the time they wake up to the time they go to bed that we care about them.”

He started in the district as an art teacher at Woodrow Wilson, bringing a suitcase filled with his artwork to the initial interview. He served as vice principal at New Brunswick Middle School from 2013-16, before being hired as the principal at the high school. He served in a newly created role, principal of the arts, before taking over as principal at Lord Stirling in 2022.

One of his strongest memories of his career came when he and several high school students organized a program in response to the shootings in Parkland, Fla., that left 17 students and faculty members dead and 17 others injured. “Dear Parkland” was a moment for students to voice their pain and fear through poems, music and speeches.

“Empowering students, I think that’s what it’s all about,” Redler said. “Listening to students, empowering them to be successful.”

It’s also about second chances.

Redler said he began to employ what he calls restorative practices or progressive disciplines, which gave students the opportunity to make mistakes and not get punished to the highest degree. He engaged with police on a program called Clean Slate, and worked with the prosecutor’s office on trying “to rehabilitate our students before they got themselves into trouble they couldn’t get out of.”

“When you cheer them on and the students realize that you do care about them, they want to please, they want to make sure that you see them doing the right things even if they’re still going to do some of the wrong things,” Redler said.

Thomas Crane

“They won’t remember what you said or what you did, but they’ll always remember how you made them feel.”

- Maya Angelou

It may be sacrilegious for an educator to admit this, but Crane said he doesn’t remember anything he learned in fifth grade.

“But I remember how I felt in that class,” Crane said. “I felt seen and heard, and I felt high expectations. I hope that my legacy is that people see me as somebody who listened to them, saw them and heard them, and gave everything I had to bring out the best in them.”

Crane’s legacy includes 15 years at Lincoln School after he was hired as an alternative route certification teacher. As he worked toward his master’s degree and doctorate in education, he was promoted to vice principal at the Adult Learning Center. After six years, he moved over to the vice principal role at Lord Stirling.

“Although I am leaving as a vice principal, I see myself as a teacher at heart,” he said. “I always tell people I was a teacher at Lincoln School in fifth grade. I can see the influence that I’ve had.”

One former student is in medical school. Others are members of the New Brunswick Police Department.

Crane said ending his 25-year run as an educator in the New Brunswick Public School District has been an emotional time. As if there weren’t memories everywhere he turned at Lord Stirling, a slide show with photos of him from his days at the Adult Learning Center and after earning his doctorate brought back more.

It was important for Crane to stay connected to the students, even as he took on school administrator roles.

“I can kind of speak for Mr. Redler; we stay connected to students each day,” Crane said. “I sought out one student who seemed very anxious coming back from COVID and wanted to know what the story was. And then the end of my story was about another child connecting with me on the last day of school and how my message to the staff was, "I just told you about this boy, but don’t forget about this boy, too, because he was there the whole time.”

For more local news, visit TAPinto.net