Englewood Cliffs Superintendent Start Date Still Unclear

Incoming Englewood Cliffs Public School Superintendent Robert Kravitz is set to headline the local PTA’s “Speaker Series” Tuesday at the group’s first meeting of the new school year, giving a talk about his plans for the district and mostly discussing his new book, “A Blue Ribbon Story: An Entrepreneur's Success in Education.”

But while Kravitz is happy to discuss the book, which tells the story of how he used his personal and professional experiences as a businessman and entrepreneur to help the elementary school he led in Fort Lee to attain the prestigious designation as a national Blue Ribbon School, what remains uncertain is when Kravitz will actually assume his duties as Superintendent of the Englewood Cliffs K-8 school district.

In June, Kravitz, who will replace Dominic Mucci in Englewood Cliffs, was part of an administrative shakeup in Fort Lee during which he was reassigned to Lewis F. Cole Middle School from Fort Lee School No. 3.

After his appointment in early August to the post in Englewood Cliffs, he resigned from the position, but due to contractual obligations, he has to continue to serve in the role until Oct. 5 or until Fort Lee releases him, whichever comes first, Kravitz previously told Patch.

“Fort lee knows, and Englewood Cliffs knows,” Kravitz said, calling the current situation “awkward.”

“Currently, I’m not the superintendent of Englewood Cliffs; my contract begins the day I start full-time,” Kravitz said.

For now Maria (Marylin) C. Narcisi, a second-year principal in the Englewood Cliffs district, is acting superintendent, according to Kravitz, who said he’s eager to get started in his new position and that he’s been in constant contact.

“[Fort Lee] cannot hold me to anything beyond Oct. 5,” Kravitz said.

As for the appearance on Tuesday, Kravitz said, “I’m talking about my book and talking about the fact that I will be the superintendent.”

Fort Lee school officials couldn’t shed much more light on Kravitz’s “awkward” situation, other than to say they’ve interviewed some candidates for the middle school principal’s job, and that they hope to make a decision at their next regular business meeting on Sept. 24.

Fort Lee Board of Education President Yusang Park deferred to Superintendent Steven Engravalle when it comes to making statements on personnel decisions.

“Our number one priority has to be the children and our school district, but when it comes to the personnel decisions, I really have no say as to how [Engravalle’s] going to do it; when he’s going to do it,” Park said. “What I expect from him is to make sure we have a smooth transitional process in place, to make sure that children’s education is not interrupted in any way, to make sure we provide them with a safe environment and to make sure we get the right start.”

Engravalle said that “with all due respect to Englewood Cliffs,” his priority remains the children of his own school district.

“So while we are diligently working—I interviewed a candidate just the other day that I’m strongly considering; [Assistant Superintendent] Dr. [Sharon] Amato has done some preliminary interviews as well. She’s interviewed several different people—it is my goal and my belief that we’ll have a suitable candidate for submission to the board, or several candidates, at our next regularly scheduled meeting on [Sept. 24],” Engravalle said.

He reiterated that Kravitz is under contract in Fort Lee until Oct. 5, and said that if he “could help,” he would “certainly love to be able to release [Kravitz] early and have him get started on his new job.”

“We wish him the best of luck, and we’re proud of him,” Engravalle said. “But I can’t worry about that district; I have to only worry about ours. I’d like to able to be respectful to them; I’d like to give Robert the courtesy, but we’re doing all we can.”

Kravitz issued a statement on the Englewood Cliffs Public Schools website on Sept. 7, saying that he’s looking forward “to beginning the next phase of my career in such a wonderful district.”

Kravitz was scheduled to speak Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the North Cliff School's All Purpose Room, but the meeting was cancelled due to weather and rescheduled for Oct. 16.

Kravitz’s book is currently available on Amazon.com.