New School Business Administrator Set for Challenging Year

New Madison Public Schools Business Administrator Gary Lane was working in school business offices even before he was looking to fill that position.

Lane cut his teeth working in an educational setting at Passaic Valley Regional High School while working as a custodian at his alma mater during summers from the time he was a sophomore at the school until he graduated college.

"I got to know the business administrator while at Passaic Valley Regional High School," Lane said. "I got to understand differently that schools are a business and one of the largest employers in town. It is somewhat of a niche industry because people don't think of schools as a business, but it's really what they are."

It was a business he got into after graduating college and working in the private sector because he said he felt a greater connection to the end result in schools. Before heading into New Jersey public schools, Lane worked for Singer-Kearfott for three years as the program administrator of guidance navigation systems for the Trident missile program.

"This feedback you are getting is not as immediate, direct or as satisfying as what you get in a public institution," Lane said. "I could have been doing a great job as administrator and every single Trident missile landed where it was supposed to, but fortunately it was just testing. The sense of satisfaction and accomplishment is not as apparent as in the school system. While working on the budget, you can achieve certain things in a year's time and really have an impact."

Lane also said he comes from a family that is very public minded, as his father sat on his school board, his brother works for the state police, and his sister works for a church.

The Little Falls native also first began working in his field in earnest at Passaic Valley Regional High School. He took a position as assistant board secretary working directly for the business administrator in 1986. Lane, who already had a degree in business administration and a minor in public administration from Kutztown University, began working toward his master's in education administration supervision which he obtained from Montclair State.

From there, Lane made stops as assistant board secretary of the Haledon Board of Education, business administrator/board secretary of the Denville Board of Education, and then as business administrator for three Bergen County BOEs: Closter, Northern Highlands Regional High School, and Paramus. Lane served those three for a total of 20 years. His last position, which lasted three years, was at a K-12 district, something that is important to him.

"My long term goal was to get into a comprehensive K-12 district," Lane said.

Coming back into a district in Morris County, such as Madison, was also something Lane was very open to.

"I remember when I was in Morris County (with Denville), Madison always had a great name," said Lane. "When the job came open, I knew some people who were Madison natives and actually knew a person who worked here. I did a little background and got tremendous feedback on the community, on the Board of Education, how they are very supportive of the faculty, very supportive of the community. It's obviously a good school district educationally, but you've got that community feeling."

Lane takes over the position in Madison while the district is looking for a permanent replacement at superintendent for Dr. Richard Noonan. On Lane's last day at Paramus, Noonan called him up and told him he'd be leaving. Lane is familiar with interim Superintendent Dr. Jim Dwyer, as the two worked near each other while Lane was at Northern Highlands High School and Dwyer was with the Upper Saddle River BOE, which sends its students to Northern Highlands.

Lane is also no stranger to the situation, as Paramus was in the process of looking for a permanent superintendent the year he was hired by the district.

"I think one of our challenges is to get together and work as a team and get out there and let people know things will be fine," Lane said. "The district will run, things will progress, those major objectives will be addressed, and we will be fine."

He also expects the budget to be another challenge. He said that the process is much different now than it was when he began his career as a business administrator. Lane said when he began, with no hard caps, there was more room to be innovative and districts were able to ask to implement programs more readily.

"Those hard caps have taken our ability to be innovative and creative away," Lane said. "They've really made education more of a business than an education focus. You'd like to think outside the box and be creative and do wonderful things–which we still try to do–but with the financial constraints Trenton is bringing down on us, it's become very difficult to do so."

Lane has lived in Sparta since 1997 with his wife, Debbie. They have raised three children, sons Greg and Travis, and daughter Jessica. He says that if all things line up, Madison could be his last stop.

"I'd be very happy if I never had to move from Madison for the rest of my career," Land said. "The board here has been very supportive. ... It's nice when you get a district that's not too big but not too small, and they are able to look at their staff and community as really a family. As an employee, that's what you want."