Mat/Ab district names new super BY ERIN O. STATTEL Staff Writer ABERDEEN - Board of Education President Larry O'Connell has every confidence in newly appointed Schools Superintendent Dr. Richard O'Malley. "We put the candidates through an extensive interview process," O'Connell said. "If youmanage to survive the first round of interviews, you are doing pretty good, and Mr. O'Malley also emerged at the top of the second round of interviews." O'Malley, 37, is currently the chief school administrator for the Mountainside School District and will remain so until the other district has a replacement. Until then, O'Malley is working for the Matawan-Aberdeen School District on a part-time basis. "The reality is he has an obligation in Mountainside and he is going to be productive whether he is here or not," O'Connell said. "But I think his stance on education is what we need." "My part-time status is kind of an oxymoron for a superintendent," O'Malley quipped in a Monday interview. "I will be putting in 16-hour days in the district to get to know everything, but that tends to be a typical work day for a superintendent." O'Malley has already begun working and will be earning a monthly salary of $750 until he begins full-time service in May. He will earn an annual salary of $173,000 for the next four years, until his contract expires in June 2012. In the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District, he will be responsible for six schools with a total K-12 student count of 3,755, as of December. O'Connell described O'Malley as just the person to raise student achievement. "In the contract, we made clear the objective is to getMatawan students' achievements higher," O'Connell said. "And he will be wrestling with financial struggles as well with the new state funding." But O'Malley appears to be ready for the challenge. "I know that there are challenges fiscally and academically in the district, but it is nothing less than what I walked into at Mountainside," O'Malley said. "But you never learn enough about the district until you talk to the people in the classroom." O'Malley is hoping to put the district back on track fiscally and provide a stronger curriculum and instruction. "Through those, we will end up raising test scores and academic achievement," O'Malley explained. O'Malley has served as an administrator in Mountainside for the past three years and was previously a principal in Branchburg, Somerset County.