CAMDEN, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — Camden’s new Superintendent Alfonso Llano met with other city, state and county leaders for the first time Wednesday, and all sides expressed excitement about working together.
“Camden just presents such a unified community,” said Llano, the former superintendent of schools in Vineland. “When I did my research into what was happening in the city, I saw many different initiatives that were happening, so I felt like this was the right opportunity for me to get invested.”
Llano said he will lean on his past experience leading schools in Vineland and Trenton to tackle issues like truancy, student performance and expanding Camden’s construction and trades training. The latter, he made a major goal while leading Vineland schools.
“It’s exciting to see that Camden will continue that progress here,” Llano said. “We want to make sure the public school system is stabilized and innovating in the ways that families feel comfortable keeping their kids in our public school system.”
He also said data would be another focus to solve other pending issues.
“To hold each other accountable on different key performance indicators such as discipline rates, suspension rates, attendance rates for staff and students,” he said. “Those are the things I will bring, a data driven mindset.”
Llano officially takes over on March 1 and will have to work on getting the school district’s budget in order while under state supervision.