News
Markham Place Welcomes New Principal
By John Burton
LITTLE SILVER - For the first time in nearly 20 years, students and staff at Markham Place School will be getting to know a brand new principal when school begins next month.
Dennis Morolda has been named to fill the job held for nearly two decades by Donald Merce, who was killed on May 6 when he was involved in an auto accident on his way to work at Markham Place School.
Merce's sudden and tragic death left the school community and the larger Little Silver community stunned and saddened.
Filling that position held by someone loved can be daunting. "Going in I know it is an extremely difficult situation," Morolda acknowledged. "And I'm going to do my best over the course of the year to honor his memory and be there for the students."
Morolda, who had been working as a middle-school vice principal in Bordentown, said that when he was searching for a principal's position, he immediately felt drawn to the Little Silver School district, even though, he didn't know a lot about the community at first.
While walking up to the school to interview for the principal's job, Morolda said, that attraction became even stronger. "It's a very much a small town feel here."
Morolda has been preparing for his first year as the middle school principal since Aug. 1, and as he has gotten to know the school and community better, his initial attraction to the district has endured. It's a "very friendly, very community-oriented school," he said.
In the last three weeks, students and parents have made an effort to make him feel welcome, Morolda said.
"Everybody's coming in and saying, 'What can I do to make this transition easier?'" he said.
His predecessor Merce was known for being a hands-on principal who often participated in trips and was seen regularly in the school cafeteria and on the playground. He was very much a visible presence for the school community.
That model works well for Morolda as an example of what a principal should be and do, and it is one he plans to emulate as he makes the job his own.
"I'm not going to try and be Mr. Merce," Morolda said. "He has such big shoes to fill. It wouldn't be fair to anyone for me to try to do what he did. But I will do my best to honor the traditions he started. To always keep him in the students' memory."
Morolda, 31, grew up in Old Bridge, and worked as the Bordentown Regional Middle School vice principal, a school that is larger than Markham, with about 400 students. Morolda lives in Bordentown, with his wife of five years, Danielle, and their two children, a son, Dennis Jr., 3, and daughter, Julianna, 10 months.
Prior to that position, Morolda worked as a middle- school math teacher for the Burlington Township public school district.
The role of principal, Morolada said, is to wear many hats. "Foremost," he said, "you are the educational leader of the building."
But that is just one facet. A principal, needs to be motivational leader, a building manager, a disciplinarian; and, "You need to be sometimes a counselor for students and sometimes other teachers," he noted.
His educational philosophy is summed up with, "Children need to be known."
By that he means, "I really believe every student needs to be known by the staff in the building." He intends to try to know all of his students, and maybe a little something about each of them by November.
"If the principal really knows something about every single student," he observed, "it makes the kids feel real special."
But the students have a responsibility, too, in this regard, he continued. Morolda said he is a strong proponent of character education and piggyback on what the children are learning at home; that is "teaching the students to be other-centered instead of self-centered," he explained, "to really think about what they can do to help other people. To put the needs of other people in front of their own in certain points."
Taking over as principal is an awesome responsibility. But since being on staff here, Morolda said, "I absolutely love it," and he looks forward to the beginning of the school year next week, especially given the support he said he has received from parents, the school's staff, and particularly his secretary. "I feel I've been working with her for years," he said.
