Lower Merion’s next superintendent is a New Jersey school leader
Frank Ranelli, superintendent of Piscataway Township Schools in Middlesex County, is expected to be named to the top position in Lower Merion at a special school board meeting Monday.
The Lower Merion School District has selected a New Jersey superintendent as its next leader, district officials announced Friday.
Frank Ranelli, superintendent of Piscataway Township Schools in Middlesex County, is expected to be named to the top position in Lower Merion at a special school board meeting Monday, Lower Merion spokesperson Amy Buckman said in a statement. Ranelli, who will join the district in April, was selected following a six-month search led by the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit.
“We are honored to welcome Dr. Frank Ranelli as our new superintendent,” Kerry Sautner, the president of the Lower Merion school board, said in a statement. “Dr. Ranelli brings the steady leadership and student-centered vision needed to guide our district forward, ensuring that our choices and decisions prioritize the success and well-being of all of our students.”
The district on Friday also named a new acting superintendent, Lawrence Mussoline, a former superintendent of the Haddonfield School District in New Jersey and the Downingtown Area School District in Chester County. Mussoline will lead the district until Ranelli takes over, Buckman said.
The new appointments come after a series of leadership changes in Lower Merion, with two superintendents each leaving after about a year leading one of the state’s top-ranked districts. Steven Yanni, the most recent superintendent, left in July to take over the Central Bucks School District. Yanni had replaced Khalid Mumin, who left Lower Merion in January 2023 to become Pennsylvania’s secretary of education under Gov. Josh Shapiro; Mumin has since left that role.
Since Yanni’s departure, Lower Merion has been led by Megan Shafer, the assistant to the superintendent for district administration. Shafer “took on the additional responsibilities” of acting superintendent during the six-month search, including overseeing the implementation of full-day kindergarten and a shift in school start times, and will now return full time to her position, Buckman said.
Ranelli, who has led Piscataway schools for five years, began his career as a special-education teacher in 1996. He later became a school administrator, including serving as principal of Lindenwold High School and of the Burlington County Institute of Technology in Medford.
He received his bachelor’s degree from Kean University; his master’s from Georgian Court University, a small Catholic university in Lakewood, N.J.; and his doctorate from Wilmington University in Delaware, according to Buckman, and holds a certification in diversity and equity from Cornell University.
In a statement, Ranelli said he was “very proud and honored” to become Lower Merion’s next superintendent.
“I am looking forward to working with the wonderful faculty and staff to continue the amazing work that is already taking place. LMSD is part of the fabric of an incredible community that offers students and families endless opportunities,” Ranelli said. He thanked the school board and said, “I am excited to be part of the Lower Merion family.”
His appointment, along with Mussoline’s, is expected to be taken up by the school board at its meeting at 7 p.m. Monday.