Camden Schools superintendent gets a new 3-year contract to continue leading the struggling district under state control

When she thinks about her job running the Camden public school system, state-appointed Superintendent Katrina McCombs quotes Scripture: “To whom much is given, much is required.”

As a new school year is set to begin, McCombs is embarking on her second contract at the helm of the troubled South Jersey school district, and the veteran educator says she is up to continue the biggest challenge of her career: turning around the struggling district that’s been under state control for nearly a decade.

“It’s a humbling experience,” said McCombs, 52, during an interview Thursday. “I’m just looking forward to what’s ahead for the district.”

McCombs signed a three-year agreement with the state last month to remain Camden’s school chief through the 2024-25 school year. Her salary will be $224,726 the first year, with modest increments the remaining years, making her among the highest-paid superintendents in the tri-county area.

“I think it’s great for our district,” said Minister Wasim Muhammad, president of the Camden Advisory School Board. “Now more than ever, it is extremely important for our district to retain stable leadership as we navigate the realities of a post-pandemic educational environment.”

McCombs has spent her nearly 30-year career in the district, starting in the classroom as a kindergarten teacher before climbing to administrative positions as a vice principal and principal.

McCombs became superintendent in 2019, replacing Paymon Rouhanifard, who was brought in by Gov. Chris Christie to transform the failing district after a state takeover in 2013. She served in his administration as a deputy superintendent for four years.

During her tenure as superintendent, McCombs has led the district through a budget deficit crisis, made an unpopular decision to close three schools because of declining enrollment, and ordered the shutdown of schools during the pandemic longer than any other district in the region.

”We were bleeding financially,” McCombs recalled of her first year. “There were times we didn’t even know if we would make payroll.”

McCombs inherited a district that had been plagued for years by poor test scores, a low graduation rate, and a high dropout rate. It is unclear when the state will relinquish its control over the school system.

“I knew it would not be a cakewalk,” McCombs said. “There have been many challenges along the way.”

McCombs said the district has improved in the five areas evaluated by the state to determine when local governance will resume: instruction, programs, fiscal, governance, and personnel. The district received an 80% score in the personnel category, the minimum needed, she said.

”We still have a long way to go,” McCombs said. “I do see light at the end of the tunnel.”

There has been other improvements since the takeover. The graduation rate increased from 49% just prior to the state intervention to 70% for the 2019-20 school year — before the pandemic upended education. This year, the district also had its first clean unmodified audit since 2015, McCombs said.

Some critics, however, say McCombs, like her predecessor, has focused too much on the city’s Renaissance and charter schools, which are publicly funded but independently run. Thousands of students have fled the traditional public schools, and the 21% dropout rate is among the highest in the state.

For the 2021-22 school year, the district enrolled 6,171 students in the city’s traditional public schools, 4,048 in charter schools, and 6,237 in Renaissance schools.

Camden Education Association president Keith Benson said he wants to stem the exodus from traditional public schools. He wants the district to keep its remaining schools open and beef up career and technical offerings so that city students aren’t forced to go elsewhere.

“My concerns always stay the same: protecting our schools and growing them,” said Benson. “I’m trying to be hopeful. Hopefully, time will tell.”

After focusing on the district’s finances in the first years of her tenure, McCombs said she now plans to prioritize luring back some of the families that left the traditional public schools. She hopes to increase overall district public school enrollment by 6.6% and has set benchmarks for every school.

The district also hopes to reengage thousands of Camden students who were chronically absent during the pandemic, either not showing up at buildings or failing to log in for remote learning, McCombs said. Chronic absenteeism, which is defined as missing 10 or more school days, jumped to 57% during the 2020-21 school year, according to the annual New Jersey School Performance Report.

» READ MORE: COVID crushed us’: Chronic absenteeism plagued N.J. schools during pandemic

The district held enrollment fairs with games, food, and prizes last week to encourage students, especially high schoolers, to return “with no judgment,” McCombs said. The fairs were only for district schools.

“Our most vulnerable are those who lost their way during the pandemic,” the superintendent said.

As the district looks to the new school year starting Sept. 8, McCombs said the district still needs to fill about 45 teacher vacancies. A decision has not been made on whether a mask mandate and quarantine rules will continue in light of last week’s new guidelines by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The journey continues,“ she said. “I’m pumped up and ready to go.”

Staff writer Dylan Purcell contributed to this article.