Former Madison Coach Officially Named Chatham AD

The of the School District of the Chathams voted Monday to approve William "Bill" Librera as the new athletic director and director of Health and Physical Education at .

Librera has worked as a teacher in Morris County schools for the last 10 years, first in Morris Central High School in Chester, then in Madison High School, where he was also the head basketball coach.

According to Assistant Superintendent Dr. Michael LaSusa, Librera went through five stages of interviews before he was selected as the new athletic director, including interviews with the district's Head of Personnel, Deb Becker, Chatham High Principal Darren Groh, the president of the Athletic Boosters and the school board's personnel committee.

"Mr. Librera excelled at every step of the process," LaSusa said.

Board President Tom Belding referred to Librera's father, a former New Jersey Commissioner of Education, also named William. The elder Librera worked with the district to help mentor LaSusa as he prepares to become superintendent of the district, and to help find a suitable new assistant superintendent. The search ended in March when the board approved Karen Chase for the role.

Belding said the hiring of the younger Librera was "totally coincidental. , Bill applied," Belding said, though he added that since Librera comes from a family heavily involved in education it "certainly suggests he may have interesting qualifications himself. Other than that, there was no connection" between the two."

Librera's contract begins July 1 and ends June 30, 2013.

Also at the meeting:

• The board voted to grant open campus privileges to the class of 2013 at Chatham High.
• George Alexis' resignation was approved, with regret. Alexis has accepted the positition of principal at Watchung Hills Regional High School, his old alma mater.
• The board voted to create 10 new positions within the district, including: a new school social worker, school psychologist and part-time speech therapist, serving district-wide positions; a new Spanish teacher for and ; a new special education teacher at ; a new physical education and health teacher at Chatham High; and a new basic skills, special education and two new fourth grade teachers at Lafayette.
• The board approved new fall, winter and spring coaches, including:

This will be Palmer's third year as the head fencing coach. Ascolese and Cai are current district staff members, and Mason's salary will be funded by parents.