Wildwood, Wildwood Crest Schools No Longer Share Administrative Services

WILDWOOD – Up until September 2014, Wildwood and Wildwood Crest were engaged in a shared service agreement for their schools that was, in a way, built on person-to-person relationships. Senior administration officials for both school districts, Gregory Rohrman and Dennis Anderson, had been serving each back and forth for much of their careers.
When Anderson retired in September 2014, after 32 years as an administrator in the Wildwoods, with Rohrman having preceded him in retirement two years earlier, there was a deeply entrenched sense of shared goals since each had worked in these communities for so many years.
Anderson in particular had filled a number of positions in both districts including as superintendent of the Wildwood and Wildwood Crest school districts at separate times before becoming the districts’ shared superintendent. (Crest school officials did not respond to the Herald’s request for comment.)
When both Anderson and Rohrman retired, both school boards wanted to focus on their schools’ growing but different needs and thus ended the shared service agreement in with Anderson’s retirement. One of those identified needs was to bring more technology and technology education into Wildwood Crest while Wildwood saw a role it could fill regarding other needs of its students.
“When I came into my position as Wildwood School Superintendent, Mr. Anderson really wanted me to keep up the momentum that he and Mr. Rohrman had created over all those years. And that’s what I’m trying to do along with adding new goals, staying super-focused on the Wildwood students, and establishing new relationships,” said Kenyon Kummings, Wildwood school superintendent.
Kummings, a Northfield native, spent his school career as a teacher and administrator in Cape May County. He has held a variety of positions including as principal and math teacher that give him the background to take on the responsibilities of his new role.
Wildwood and Wildwood Crest share a social worker who assists students although the schools do not have in place an official shared services arrangement as do other pairs of Cape May County schools.
“Our goal in Wildwood is to create a comprehensive safety net for our students so that whatever comes after high school here, be it career, further schooling or other training, is accessible to them,” stressed Kummings.
“We need and want to first meet the requirements of our students whether it be food, shelter, health care as well as strong scholastic and other academic programs and athletics and we’re creating new career and tech programs so they are prepared for good futures,” he said.
To contact Camille Sailer, email csailer@cmcherald.com.