Camden Schools Superintendent Katrina McCombs to step down July 1

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Katrina McCombs, superintendent of the Camden City School District, announced that she will no longer serve in her role as of July 1. She has accepted a position with the New Jersey Department of Education as assistant commissioner for the Division of Early Childhood Services.

In an email that was sent to district staff and community members, the Camden native said she “feel[s] that after seven years of leading the district,” it was time for her to consider a transition.

“It has been my profound honor to serve our school district for the past 30 years,” she said.

McCombs is announcing her move to a state role several months after she proclaimed during a school board meeting that she was not going anywhere. She was responding to a letter from several elected Camden leaders asking Education Commissioner Kevin Dehmer to replace her.

The letter was signed by Camden Mayor Victor Carstarphen, City Council President Angel Fuentes, state Sen. Nilsa Cruz-Perez, Assemblyman William Spearman and School Advisory Board President N’Namdee Nelson. Carstarphen, when asked about the letter last December, declined to comment on it, but offered compliments of his former Camden High School classmate.

Ronsha Dickerson, a community activist who is co-founder of the Camden Parent Union and chair of the Camden We Chose coalition, hoped that McCombs’ tenure with the school district was not cut short due to the “distasteful” letter sent to the commissioner.

“The same fleeting messaging could be the way forward for the next selected superintendent,” she said, adding “in this moment, anyone going into state leadership has to secure traditional schools as the sustainable resource for our communities.”

“I sure hope that there will be numerous and valid community engagements,” Dickerson said.

Carstarphen, in a statement Tuesday, credited McCombs with leading the district to record levels of pre-k enrollment and overseeing more than $500 million dollars in new school construction, including the new Camden High School campus and current work towards the new Eastside High School.

“Katrina is a lifelong friend who cares deeply for our hometown,” he said. “Over her 30-year journey as an educator, Katrina has cemented her legacy, making a lasting and impactful contribution in the City of Camden.”

A search for the next superintendent for the Camden school district will be led by the state education department. An interim superintendent will be named at a later date.

Keith Benson Sr., another community activist, hopes the state will reach out to parents, community leaders and residents.

“Too long, Camden city residents have been ignored, left out of the equation, but just like the Trump syndrome, people are starting to wake up and starting to come to the table and demand their rights,” he said. “I hope that the state is smart enough, caring enough and sensitive enough to have sincere — not perfunctory, not performative, pro forma — but sincere stakeholder input, because we can help in this process also, and we will be at the table to try to make sure that happens.”

McCombs to oversee early childhood services within the Department of Education

According to the announcement from the state, McCombs is stepping down from her role overseeing Camden’s schools “by mutual agreement” when her contract ends on June 30. She will begin her new role on July 1.

“Superintendent McCombs’s service to the students of Camden City over nearly thirty years exemplifies the dedication of a true lifelong educator,” said Dehmer. “Superintendent McCombs will be an asset to the Division of Early Childhood Services.”

McCombs will be taking over for Cary Booker, who will be transitioning to the governor’s office as a senior advisor.

McCombs went from student to state-appointed administrator of the school district

McCombs is a 1987 graduate of Camden High School, where she was a cheerleader during the basketball team’s championship year. Carstarphen played on that team.

She spent her entire career in Camden after she graduated from Lehigh University. She started as an early childhood teacher. McCombs was elevated to vice principal and later principal of Lanning Square Elementary School.

McCombs became director of early childhood in 2012. She is credited with leading the district’s record levels of pre-K enrollment. She was appointed acting state school superintendent for the district in 2018 and was named to the job permanently a year later.

This is a developing story.