Mount Laurel’s new school superintendent Neil Burti is on a mission to ‘listen, learn, and lead’

After more than two decades in the same district, veteran educator Neil Burti is starting a new job: Mount Laurel Schools superintendent.

Burti spent nearly his entire career in nearby Cherry Hill schools, rising from teacher and coach to principal and most recently director of secondary education. His stint included taking over as principal at Cherry Hill East for several months, after a shake-up stemming from a lawsuit alleging a former assistant principal was subjected to discrimination and retaliation by the board and top administrators.

He is beginning a new chapter when the school year begins Wednesday for about 4,500 students as schools chief in Mount Laurel, a pre-K through eighth-grade district in Burlington County.

Burti, 50, succeeds George Rafferty, who retired this summer after leading the district for a decade. He took over Aug. 1 under a three-year contract.

In the first few weeks on the job, Burti said he has focused primarily on meeting as many stakeholders as possible — mostly staff — and getting ready to welcome students.

For his first year, Burti, who lives in neighboring Marlton with his wife, Jessy — his college sweetheart — and their four children, plans to visit every school to meet with more students and teachers and embark on a tour “to listen, learn, and lead.”

We talked to Burti about his decision to leave Cherry Hill, his priorities for Mount Laurel, the financial challenges facing all districts amid declining state aid, and the kind of superintendent he wants to become.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Cherry Hill provided me tremendous opportunities as a young teacher, a young administrator, and then as a seasoned veteran. Twenty-four years is a long time.

I also recognize that change is healthy. I was at a point in my career where I was looking for some type of change, some type of new challenge, I wasn’t actively seeking a job, but when this opportunity presented itself, I knew this would be a dream position. The reality is that Mount Laurel is a destination district.

It became obvious to me that this was the right opportunity, the right choice, and Mount Laurel was the right place. I’ll always miss the connection to so many former students, families, faculty, and staff.

I felt privileged to be able to serve as principal at Cherry Hill High School East on special assignment.

What it reinforced for me is exactly what I already know about this business: There are things that are predictable, and there are things that are unpredictable.

As leaders, we have to be ready to handle both. Whether it’s something you see coming and can prepare for or something you’re dealing with reactively, you have to be ready. You have to be confident and competent enough to address both the predictable and the unpredictable.

My goal is to listen, learn, and lead, and I feel like I need to do it in that order.

That listening and learning will ultimately guide me as I move into the leading phase of my plan. It will have everything to do with stakeholder input and the data I collect during year one as we determine together the vision for the district.

The district is focused on academic achievement, partnering with families and the notion of belonging. That’s critical to me because we know in education, there’s a big difference between fitting in and belonging.

There are also clear goals around pre-K expansion, early literacy, and algebra readiness.

The challenges in Mount Laurel are no different than the challenges in other districts in Burlington County, across the state, and really across the country.

Those challenges have everything to do with an inadequate funding formula, the rising cost of health and energy, and a national teacher shortage.

With the uncertainty of the state budget, there’s no way to predict what will happen financially if the state funding formula doesn’t adequately fund districts. At this point, I’m not aware of staffing reductions, program cuts, or larger class sizes on the horizon here in Mount Laurel. We expect to be fully staffed for all certificated positions.

The great thing about Mount Laurel is that substantive work has already been done. I view my role as building on that past success while keeping an eye on future improvement.

When you’re starting the role, you’re not necessarily beginning with your legacy in mind. It will really be about long-range planning for the district.

At the end of my first year, I want to be able to say that we have looked deeply at Mount Laurel, not just in terms of our organizational structure and processes, but through the lens of the challenges facing us.