When his students returned from remote learning after the pandemic, Neil Burti, principal of Cherry Hill's Carusi Middle School, realized new structures were needed to make in-classroom education effective again.
Burti introduced academic and social initiatives, all "things that kids really needed to get back to learning," he told 70and73.com in an interview. "Having remote learning created tremendous challenges, but it also created tremendous opportunities."
The post-pandemic efforts and other programs from the 22-year veteran of the Cherry Hill district were reasons the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association in March named Burti as the Visionary Secondary Principal of the Year as well as its selection for the National Association of Secondary School Principals Principal of the Year.
After the pandemic, Burti found the notion of a middle school student's academic preparation had to be altered.
"Things that were relatively solid assumptions we could no longer make," said Burti, who noted that an example with math fluency was that students came to middle school knowing their multiplication tables. For many students, that no longer was the case.
Educators also saw that some of the larger gaps were social ones: One hurdle was simply learning how to "play school" with interactions that were not just virtual. Students found themselves navigating a social structure in person that is difficult enough in normal times, Burti said.
"Middle school is never an easy time" and it became more difficult in the face-to-face world, he added.
Structures introduced at Carusi included mentoring, opportunities for service learning, safe-space clubs and academic intervention.
Burti said that "in order to be in a safe space to learn, kids have to feel like they belong."
Engaging the student body in school included clearer expectations of how we expect to be treated and how we are expected to treat others, he said.
After the programs were in place, attendance increased and disciplinary infractions decreased.
Burti, 48, who grew up near the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania, received his undergraduate degree from East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania, his master's from Temple University and his doctorate from Wilmington University.
He lives in Evesham, where his wife, Jessy Burti, is a teacher's assistant in the town's public schools. She was trained as a speech therapist, but decided to return to the classroom in the assistant's role after staying at home raising the couple's four children.
He has served as a principal in Cherry Hill for 17 years, the last five at Carusi. Burti was principal at the district's Alternative High School for students with special needs for six years.
As part of his award, Carusi gets $10,000. Burti said ideas to use the money include expanding extracurricular activities.
The long-time principal now is working with the district on a "reverse inclusion" program for special-needs students. Reverse inclusion programs return the special-needs students to their own self-contained classroom but also provide structures to integrate them with the regular student body in activities to promote bonds and understanding.
"I've always felt a sense of advocacy and agency for children who were underdogs in my classroom," Burti explained. "It sparked my passion, it changed my career."
