New Jersey’s Commissioner of Education Lily Laux visited the high school April 11, meeting with students, teachers and administrators. Laux took over after previous commissioner Kevin Dehmer stepped down February 24 for another position.
“I went to a small rural school growing up. Wonderful, but much more limited,” said Laux. While her former school was something she appreciated, she shared that she didn’t have as much access to as much programs as other schools, which caused her to not have as much opportunity in college when she grew up. “While it limited what I was able to do when I got to college, look at me now” Lily added.
Lily Laux worked her way up from her middle school teaching position in Tennessee all the way to New Jersey’s Acting Commissioner of Education, and was soon nominated and approved as the Commissioner of Education for New Jersey by Governer Mikie Sherrill.
After becoming Commissioner of Education, Lily Laux decided to tour a several school districts and see the way New Jersey’s education programs work for both teachers and students. Of approximately 427 public high schools that the state oversees, Lily Laux landed on one choice with a positive reputation: Hillsborough High School.
Lily Laux alongside members of the state’s Board of Education entered Hillsborough High School and were offered a tour by both the Student Council and Principal Jeffery DiLollo, which they accepted. “We heard wonderful things about this school and its programs, and we wanted to take a look at them ourselves,” Laux said.
Laux visited a total of eight classrooms, representing both core subjects and several electives. She stopped by the Culinary Arts class at room 520, and then entered the Education and Training classroom a few doors down. After that, she stopped by classes 607 and 804, both of which teach chemistry at different academic levels.
Teachers from these classes shared their thoughts and first impressions on Laux. “She seemed engaged in what the students did. She observed what they did and asked questions about the subject,” Jill Kalyankar, culinary arts teacher, said.
“I was very happy she came to my class, and she did a great job at engaging with the students,” said Carole Cieless, an education and training teacher. “I looked her up and saw she recommended the book “Be Kind,” which I’ll purchase for the lil’ raiders as a way to teach them kindness,” she added.
“It was exciting that she chose HHS out of all schools,” chemistry teacher Anjana Iyer said. “She remained engaged with students, asking questions about the subject. She was also impressed with our use of AI in class,” she added.
Next, she visited room 812, Research in Molecular Biology Honors, and soon after, headed towards room 502, Wood Technology. After a quick hands-on tutorial from the teacher, Laux crafted her own wooden scrapper, with the assistance of senior student Spencer Marso.
“She’s a very nice person, and she seemed very interested in the work we did in this class,” Marso said. “You don’t see blue collar classes often, so showing her there’s more to school than chromebooks is awesome,” he added.
