Superintendent Edward Aldarelli said the biggest transition he made when he moved up from principal to take the helm of Edison Township Public Schools was becoming the New Jersey district’s “head visionary.”

He was used to being around kids and managing the day-to-day operations of a school building, he says on District’s Administration’s “A Good Lesson” podcast.

"For me, it was defining my role, which is strategy,” Aldarelli told DA’s Vice President of Education Amy Dujon during an interview at the AASA 2026 Conference in Nashville in February. “It’s setting a clear vision for the district and measuring those pieces. We’re tyring to push the envelope in Edison.”