An experienced administrator with a statewide reputation as an expert in literacy and student learning styles is the district’s next director of curriculum and instruction.

Lori L. Barnett, a 23-year educator from Mahwah, was unanimously approved by the Board of Education last night. She starts July 1 at an annual salary of $132,000.

Barnett replaces Patricia Coats, who retires June 30. A graduate of Central High School, Coats spent her entire 24-year career in Hopewell Valley, beginning as an English teacher at her alma mater and serving in various capacities, including principal and staff developer. She has served as the director of curriculum and instruction for the past year.

Well-known throughout New Jersey as a dynamic staff trainer, Barnett has served as Mahwah’s K-12 language arts supervisor for the past seven years. Prior to that, she worked for 16 years in Ridgewood Public Schools where she taught high school English and elementary Gifted and Talented students. She also served as staff developer.

Barnett is trained in the theories of brain-based learning and multiple intelligences and is well-known for her work promoting the cooperative learning model. She started Literacy Labs in Mahwah’s secondary schools, classes specially designed to help at-risk students pass the state-mandated High School Proficiency Assessment, and has written curriculum in the Understanding by Design model, adopted by Hopewell Valley several years ago. She has run parent workshops on how to prepare children for success in the 21st century and, two years ago, hosted the first Bergen County Literacy Consortium Day with experts Stephanie Harvey, Debbie Miller and Harvey Daniels. More than 200 K-12 administrators from North Jersey schools attended.

Barnett holds a master’s degree in English from Queens College. A resident of Sugar Loaf, N.Y., she plans to relocate to the Pennington area.