Maybe before you read about the almost $800,000 severance pay offered to NJ Superintendent Barbara Trzeszkowski (Keansburg School District) and the $600,000 given to former Hoboken Superintendent Patrick Gagliardi, you should read the report of the State of New Jersey Committee of Investigation titled
"Taxpayers Beware: What You Don't Know Can Cost You - An Inquiry Into Questionable and Hidden Compensation for Public School Administrators"

July 6, 2008
Education
School Official in Dispute With State on Severance
By JILL P. CAPUZZO

Keansburg

AFTER 38 ½ years of service, Barbara Trzeszkowski reported for her last day of work on Monday at the Keansburg Board of Education. If her contract with the district withstands a number of legal and governmental challenges, the superintendent will ease into retirement with a $740,876 severance package that the state’s top education official compared to the “golden parachute” awarded to retiring Fortune 500 executives.

In the next few weeks, Ms. Trzeszkowski, 60, was scheduled to receive $14,449 for unused vacation days, the first third of the $170,137 she had amassed in unused sick days, and the first 20 percent of $556,290 in severance pay. This was in addition to the $103,889 annual pension she was to collect from the district for the rest of her life.

Ms. Trzeszkowski’s total package, negotiated with the district school board in 2004, has not only brought a court challenge by the State Department of Education, but it has also captured the attention of members of the Legislature, as well as the public, who have pointed out that Keansburg is an Abbott district, one of 31 so-called disadvantaged districts largely financed by the state. Last year the Keansburg district received $31 million in state aid, or 77 percent of its total budget.

After details of Ms. Trzeszkowski’s last contract were disclosed — it gave her six-hour workdays in the summer and a list of holidays that included the Tuesday after Easter, in addition to the retirement package — state leaders issued a call for a review of all superintendent contracts, which are negotiated at the local level.

“For a school board to so outrageously enrich a former superintendent through this type of ‘golden parachute’ at the expense of the children of Keansburg and the state taxpayers is not only contrary to public policy and unconscionable, but it violates the fiduciary duty and loyalty that the board owes to the public,” read a portion of a lawsuit filed on May 30 by the attorney general’s office on behalf of the state education commissioner, Lucille E. Davy.

The suit seeks to void the severance portion of Ms. Trzeszkowski’s contract, which awarded the superintendent one month’s pay, at her latest annual salary of $173,389, multiplied by the number of years of service, including nearly three decades as a teacher.

Assemblyman Joseph Cryan, a Union Democrat and the chairman of the Assembly Education Committee, told reporters: “These contracts are like porn. You know it when you see it. These kinds of abuses should be stopped.” His committee approved a bill he sponsored that would eliminate all severance packages and cap payouts for unused sick and vacation time at $15,000 each. On June 16, the full Assembly passed the bill, which would be retroactive to cover already negotiated contracts — a provision likely to be challenged. The Senate was expected to take up the bill in the fall.

Ms. Trzeszkowski said through school board officials that she did not want to comment.

The board in Keansburg — where only one of the nine members served when the current contract with Mr. Trzeszkowski was approved — has decided to withhold payments while it waits to see if the former superintendent and the state can work out a compromise.

The board’s lawyer for 31 years, John O. Bennett III, a former state senator, said that the latest contract had been negotiated between the school board’s personnel committee and Ms. Trzeszkowski directly and that he had first seen it two years ago when it was sent to Trenton and the district began preparing for her retirement.

Testifying before the education committee on June 12, Commissioner Davy told its members that her department had begun to review the management contracts for all 615 districts throughout the state, and would seek to establish guidelines for school boards that negotiate the contracts.

“It is an absolutely outrageous, excessive, ridiculous package to pay anyone,” Ms. Davy said, adding that the department would also be issuing guidelines for school boards negotiating management contracts on “what is and what isn’t acceptable.”

In a joint letter to their members, the New Jersey Association of School Administrators and the New Jersey School Boards Association said they would “urge state leaders to avoid overreaction through unnecessary and restrictive legislation and regulation,” saying a new layer of oversight — 21 county superintendents — was up to the task of policing future contracts.

For some, the indignation now being expressed in Trenton is a bit like closing the barn door after the cows have escaped, considering that the Department of Education has had a copy of Ms. Trzeszkowski’s contract since 2006 as part of its oversight arrangement with all Abbott districts.

“The state has full access to every one of those budgets. They are required to be sent in, and they are required to be reviewed,” said David Sciarra, executive director of the Education Law Center of Newark, which represents the Abbott districts. “Why wasn’t action taken sooner to make sure the local school board brought this contract into line?”

Kathryn Forsyth, an Education Department spokeswoman, said that until the recent decision to review all management contracts, the department had reviewed Abbott contracts only to ensure the money the state was paying matched what was in the contracts, not to review the details of the contracts.

Ms. Trzeszkowski taught English for 28 years in the Keansburg district before she was named superintendent in 1998. Many in this coastal community defended her contract, and pointed to the dearth of capable candidates for the top job at a time when the average stay for a superintendent in the state is 2.75 years.

Tim Schultheis, a 45-year-old carpenter who was taught by Ms. Trzeszkowski in the eighth grade, said: “She should get whatever they told her. A deal’s a deal.” But he added, “When it comes at the price of the kids, then it becomes difficult.”

Keansburg has 1,955 students, nearly three-quarters of whom are on the federal free lunch program, according to school officials. For years, the district has suffered from a lack of funds, evidenced by the moldy trailer classrooms that have become permanent fixtures in the schoolyards of each of the district’s four schools and the chain-link fence surrounding a rubble-strewn lot where a new school is scheduled to be built.

Joe Hazeldine, who was chairman of the Keansburg school board and a member of the personnel committee at the time Ms. Trzeszkowski’s most recent contract was negotiated, defended it recently from his home in North Carolina. He said Ms. Trzeszkowski was “worth every single penny she earned, if not more.”

“She’s a remarkable administrator,” Mr. Hazeldine said. “She took Keansburg from the bottom of the Abbott districts to the top. Our college acceptance rate quadrupled. We had kids going to Ivy League schools. That doesn’t just happen. How do you put a price on that?

“It’s not the superintendent’s fault that she dedicated 40 years of her life to this district. The contract was not obscene. It fell well within the scope of what we wanted to do.”

Although he seconded the motion to approve Ms. Trzeszkowski’s five-year contract in February 2004, James Cocuzza, a former board member who is now a borough councilman in Keansburg, said he did not remember it.

“For 15 years, I always fought for zero increases in taxes,” he said. “I don’t see myself giving away three quarters of a million dollars.”

While Mr. Cocuzza said he regrets not paying more attention, he added that he was probably not alone in allowing such contracts to slip through.

“Let’s be honest,” he said. “We’re not professionals. That’s what we have the attorneys and negotiators for. But wait until the state checks out all the other districts and sees the contracts that got through. I bet they all got nice packages.”

Assembly OKs limit on school payouts
BY DUNSTAN McNICHOL, Star-Ledger Staff
LINK

Bill sets $30,000 cap for departing chiefs

There would be no more six-figure parting gifts for superintendents at New Jersey public schools under legislation that won overwhelming approval in the Assembly yesterday.

The bill would put an end to generous severance packages for outgoing superintendents and put a $30,000 cap on payouts for unused sick and vacation time.

“Some school superintendents have taken the mistaken view that money meant for the classroom would be better spent financing their personal diamond-encrusted, taxpayer-provided nest eggs,” said Assemblyman Joseph Cryan (D-Union), chairman of the Assembly Education Committee and sponsor of the measure. “The residents of New Jersey are rightfully outraged at seeing their tax dollars used to provide departing superintendents with these offensive payouts.”

Cryan’s bill (A2975) was crafted in response to reports that Keansburg was poised to pay a $740,000 severance package to its outgoing superintendent next month.

The state Attorney General’s Office has challenged that payment in court, calling it contrary to the public interest, and Keansburg’s board of education has suspended payments under the deal pending a renegotiation. State education officials, meanwhile, have launched a review of every superintendent’s contract in the state.

The deal called for retiring Keansburg superintendent Barbara Trzeszkowski, 60, to collect $184,586 for unused sick and vacation days and $556,290 more as a retirement bonus calculated by multiplying her current monthly salary by the 38 years she worked in the district. Those payments would be on top of Trzeszkowski’s standard pension of about $150,000 a year.

A deal approved last year in Hoboken provided almost $600,000 in severance pay to Patrick Gagliardi, who retired as superintendent three years into a five-year contract.

Both Keansburg and Hoboken are among the 31 so-called special-needs districts entitled to extra state aid under the Abbott vs. Burke lawsuit.

Cryan’s bill would prohibit any severance payments except reimbursement for unused sick and vacation days, and those payments would be capped at $15,000 apiece for sick days and vacation days.

The bill as passed by the Assembly would apply to all existing and future superintendent contracts. The vote was 76-4, with most of the opponents saying they could not accept the provisions that altered existing contracts.

“As much as it sickens me to vote against this bill, the bottom line is a deal is a deal,” said Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Morris), one of three Morris County Republicans to vote against the measure. “Both parties signed on the dotted line and to go back and void individual existing contracts sets a bad precedent.”

Cryan dismissed such critics, saying: “So then you’re in favor of $740,000 payouts, in my view.”

Despite the lopsided vote in the Assembly, the measure faces uncertain prospects in the Senate. Cryan said he has so far not found a sponsor for it in the upper house.

Dunstan McNichol may be reached at dmcnichol@starledger.com or (609) 989-0341.

See also:
Frances Kearns v Patrick Gagliardi

State didn't object to Hoboken schools chief's $600,000 retirement
Posted by dmurphy June 11, 2008 20:10PM
LINK

State education officials, who are in court opposing portions of a Keansburg school superintendent's $740,000 retirement package, chose in January to stay out of a dispute over a retirement deal for Hoboken's former superintendent worth almost $600,000.

Patrick Gagliardi stepped down as Hoboken superintendent last June under an agreement that included about $495,000 in payments for unused sick and vacation days and the promise of another $100,000 in post-retirement consulting fees. That's on top of a standard pension of $128,400 per year that Gagliardi earned after 44 years in Hoboken.

Last December, Hoboken's board of education asked state Education Commissioner Lucille Davy to void the consulting fees portion of the deal. In January, Davy denied their request, saying she had no legal authority to intercede.

Davy's response to Hoboken's petition stands in sharp contrast to the state's reaction last month to word that Keansburg's longtime superintendent, Barbara Trzeszkowski, was scheduled to collect $740,000 in severance benefits upon her retirement June 30.

Trzeszkowski was to receive $184,586 for 235.5 unused sick days and 20 vacation days, plus a $556,290 severance bonus calculated by multiplying her current monthly salary by the number of years she has worked in Keansburg.

Attorney General Anne Milgram last month filed suit in Superior Court seeking to void the severance bonus, calling it "unreasonable" and "unconscionable."

State lawmakers on Thursday are scheduled to consider a bill (A2975) that would prohibit such severance bonuses in the future. The bill was still being drafted today.

Hoboken and Keansburg are among 31 so-called special-needs districts entitled to extra state aid under the Abbott vs. Burke school funding lawsuit. It gets about half its school funding from the state, according to the state Department of Education.
Categories: Editors' Picks, Education, News, Statehouse
Comments
mollypitcher says...

Education Commissioner Lucille Davy should be held personally and professionally accountable, not only for the inconsistent messages she is sending to the school boards and superintendents under her supervision, but for the financial hi-jinks going on in NJ's school districts.

Anne Milgram is right: these severance bonuses are "unreasonable" and "unconscionable." Why didn't Lucille Davy realize that about Hoboken before the story about Keansburg broke in the press?

It is either right or it is wrong; fiscally responsible or profligate; morally and ethically correct....or NOT. It does not "become" the wrong thing to do only when it is outed in the media.

molly sword mcdonough
Posted on 06/11/08 at 8:28PM
nwrkpeaches says...

Ha Ha Ha!!!!!!! New Jersey taxpayers are a bunch of moronic suckers. 73% of our property taxes are for schools, and these sleazebags are sucking it away. Remember, it's all about the kids.
Posted on 06/11/08 at 8:29PM
VOICEOFNJ says...

HEY FOLKS THE TRUTH IS LUCILLE DAVY HAS BEEN SITTING ON THE KEANSBURG CONTRACT FOR ALMOST 2 YEARS AND DIDN T SAY A WORD....AFTER THE SCI REPORT SHE HAD ALL SUPERINTENDENTS' CONTRACTS FROM ABBOTT DISTRICTS FORWARDED TO THE STATE...SHE NEVER REVIEWED THEM...SHE SHOULD BE FIRED...NOW AFTER THE STAR LEDGER AND THE ASBURY PARK PRESS BROKE THE STORY,SHE'S OUTRAGED...WHAT HYPOCRACY AND INCOMPETENCE...GOVERNOR, WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO STEP UP TO THE PLATE AND ACT TO STOP THIS RAPING OF THE TAXPAYERS OF NEW JERSEY?
Posted on 06/11/08 at 8:45PM
inthesoup says...

Gagliardi?s severance should be negated, and his pension pulled, if he did not negotiate financial terms in good faith.

The state report: **Questionable and Hidden Compensation for Public School Administrators** documents educators routinely falsify official documents when reporting compensation to the DOE (to hide stratospheric compensation from taxpayers).

Falsifying official documents incurs felony charges for first-degree tampering with public records, first-degree offering of a false instrument for filing, fourth-degree grand larceny, and first-degree falsifying of official records.

If Gagliardi signed-off on, recorded and filed falsified government documents, he should be indicted, prosecuted, and jailed for multiple felonies.

The 2006 State Commission of Investigation's report:
http://www.state.nj.us/sci/pdf/SCIHigherEdReport.pdf
Posted on 06/11/08 at 8:49PM
publicircus says...

Budget deficit? Forcing people to pay health care premiums? need more schools? All the politicians are turncoat thieves, liars and not worth the tree that died for their toilet paper.
Public servants? You do need to modernize that title to fit the times: Public BURDENS.

Hey how about the new commercial: WE WORK FOR YOU?
my retort: Please DONT. I rather keep the money I slaved for.
Posted on 06/11/08 at 8:52PM
bottumsup says...

Hoboken-Corzine's hometown.Tax-abated building ?
One anchor after another pulling us down.
Posted on 06/11/08 at 8:53PM
inthesoup says...

If Davy accepted falsified government documents, she should be indicted, prosecuted, and jailed for aiding and abetting multiple felonies.

The state report: **Questionable and Hidden Compensation for Public School Administrators** documents educators routinely falsified official government documents-----the falsified documents under-reported compensation figures sent to Davy?s office.

Educators falsified documents to hide stratospheric compensation from taxpayers.

Falsifying official documents incurs felony charges for first-degree tampering with public records, first-degree offering of a false instrument for filing, fourth-degree grand larceny, and first-degree falsifying of official records.


Educators who filed false government documents and colluded to withold information from taxpayers would have negated all severance and retirement contracts.

All contracts are noll and void when they are not negotiated in good faith.

This should also result in pulling educators' state pensions.

Read the 2006 State Commission of Investigation's report here:
http://www.state.nj.us/sci/pdf/SCIHigherEdReport.pdf
Posted on 06/11/08 at 9:00PM
publicircus says...

Corzine inherited the problem. It was created before him. And I have noticed that even tho he tries to create reforms, it's the public burdens who think reform is for everyone else but them. They should be ashamed. How many of them will get lump sums of unsed sick days and vacation days and guaranteed pensions. But the ones just starting out will be penalized for it all. Some damn reform.
Posted on 06/11/08 at 9:12PM
PatPassaic says...

Corzine crony strikes again!
Posted on 06/11/08 at 9:15PM
PatPassaic says...

Corzine makes Samuel Rivera seem honest!
Posted on 06/11/08 at 9:15PM
publicircus says...

The problem is the public is ALWAYS left out. We dont even know what the hell is going on. land of the free alright. Free to do whatever who wants to do to stick their hands in your pockets. Makes me sick.
Posted on 06/11/08 at 9:21PM
stoptaxnow says...

When will one of our elected politicians stand up for us taxpayers and stop this money madness. We simply cannot afford this anymore. People who work in private sector do not get paid out for SICK days. That is absurd that educators do. Thank the Lord you are healthy and go on your way. Don't gouge us taxpayers for this. WE ARE SICK OF IT AND WE ARE NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE
Posted on 06/11/08 at 9:28PM
Misticonus says...

WHOSE AT FALUT? YOU ARE!!! , you elect the members of the school boards who make these sweetheart deals with the school administrators for their pensions and benefits. IF YOU SAID HEY I DON'T VOTE IN SCHOOL BOARD ELECTIONS YOU ARE STILL AT FAULT.

IF YOU WANT GOOD GOVERNMENT AT ALL LEVELS THEN START AT THE LOWEST AND WORK UP! CLEAN UP THE SCHOOL BOARDS STOP THE WASTEFUL SPENDING THERE AND YOU SAVE YOUR REAL ESTATE TAXES!

When you clean up the school boards then go to local government and do the same.
Posted on 06/11/08 at 9:29PM
mollypitcher says...

Lucille Davy was a McGreevey crony, as was her husband, Jim Davy.

If we want to see this state rise up out of the swamp that we are in right now, we all need to encourage and support Governor Corzine to make some tough decisions, and some big changes, and then stand behind him. But the administration also needs to exercise equal opportunity slash and burn decisions about ineffective, corrupt or incompetent Cabinet members, school superintendents, and everyone else along the way.
Posted on 06/11/08 at 9:36PM
PACWOMAN says...

Don't expect the cast of characters in Trenton to stand up for the people. Why aren't any of them outraged? Because they want their free meal on the public dime too. Sick, sick, sick.
Posted on 06/11/08 at 9:43PM
hobokenfb101 says...

What do you expect from Davy. The lady never served one day as a School Administrator. Think about our Commissioner never supervised a School District, Department or School!

Prior to her working at the Governor?s office, Davy worked as an Education Policy Advisor for several years. An attorney admitted to the bar of New Jersey and the Federal District Court, Mrs. Davy previously practiced law for eleven years. She is also a certified mathematics teacher and was an adjunct professor of Mathematics at St. Mary's College in Indiana and Mercer County Community College in New Jersey. She earned a B.S. degree in Mathematics from Seton Hall University and a J.D. from the University of Notre Dame.

DAVY IS WHAT WE CALL POLITICALLY CONNECTED THROUGH FAMILY MEMBERS!!!! HOW ABOUT WE INVESTIGATE DAVY'S CREDENTIALS TO BE A COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION!
Posted on 06/11/08 at 9:54PM
07isback says...

Exactly . Samuel Rivera compare to the real thiefs in Action is only a baby in diapers .

BTW comparing the Hoboken case to the keansburg i can smell a gender Differential treatment case there . Hmmmm
Posted on 06/11/08 at 9:57PM
homersleeps says...

Corzine discriminates against people of Polish ancestry. He takes no action against any other "educators" only the one woman. Who knows, maybe she rejected his advances somewhere along the line.
Posted on 06/11/08 at 10:06PM
homersleeps says...

Regular state employees, at most can receive $15000 for unused sick time. Yet, educators seem to be playing by different rules. Most of our tax money goes to the schools not to highway workers or state secretaries. But you can't cut anything from education or teachers or they simply hold the childgren hostage come September.
Posted on 06/11/08 at 10:09PM
summitite says...

By the way, the NJEA (New Jersey Extortion Association) is pushing a bill the would move school Board elections to November, BUT remove the ability to vote on it's budget. What a sham! It's time to put this bunch of thieves in their place.

Start by requiring them to change the name to NJ Educators Association; this group does absolutely nothing to improve education itself. Next prohibit them, along with all other pubic employee unions, from from contributing to campaigns of elected officials responsible for approving their contracts.
Posted on 06/11/08 at 10:22PM
publicircus says...

15000 PLUS unused VACATION TIME too.
Posted on 06/11/08 at 10:22PM
summitite says...

... and finally, place a maximum contract length of 1 year for any adminsitrator or other "professional" hired by a school district.
Posted on 06/11/08 at 10:24PM
publicircus says...

My country full of it
You truly make me sick
indeed you do
I hope you just collapse
Then you can kiss their ---
so freedom will arise again
forevermore.
Posted on 06/11/08 at 10:29PM
publicircus says...

IT will never change - just get worse until it hits the bottom.too many thieve and their greedy lawyers.
do you know that the bible doesnt even have a nice thing to say about a lawyer? they support evil forces in life because they base their work on their human greed. they are glorifed salespeople with a license to steal. It will get darker and then the forces of light will dominate again because more people will realize what life is like without it..Their words will mean nothing then. I was hoping not to see this in my life but I am truly doubtful ...At least my dad and mom were spared.. they surely went thru enough.
Posted on 06/11/08 at 10:42PM
publicircus says...

thats sooo funny New jersey Extortion committee.

Thanks for the laugh summitite
I get sooo disgusted honestly
Posted on 06/11/08 at 10:47PM
publicircus says...

mollypitcher: I do stand behind corzine but his reforms are only reforms for some which I think is not fair to the young ones. They havent any right for a bright future? There has to be a give and take in this and that's applies to everyone.
Posted on 06/11/08 at 11:00PM
Misticonus says...

Hey PUBLICIRCUS state employees can carry only one year of vacation or they loose it. No way the average non manager could ever come close to $30,000 in unused sick and vacation.

AGAIN I SAY THE BLAME GOES TO THE LOCAL SCHOOL BOARDS WHO GIVE THESE GREAT CONTRACTS TO ADMINISTRATORS, NOT EVERYDAY TEACHERS, AND WHO ELECTS THESE FINE BOARD MEMBERS WHO TAKE CARE OF FRIENDS AND FAMILY.
Posted on 06/11/08 at 11:14PM
publicircus says...

I dont vote anymore because at least I dont feel like I am responsible in the least when the elected turns "coat." So you cant blame me.
Posted on 06/11/08 at 11:19PM
publicircus says...

And how do we know who to vote for if we cant even see what the heck they are doing? hey someone who goes to NJCU and gets a masters in school administration comes out to positions held right for them. they are thirty something years old and earning almost 100000 as a school principal.. I think thats sick too. I see families of people where the whole family is public servants. Now how is this possible unless it is a fixed system? Gee in one family theres a college health dept. director, school nurse, school councilor, school dean etc. another the guy is a principal, his wife a teacher, another all cops in the family and yes principals too. I just havent any more faith in the system at all. It has created a good life for the "have-it-alls" at the price of all others who are not on welfare..
Posted on 06/11/08 at 11:32PM
mollypitcher says...

Publicircus, and all:

If you don't vote, you have no right to complain.

Voting is a privilege, a right and a responsibility. Blog all you want, but the only way to make change is to do your homework on the candidates, pound the pavements for the things and the people you believe in, and VOTE.

Stand up, be an adult and take responsibility. No whining allowed.

Posted on 06/12/08 at 1:42AM
Racer212 says...

As a teacher for the past 35 years I have accumlated quite a few sick days. We are not force to take sick days in fact we are told "SAVE YOUR SICK TIME" In the private sector if you have sick time you are told "TAKE THE SICK TIME OR LOSE THEM!" So people take them when they are sick, when they have something to do, when it's hot, when Macy's has a one day sale in the middle of the week, etc. and no one questions the time lost on the job. But a teacher in New Jersey especially in the Abbott district is told here's your sick time but don't take them unless you are dying and even then you are written up because you take time.

Parents, supervisors and complete strangers will complain "look at that those teachers don't care about the children, they are taking time off and they have all that time in the summer and those vacation days.You come in sick, you rearrange your life to do everything on the weekend or vacation days or at night which is harder since more and more teachers are teaching after school programs.

There are no buy back programs that are worth it in education for the regular teacher. As of now its 1 day pay for 5 days sick and you can only sell back so many days. You can't give them away to a fellow teacher who is sick.

So newer teachers are using all their time in the first few years since they know they won't hang around. The older teachers have 2 choices use them or lose them.

Yes its hard to hear of someone getting a large some of money when they are retiring and know you will never get that amount. Guess what? A regular teacher from the classroom will NEVER get that sum either.

Ask the CEOs from the private sectors about their retirement packages. Ask them what do they do to get that package. Better yet ask our esteem elected officials about their packages and what did they do to get it.

The regular classroom teacher works for his/her money and shouldn't be pentalize at the end of their career for being a dedicated person.
Posted on 06/12/08 at 6:08AM
ferdek says...

The Blame starts at the top! Corzine and all previous Guvs. The Legislators who love being loved. The NJEA who loves to do the loving. The Boards of Ed who seem to just be unable to say no to the "credentialed class." And finally the NJDOE which seems totally inept, totally in the dark, and led by political appointees who just don't get it. The SCI said it and no one in the AG's office did anything about it. The AG is such a Corzine crony with no independence and no real prosecutorial expertise. Her predecessor was even worse! last but not least let's talk about BOE elections...well let's not and say we did. Finally, HOME RULE! Let everyone have their own little sandbox even when others pay for the sand and in the Abbott Districts both the sand and the box! NJ get real we are going down unless there are radical/revolutionary changes!
Posted on 06/12/08 at 6:17AM
REalOpinion says...

Do you really think these Superintendents have saved that much sick time or vacation time???? Guaranteed every time they are "out of the office" they say it is work related and they get away with it. That is how they have so much time left to cash in when they retire. It is ironic how much time Superintendents have accumulated, they know it is a big pay-off at the end, nice huge vacation fund!!!!! Call the office to speak to a superintendent and they are never in.....wonder where they are....
Posted on 06/12/08 at 8:43AM
missmolinski says...

AMEN RACER212!!!!

they don't need to cut the education budgets, they need to cut the administrative salaries and benefits packages! i don't have enough books for my students, but administrators earn 6 figures. most teachers have summer jobs, but administrators have BMW's.

what is wrong with this picture...?
Posted on 06/12/08 at 10:19AM
Bailout says...

Researchers at Rutgers University today announced a multi-million dollar study over the seemingly near perfect long term health of a large stable of NJ School Superintendents. Researchers have been amazed how this one pocket of society has seemingly been able to avoid the routine and not so routine daily and seasonal illnesses that afflict greater than 99% of the population. Many superintendents responded to the study questionnaire as not taking a sick day in over 40 years ! Initial results show most of the superintendents health and lifestyle to be similar to other job categories, with similar rates of obesity, lack of exercise, high stress, and unhealthy eating habits. Researchers also noticed a pattern, where inner-city superintendents, those at so called "Abbott" districts, enjoyed an even greater level of healthfulness than non-Abbott districts. Researchers are focusing on the impact a large financial incentive plays on long term good health, and the ability of NJ taxpayers to pay these incentives without issue or question.
Posted on 06/12/08 at 10:35AM
policyprof says...

New Jersey works in a unique way and in order to figure out how it functions think politics. As a former candidate for state office and a college professor I have witnessed many a fiasco and relayed my experiences to my students. The school districts are wasting 3 billion dollars of tax payers money a year a study by Mark J. Williams who holds 3 master degrees and worked in higher education most of his life recently released a study that has been ignored by the administration. What gives? Politics.
Posted on 06/12/08 at 10:52AM
policyprof says...

New Jersey works in a unique way and in order to figure out how it functions think politics. As a former candidate for state office and a college professor I have witnessed many a fiasco and relayed my experiences to my students. The school districts are wasting 3 billion dollars of tax payers money a year a study by Mark J. Williams who holds 3 master degrees and worked in higher education most of his life recently released a study that has been ignored by the administration. What gives? Politics.
Posted on 06/12/08 at 10:52AM
policyprof says...

What else is new we are the richest state in the nation I guess these people feel they deserve these buy outs since corporate america seems to reward millions to executives that loose millions for their company
Posted on 06/12/08 at 11:12AM
mdag says...

This proves that depth of the incompetence and corruption in this state.

If we were allowed to sue our public officials, personally, for malpractice and brach of fiduciary duty, we would see them look out for the PUBLIC interest instead of their narrow, corrupt PERSONAL goals.
Posted on 06/12/08 at 11:58AM
brother666 says...

James Wasser of the Freehold Regional High School District is having a new contract voted on in the near future. His present contract isn't up till the end of the next school year. He is attempting to get a new contract just before the new rules would be put into effect. Talk about dirty dealing? The new deal doesn't have to be ratified now. The President of the board, Manalapan Representative Patricia Horvath is in cahoots with Wasser to sneak this through without the public even realizing it. It's time for Wasser and his pupper Horvath to be thrown out on their ears
Posted on 06/12/08 at 1:18PM
brother666 says...

Just wait till you see what James Wasser, Frrhold Regional asks for in his next contract.....LOL
Posted on 06/12/08 at 1:24PM
j123 says...

If any politician in this state had a set of b$#ls...or some ethics, This would all be in the open. Instead, it is only uncovered when somebody from the "outside" (Definition: us gullable citizens) figure it out. Throw 'em all in jail!
Posted on 06/12/08 at 1:26PM
Jeenygirl says...

This practice of paying state employees for "unused sick time" has got to stop! Get like the rest of the working force..."Don't use them, you lose them!!!"

And I find it very suspect that these people have never or rarely needed time off for being sick or to help a sick family member. This has to be monitored more closely..lno one is watching the store!
Posted on 06/12/08 at 1:48PM
bell69 says...

Let's be honest..The Education Law Center sued to help create Abbott districts because they are for the kids....But, the funny thing is that the teachers and the administrators are the real winners with bloated retirement packages and such..The Abbott districts aren't for the kids..they are for their own retirement packages....And if you want proof, how do administrators and teachers in Abbott districts get tenure???? The failure rates for the students are high and the teachers and administrators get tenure and golden parachutes...That wouldn't happen where I work...If I didn't produce I'd be fired...BTW, Hudson County sucks and it's the worst county in NJ...and I speak from experience..
Posted on 06/12/08 at 1:56PM
Taxd2Death says...

Health insurance isn't a bad racket either ;)

$5 copays n $5 prescriptions.

No wonder the state is sinking fast. Get on the trough while the getting is still good.
Posted on 06/12/08 at 2:05PM
njyikes says...

Look at the fat *ss, with that kind of weight, how could he not been sick. I hope he dies the worst death and rots in hell.
Posted on 06/12/08 at 2:39PM
newcivileyes says...

Dont' Blame the guy , Blame Corzine for Ignoring over and over those types of Legal and Illegal deals .
Posted on 06/12/08 at 2:45PM
mgrsrthieves says...

West Orange is eliminating 21 teachers for next year, and increasing class sizes, in some cases significantly. This is supposed to be due to budget shortfalls. Meanwhile, guess how many supervisors, principals, deans, and other administrators are losing their jobs? A nice round number, 0.

To teach kids, you first need teachers. Why do we need SO MANY administrators, almost ALL of whom make much more than teachers, and who do nothing but make extra work for teachers and promote their own careers? I say every so-called supervisor or principal in the schools should be given a pack of chalk and made to teach AT LEAST some classes. Stop shuffling papers and DO SOME WORK!!!
Posted on 06/12/08 at 2:46PM
Johnpinochio says...

Baaaawaaaah Bawaaah !!! ROFL . How is that an Obesse person is in such Excellent health.

I want to have the Secret lol

Johnny Pinocchio .
Posted on 06/12/08 at 2:49PM
bell69 says...

He's in such good health since he sits on his ass all day....
Posted on 06/12/08 at 2:53PM
dontazmebro says...

Racer212
"As a teacher for the past 35 years I have accumlated quite a few sick days. We are not force to take sick days in fact we are told "SAVE YOUR SICK TIME" In the private sector if you have sick time you are told "TAKE THE SICK TIME OR LOSE THEM!" So people take them when they are sick, when they have something to do, when it's hot, when Macy's has a one day sale in the middle of the week, etc. and no one questions the time lost on the job. But a teacher in New Jersey especially in the Abbott district is told here's your sick time but don't take them unless you are dying and even then you are written up because you take time. ..."

Where did you get your information from, another teacher???

Sick days in the private sector are use them or lose the WHEN YOU ARE SICK. Shopping? Day at the beach? you use a vacation day.

If you get sick day, and you are sick, I expect you to stay home and not go to work and spread your germs. Getting able to "save" them up is just wrong on so many fronts.

And while we're on the topic of vacation days I would surely like to meet the first teacher who went to the "Teacher's Conference" you all get every year. You know that paid week off where most do to Disney World, and all your precious students are out playing on the streets and where the parents have to take a week of vacation to watch them.
Posted on 06/12/08 at 3:51PM
hobokenmafia says...

Greetings from Hoboken!

It's not just our superintendent that does well here in Hoboken. We have an eighth-grade teacher that makes $128K a year(salary & benefits). We have a Director of Security that makes $120K. We have a shop teacher that makes $118K. We have an "Athletics Director" that makes $116K. We have four custodians that make over $90K a year - and that's not counting overtime. In fact, one-fifth of our employees (and we've got lots of them) are compensated in the six-figures.

Our per-student cost is $25K/yr, but we're okay with that. Though we're not a fully-funded Abbott district, we're still grateful for your regular state aid, pre-K money ($7M/yr) and construction money so that we could renovate our schools. It's too bad for us that the School Construction Co was prematurely shut down, because we were ready to replace our perfectly fine high school with a brand new one so that we could sell the old one to a favored developer (it sits on a prime piece of property directly across from a county park).

We here in Hoboken can't thank you, New Jersey, for your generosity and largesse. Keep the $$$ coming. The Hoboken Mafia is laughing at you.
Posted on 06/13/08 at 10:07AM
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