Board settles lawsuit with ex-superintendent Also approves new policy manual, staff changes
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At Tuesday's Hoboken Board of Education meeting, six board members approved the settlement of a lawsuit changing the contract buyout of former superintendent Patrick Gagliardi, with only board member Rose Marie Markle dissenting.
Gargiardi's remaining contract was bought out by a previous board, granting him upwards of $600,000, before Superintendent Jack Raslowsky took over last year.
Raslowsky said the board petitioned the state for intervention, but since the state did not intercede, the two sides settled in court.
Due to the recent settlement, part of Gagliardi's payout concerning consultant fees was reduced from $100,000 to roughly $70,000, said Raslowsky.
At the meeting, Markle said, "This settlement is what happens when we have a board that rubber stamps everything. We've had several people tell us that we should always vote 'yes' when something comes in front of us."
Curriculum progress listed on blog
The district has brought together 61 faculty members to overhaul the district-wide curriculum in accordance with state school regulations.
Dr. Anthony Petrosino, assistant to the superintendent, spoke at some length about the committee's work in mapping students' learning from kindergarten through high school.
Curriculum committee members Tara Donnelly and Mark Taraszkiewicz spoke in favor of the process and progress at the meeting.
Taraszkiewicz said the teachers are understanding better their work within the district overall.
Donnelly agreed, adding, "It's creating a community amongst the teachers."
Petrosino expects the plan to be implemented in September of 2009.
Their progress can be followed on a blog found on the district website, or at www.hobokencurriculumproject.blogspot.com.
School curriculum was one of the areas questioned by a state audit that evaluated instruction and programs, personnel, fiscal management, operations, and governance.
Personnel moves
This summer's flurry of personnel moves within the Hoboken schools continued Tuesday with the elimination and addition of some positions, the re-appointment of some personnel, and retirements and resignations.
Board member Carmelo Garcia again asked Brian Buckley, business administrator for the district, for a detailed analysis of the overall personnel changes.
Buckley said he will provide it for the next meeting.
The district reworked their policy manual to include some state-mandated changes.
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Generally, coordinators are paid $5,300, while Enrico is earning $10,000 for coordinating the Saturday "U" Program.
She brought the matter up because earlier in the evening, Raslowsky had said that he was trying to bring all coordinator position salaries and expectations in line with each other.
So Markle asked later in the evening why Enrico was getting so much more. Raslowsky said in an interview after the meeting that the position was an "irregular spot" because of the weekend hours. He said that in hindsight, he might have given Enrico a different title than coordinator because of the greater demands of the job.
Meanwhile, the new contract for Enrico and other teachers is on hold, but should be ready soon. Two months ago, the district asked the state whether it is valid, since two of the three board members negotiating it have some sort of business relations to the staff it affects.
Sources said late last week that the state Ethics Board cleared the members in question of any conflict.
For more on that story, which was reported first by the Reporter in June, see www.hobokenreporter.com.
Changing food and policies
Come September, the Hoboken schools will have a new food vendor and a new policy manual.
Six board members voted in favor of Chartwells School Dining Services, a nationally-known food vendor, with Markle abstaining because she said she didn't have enough information.
Board members Theresa Minutillo and Carrie Gilliard were not present at last week's meeting. They had been ready for a meeting last month, but it was canceled when other board members said they couldn't make it.
Raslowsky said the discussions about improving the food vendor had been going on for a while among board committees. He said the district wanted to protect their employees in the change-over process and become more efficient with resources.
Assistant business administrator Paul Stabile was credited by several board members with his handling of the selection process, and he said that the new contractor stands to make $154,000 in upgrades to the district's food service equipment.
Board member Phil DeFalco also pointed out $200,000 projected savings from this year to last.
As far as the new policies in the policy manual, Raslowsky said the board had extensive discussions covering issues like when to award honors and student conduct and behavior standards, as well as state-mandated changes like limits to travel reimbursement and the inclusion of cyber-bullying policies.
He said the new policy manual is being made available to the public in electronic (or paper) form; requests can be made via email at cmezzina@hoboken.k12.nj.us.
Correction: Enrico's salary $10,000, not $100,000. Coordinators make $5,300, not $53,000.
For questions or comments on this story, e-mail tcarroll@hudsonreporter.com.
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