Superintendent Search Underway

(Reprinted from Amboy Beacon, Jan. 26, 2011) PERTH AMBOY — “WANTED: Superintendent of Schools, state-certified, results-oriented. Strong financial, construction and curriculum background desirable. Must be community-oriented, bilingual a plus. Salary capped at $175,000.”

The search for a replacement for Superintendent John Rodecker has begin in-earnest, and the description above indicates what the Board of Education is seeking in its ideal candidate.

Board President Samuel Lebreault announced at the Board’s last meeting that the search for a new Superintendent has been turned-over to the N.J. School Boards Association, of which the Board is a member.

“They’re looking at our criteria, and we expect to engage the community and staff in our decision-making process,” Lebrault said.

“Our High School Principal search also will start soon, and we’ll use our Human Resources Department to do that,” he added. “Also for our Human Resources Director, we have seven candidates, and we should have a decision shortly.”

Perth Amboy High School Principal Rosalia Czaban and Human Resources Director William Stratton also have retired.

The Board voted unanimously at its last meeting to appoint Michael Heidelberg, a Technology teacher at the high school, as Temporary Vice Principal to replace Ronald Anderson, who was appointed previously as Temporary Principal to replace Czaban while the Principal search goes-on.

Also, McGinnis School Intervention teacher Brian Rivera and Wilentz School Bilingual teacher Edwin Nieves were unanimously appointed as Vice Principals at their respective schools at 12-month prorated salaries of $83,790 each.

All three Resolutions were moved by Obdulia “Obi” Gonzalez, seconded by Board Vice President Kenneth Puccio and adopted 9-0.

The Board voted unanimously at its last meeting of 2010 to accept Rodecker’s resignation, effective July 1, 2011, for the purpose of retirement.

There were no comments made after the vote on that measure, which was part of an addendum to the Board’s meeting-agenda.

However, Board members were lavish with their praise of Rodecker when he announced at their Nov. 18 meeting that he intended to retire after 35 years of service when his current $216,380 contract expires on June 30.

Under the state’s new “cap” on Superintendents’ salaries, a district of

10,000 students such as Perth Amboy would not be able to pay a Superintendent’s salary higher than $175,000.

Lebrault expressed concern about having so-many administrators, supervisors and long-serving teachers retire this year, many of them leaving because of proposed changes in the pension system.

“We’re losing our institutional memory,” he said.

In addition, none of the current Board members has served more than two years, including Lebrault, and many have served on the Board for a year or less.

District Seeks School-Building Autonomy

(Reprinted from Amboy Beacon, Jan. 26, 2011) PERTH AMBOY — Before the state Department of Education (DOE) took-over school-construction management for the 31 Abbott or “special needs” school districts, Perth Amboy’s district managed a massive $75 million construction program that led to quality schools at lower cost.

With the Abbott program on-hold and loosening-up of centralized control under Gov. Christopher Christie, the Board of Education voted unanimously at its last meeting to authorize an application to DOE requesting the district be “named eligibe” to manage its own school-construction projects.

The Resolution, noting that the district has “met the prescribed requirements” to make its request, was moved by Israel Varela, seconded by Board Vice President Kenneth Puccio and adopted 9-0.

“I believe the district’s track-record speaks for itself: the new Wilentz School, and renovations to two middle schools and three elementary schools,”

Superintendent of Schools John Rodecker declared. “We’ve demonstrated our ability to manage and build our own projects.

“We took a district where the average age of its schools was closing-in on 100-years-old to one of the most-modern districts in the state in terms of its schools,” he said.

Rodecker pointed out that “under the Schools Construction Corp. (SCC), we supplied the plans for the first two schools, the Richardson School and the Cruz Early Childhood Learning Center.

“The only school constructed solely by the state — the Hmieleski Early Childhood Learning Center — took a-lot-longer because there were a-lot-more delays,” he stated. “This makes sense.

“The big point now is finding the funds to allow us to do this,” he added.

During the public portion, former Board member Greg Diaz pointed out that even-though DOE is “allowing the school-system to do its own construction, we still have to go to the state for funding.”

“Even with us managing our own construction, the SDA (Schools Development

Authority) will still remain as the bank,” Rodecker agreed. “Even if we approve the hiring of our own professionals, we’re not going to get-out from under the state’s approval process.

“But if we manage our own construction projects, we WILL be more-efficient, in my opinion.” he stated.

“The Department still makes its own decisions,” Board Secretary/Business Administrator Derek Jess added.

In the past, the district was able to “bank” its surplus and set those funds aside, to be used for school-construction purposes. However, former Gov.

Jon Corzine forced all school districts to utilize most of their remaining surplus in their operating budgets by reducing their state-aid by a like amount.

“The district has only $3.7 million in excess surplus to be used for our Budget next year,” Jess reported.