From The Westfield Patch: The state of New Jersey is blocking a salary hike for another school superintendent. Westfield Schools Superintendent Margaret Dolan had her five-year contract extension voided by the state's top education official for Union County. County Executive Schools Superintendent Carmen Centuolo says the decision came because the Westfield school board did not follow state law for superintendent contract approvals. The new contract called for no raise for the first two years of the contact and a 2 percent raise coming in the third year. The contract was slated to bring Dolan's current salary of $188,553 to more than $200,000 by 2015, exceeding the $175,000 salary cap Gov. Chris Christie slated for superintendents in districts of Westfield's size. Christie's salary cap for superintendents takes effect on Feb. 1. The Parsippany school district has sued the state after the state blocked the Parsippany board’s plan to give its superintendent a raise.
Earlier...from The Newark Star-Ledger: The Parsippany (N.J.) school board has filed a lawsuit demanding that its superintendent be granted a contract extension that Gov. Chris Christie has called "the definition of greed and arrogance." The suit seeks a court order that would compel the Morris County school superintendent and the acting state education commissioner to approve the board’s five-year contract for Superintendent LeRoy Seitz. The Parsippany board voted Nov. 9 to raise Seitz’s salary from $212,020 to $216,040. On Nov. 15, however, Morris Schools Superintendent Kathleen Serafino ordered the board to rescind the contract. That same day, Acting Education Commissioner Rochelle Hendricks warned county superintendents not to approve any contracts before Christie’s cap on superintendent salaries takes effect Feb. 7. The cap limits superintendents’ salaries based on the number of students in their districts. It sets a cap of $175,000 on Seitz’s salary.
EARLIER....from The Philadelphia Inquirer: A New Jersey school superintendent singled out by the governor as "the new poster boy for all that is wrong with the public school system that's being dictated by greed" has had his new contract rejected. Gov. Christie singled out Parsippany-Troy Hills Superintendent LeRoy Seitz after the school board awarded him a new contract with pay well above the limits Christie's administration put in place, but which don't take effect until Feb. 7. Christie says the Morris County executive schools superintendent is nixing the deal.
From The Newark Star-Ledger: The Parsippany (N.J.) school board has voted to renew the contract for schools Superintendent LeRoy Seitz, even though Gov. Chris Christie called the contract greedy and arrogant because it would exceed Christie's proposed pay cap for superintendents. The board voted to extend Seitz’s contract, which expires July 1, by another five years, paying him an average annual salary of $225,064. In July, Christie proposed a superintendent salary cap. Under the proposed regulation, superintendents’ pay would be directly proportional to the number of students enrolled in the district. The new regulation would have capped Seitz’s salary at $175,000.
