Superintendent Jose Negron was placed on administrative leave Thursday night at a special meeting of the Board of Education. The vote was 5-0, with two members absent and two members abstaining.
Back in June, the Board voted not to renew Negron's contract, which ends in June 2011.
Dr. Lorraine Cella, the district's assistant superintendent, will replace Negron on a temporary basis.
The relationship between the Superintendent and board members has appeared strained recently, with the Board rejecting Negron's recommendations regarding a key position, that of interim high school principal. This culminated in the Board appointing Negron to the position temporarily when he refused to recommend a former high school principal who had indicated interest in the job.
Two of the members voting to place Negron on leave supported him when his contract was up in June. Longtime Board member Carol Byrne and first-term member Bill Seesselberg apparently changed their position, also voting to reiterate the Board's position that Negron does not have a contract after June 2011, something it appears Negron is contesting.
Board members Jim Giannakis and Pio Pennisi abstained on the vote. Giannakis's wife works for the district in the Middle School, and Pennisi works as a superintendent himself, in Dunellen. Chris Hubner and Steve Bohn were absent.
According to one prominent regional newspaper, the Courier News, Negron plans to appeal the decision. To read the Courier News story, click here.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
This board was so in favor of hiring him just 3 years ago, then gave him a 4.5% raise just a year and half-ago. What happened? If this is true does that mean the board will end up paying him just to stay home?
ReplyDeleteWho then is running the district? The assistant superintendant? Who does her job? Who is running the high school since they refused to promote from within? I guess they will have to find someone quick to pay a nice big interim salary as well as Jose’s to stay home. I bet they already have that covered from one of their old friends from the past. What a waste. UNBELIEVABLE!!!!
I am glad Jose is gone .
ReplyDeleteThe more you viewed his actions the more you saw that he was bad and at times destructive .
Anyway he was more interested in the pacheck and title than in the kids and district.
Promoting from within is sometimes a good thing .
Most of the recent and past administrators were internal promotions .
Who is to say that will not ultimately be the case if an internal candidate is the best candidate .
I hope the BOE slows down in selecting a Principal who is best .
The way to do that is get a qualified interim and begin the search process ASAP .
In the meantime all of the internal wannabes can begin trying to find out who they can kiss up to now that Jose went away .
Here are some of the District's internal promotions over the years :
ReplyDeleteMassaro , May , Gottlieb , Novak , Decker , Diehl , Cirigliano , Rickus [ 2 ] , Errico , Erickson .
There have been many internal promotions over the years .
Tell me which ones turned out good !
I think Decker, Novak, and Erickson were/are very good. I don't count May, Diehl and Errico as people who moved up the system. They came from other districts as administrators.
ReplyDeleteIt's always a mixed bag...my opinion.
He has alienated everyone. Nobody supports this man except the mayor, who stood up for him at the meeting in June. Not one other person got up. That says a lot. Usually on something like this there would be two sides--people who support the person and people who don't. It seems like the town is united on this issue, that he had to go.
ReplyDeleteI think that I heard that he will be a sub in the district now. I really think that is a great idea. He is being paid. After school he can help the custodians clean. They work so hard keeping our schools clean and I think for 178K he can help them out. I think he would make a great sub. He has elementary experience too.
ReplyDeleteWhat are the odds the Board approved a former super from another district that was glad to see him go, just as when one of the assistants at the high school was taking a leave? Then on her last day fire the current super/principal so that only two people are left, ones that the board say aren't qualified to have the top position and run the building with two other administrators, to have to do it all by themselves for a while. Guess its time for one of their boating super friends from SP's past to save the day. Time to promote the new interim of the high school to super, bring back T.M. to the high school (let's see if he still donates $200 a day back to the Education Foundation) and then finish off the Democrat political favors and pay S.N. to come back November or December so that they can all have a big party and "swing" and dance the night away on some Florida vacations! At least we still have full day kindergarten.
ReplyDeleteWow, Jane, you really get hung up on these conspiracy theories, don't you
ReplyDeleteI don't know why people are happy about this. All this does is weaken the district mid-year and leave our kids with no valid leadership. Maybe Negron wasn't great but the Board gave him his contract and now they want to waste money by putting him on leave??? The real problem here is the Board. There is a time and a place to make changes and this is not one of them. All our kids are going to be left with is a bunch of interim leaders that cannot possibly make any positive changes to the district. You would think certain members of the Board would know better but apparently he's not much of a Superintendent either. I ask the Board to at least have the decency to include a disclosure as to where all the money is coming from to pay interim salaries, hopefully not from the $331,000 they received to help bring back teachers. Or is it just being further diverted away from the classrooms. This Board needs to go next, maybe Mr. Negron can hold the door for them on the way out.
ReplyDeleteI love how the article in the paper showed all the elementary school playgrounds taped off since there is insufficent mulch and therefore unsafe for our children to play - right next to Negrons paid leave article. Wouldnt it be nice for him to donate portions of his pay for sitting on the couch at home to the children so they can have some childhood and play during recess. This is so disturbing - really how much does mulch cost. Kids cant be kids anymore.
ReplyDeleteThe new rumor is the BA is now leaving too. He got a new job with another district. Is it just me or are a lot of people (I.E. Oberkehr, Ford, Mattoon, Guarini) leaving this district for other places over the last couple of years. How long before the assistant super, Dr. Cella, leaves for somewhere else? That would have to be embarrassing to the board.
ReplyDeleteHow much longer can the board say its good that this person or that person is gone before the public says its time for the board to go? If the board is so smart why is it a possibility that Negron will get paid to sit home until June 30, 2014? I'm sorry spending over $500,000 for someone to stay home just doesn't sound smart. Seems like Negron and those that have left (or leaving) are getting the last laugh. I feel very sorry for the kids and especially the good educators (teachers, principals, aides, etc) in our town that suffer for the hypocrisy of this board and teacher union leadership.
It was time for Negron to go and now it's time for the board to go too. They hired him in the first place knowing that he was another district's cast off. I'm told the interim principal at the high school also has a checkered past. I think the board needs to hire a third party to interview and properly vet these candidates. We can't afford to go on like this. Have these people ever even heard of a thorough background check?
ReplyDeleteWhy do kids need mulch? When I was a kid our playgrounds were hard compacted dirt. Nowadays we treat these kids like their fragile egg shells. I've never seen such a pampered generation in my life. We have to feed their egos with "self esteem" classes and constantly be on guard not to hurt their feelings. They think they are entitled to a perfect life where everyone waits on them hand and foot. Let them play without the mulch!
ReplyDeleteDr. Cella is leaving...
ReplyDeleteThat will leave no central administration. No Superintendent. No Assistant Superintendent. No Business Administrator. No Technology Supervisor. No Buildings Director.
Guess a lot of people are leaving South Plainfield. Can you blame them?
It's rumored that Tony Massaro will become the new Interim Principal at the High School starting Monday, Oct. 18th. The current Interim Principal will probably become the Interim Assistant Principal for Kelly Richkus...
ReplyDeleteReally a rumor????? Your information is close, but a little off.
ReplyDeletehop off yoooo! chill w/that lolz
ReplyDeleteSo for those that read New Jersey Monthly and know why group 1 schools moved up so far and so fast its no secret why Dunellen was the 9th highest jump. For those that don't read just be impressed by the jump, but thank D.J. for promoting her friend, P.P. and her husbands new money maker for the family. I bet you now know the teachers will settle for 1% - 2% for a teacher contract settlement, where two months ago they wouldn't take less than 3%. D.J. got paid so why negotiate.So how many can fit on one boat? Guess it depends on how well you swing! Enjoy the sinking ship of the district while others will still get paid. yet the same people that hired and gave raises will blame those same people they fired. BORING!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHey BOE did you see the election results? See the turnout was pretty good. The voters don't want former old guys sitting in power, but want to give someone new a chance to prove themselves. Maybe for a change you can give the voters what the want. Or just continue to pay old friends big salaries to sit around on the tax payer dime. Betcha the voters will let you know in April how they feel about that.
ReplyDelete