Hackensack school board OKs principal transfers
Wednesday, June 15, 2011 Last updated: Wednesday June 15, 2011, 9:08 PM
BY MONSY ALVARADO
STAFF WRITER
The Record
HACKENSACK — Principals have been reassigned and a district business administrator has been hired by the Board of Education despite pleas from parents and teachers that it reconsider.
Trustees also voted Tuesday night to send a Rice notice to Superintendent of Schools Edward Kliszus to discuss the date he will retire from the district. Kliszus’ last day is scheduled for June 30.
The vote capped a heated meeting, where Trustees Clarissa Gilliam Gardner and Rhonda Bembry tried unsuccessfully several times to table agenda items that included the principal transfers and the hiring of Mark Kramer, a Paterson schools official, as business administrator.
Bembry asked why some items were being revoted on, when they failed last week. And Gardner asked why school officials and other board members did not respond to a request to meet after last week’s meeting and discuss the items that were of concern.
“When something is tabled you table it for discussion, and that didn’t even take place,” Gardner said, to applause.
“I understand we have urgency, I understand we have a budget, I understand all of that, but a request was made the day after, not even 24 hours after the last meeting and we all got it,” she added. “However, we didn’t have that close session meeting, so I say let’s make a motion to go into close session or make a motion to table this until we can have that discussion.”
The motion to table all of the agenda items failed twice, and some of the items once by the end of the night.
Kliszus, as superintendent, decides what is placed on the agenda. After hearing from more than a dozen parents and teachers, the items were voted on and passed. Bembry, Gardner, and Trustee Carol Martinez voted against most of the transfers.
The reassignments are due to cuts in next school year’s budget, which led to the elimination of one principal, three assistant principals and an assistant superintendent position. The district’s remaining principals are being reassigned, and some assistant principals are returning to the classroom.
Around 100 people attended Tuesday night’s meeting, which was peppered with shouts and applause from the audience and warnings by Board President Mark Stein that he would close it if the outbursts didn’t stop. Several members from the Hackensack African-American Civic Association (HAACA) and the Bergen County chapter of the NAACP were in attendance. Most of the administrators that were transferred are minorities.
Fred Wallace, a member of HAACA, said his group wants the board to reconsider its principal choice for grades 5-8. Last week, the board chose David Petrella as the new principal of the 5ive/6ix and middle schools. Petrella is currently assistant principal at Hillers elementary school.
Andrea Parchment and Joy Dorsey-Whiting, who are the principals of those schools now, are being transferred to elementary schools.
Kliszus has said moves were based on seniority, and the shifting was due to some positions being eliminated. He said the transfers were not based on race.
“No decisions regarding transfers and assignments are based on race, ever,” he said.
Some residents pointed to some principals and assistant principals who haven’t been administrators very long and are not being touched.
“That’s their opinion, it’s not based on fact,” Kliszus said.
Tekeema Allen, the mother of a 7-year old at Nellie Parker School, said she was frustrated with the Board of Education’s actions, and was encouraged to attend the meeting because she objects to so many minority administrators being moved.
“The community is seeking strong positive role models for their students, but they continually demote and move these administrators who have a proven track record,” she said.
Kramer will replace Fred Martens, who also will depart the district this summer. Kramer, who currently is assistant superintendent of business services for the Paterson schools, will get paid $155,000 in Hackensack. His hiring was among the items tabled last week after questions were raised on why he was not rehired in Paterson. His contract in that district was not renewed months after the state reviewed the school district's fiscal operations.
Kliszus said last week that Kramer was fully vetted and fully qualified for the job, but that Assistant Superintendent Ray Gonzalez planned to call Paterson schools about his work there before Tuesday night’s meeting. Trustees did not talk about Kramer before voting to hire him on Tuesday.
E-mail: alvarado@northjersey.com