As I was tuning my guitar for a rousing chorus of "Kumbaya" in a spirit of forgiveness after our nasty School Board election, one where friends betrayed friends and policy differences became personal, I went over to MSV.
Oh, no.
The anger came back.
Da Horsey's bombshell: Dr. Frank Romano, Hoboken's choice for School Superintendent- turned human sacrifice at the altar of a single Board member's ambition, was hired by the Franklin Lakes school district as their K-12 School Superintendent. For $189K/ year. Hoboken had offered him $190K, so I guess those folks got a bargain.
Well. Because of one Board member, Maureen Sullivan, and her intense and nasty internet-fueled campaign to poison the atmosphere for Dr. Romano that (surprise, surprise) seamlessly transitioned into a political campaign for her partisan Republican School Board slate, Real Results, Dr. Romano saw the writing on the wall. The man was no dummy. Seeing himself rebranded as an inferior, hastily chosen product by a sitting Board member, along with her attacks on fellow sitting Board members--a shocking violation of the NJ School Board Association code of ethics , with all this taking place midst a scorching political battle with no guaranteed result, Romano headed for the hills. Like any sane man (or woman) would.
How do I know this? I do. Leave it at that.
So, here we are without Dr. Romano, a highly-qualified permanent School Superintendent in place to move our district forward. And now, Franklin Lakes has him.
Did you know their retiring Superintendent's salary after 10 years was $222K? As mentioned, they snapped up Romano for $189K. Hoboken's penny-wise, pound-foolish crowd that were using Romano as a punching bag, howled at our offer of $190K.
Well, that's water under the bridge. Sort of.
I was curious to compare the size and complexity of Hoboken and Franklin Lakes School Districts, since so much noise was made over Romano's contract, and, at the end of the day, he was hired by them at approximately the same salary.
Here's some comparative data:
Hoboken Public Schools
Student Race (*Source: NCES 2006-2007; NJ Department of Education; Local Districts and Schools)
My take-away is the Hoboken School District with its lower student population is vastly more complex from a management perspective, due to its highly diverse demographic and socioeconomic composition. Not to mention Hoboken provides Special Education services for Hudson County.
And we haven't looked at each district's academic performance. You can do that yourself here at the New Jersey Department of Education. Must I do everything for you?
So, we have ample needs here in Hoboken that an intelligent, highly qualified, energetic young Superintendent was willing to take on, but politics and mean-spiritedness prevailed. Now we will begin the search all over again. Why?
The news of Franklin Lakes' good fortune brings it all back.
Let's hope a minority 'my way or the highway' attitude from any School Board member doesn't drive another good person away.
How can this city ever expect to attract talent if we treat good people this way?
Oh, no.
The anger came back.
Da Horsey's bombshell: Dr. Frank Romano, Hoboken's choice for School Superintendent- turned human sacrifice at the altar of a single Board member's ambition, was hired by the Franklin Lakes school district as their K-12 School Superintendent. For $189K/ year. Hoboken had offered him $190K, so I guess those folks got a bargain.
Well. Because of one Board member, Maureen Sullivan, and her intense and nasty internet-fueled campaign to poison the atmosphere for Dr. Romano that (surprise, surprise) seamlessly transitioned into a political campaign for her partisan Republican School Board slate, Real Results, Dr. Romano saw the writing on the wall. The man was no dummy. Seeing himself rebranded as an inferior, hastily chosen product by a sitting Board member, along with her attacks on fellow sitting Board members--a shocking violation of the NJ School Board Association code of ethics , with all this taking place midst a scorching political battle with no guaranteed result, Romano headed for the hills. Like any sane man (or woman) would.
How do I know this? I do. Leave it at that.
So, here we are without Dr. Romano, a highly-qualified permanent School Superintendent in place to move our district forward. And now, Franklin Lakes has him.
Did you know their retiring Superintendent's salary after 10 years was $222K? As mentioned, they snapped up Romano for $189K. Hoboken's penny-wise, pound-foolish crowd that were using Romano as a punching bag, howled at our offer of $190K.
Well, that's water under the bridge. Sort of.
I was curious to compare the size and complexity of Hoboken and Franklin Lakes School Districts, since so much noise was made over Romano's contract, and, at the end of the day, he was hired by them at approximately the same salary.
Here's some comparative data:
Hoboken Public Schools
- Number of Schools: 6
- Number of Students: 1,768
- Number of Teachers: 176
- Student:Teacher Ratio: 10.1:1
- Number of Schools: 5
- Number of Students: 2,791
- Number of Teachers: 247
- Student:Teacher Ratio: 11.30:1
(click any graphic to enlarge)
Student Race (*Source: NCES 2006-2007; NJ Department of Education; Local Districts and Schools)
My take-away is the Hoboken School District with its lower student population is vastly more complex from a management perspective, due to its highly diverse demographic and socioeconomic composition. Not to mention Hoboken provides Special Education services for Hudson County.And we haven't looked at each district's academic performance. You can do that yourself here at the New Jersey Department of Education. Must I do everything for you?
So, we have ample needs here in Hoboken that an intelligent, highly qualified, energetic young Superintendent was willing to take on, but politics and mean-spiritedness prevailed. Now we will begin the search all over again. Why?
The news of Franklin Lakes' good fortune brings it all back.
Let's hope a minority 'my way or the highway' attitude from any School Board member doesn't drive another good person away.
How can this city ever expect to attract talent if we treat good people this way?
Class is in session! I don't know if I learned more from Dr. Romero or this post in this matter. Class, what did we learn? Bueller? Anyone?
ReplyDeleteWell, in our budgetary analysis corner, I think the $1,000 spread in the money is a wash, given that Dr. Romano's savings on Excedrin will easily be in the four figures over his term by working in an environment of cooler heads up in Franklin Lakes.
In our statistics unit, these graphs are quite a pie in the face!