Board of Ed meeting

[Guest John Leadbeater]

Since I am a new board member, I wanted to clear some misinformation up right away. What I state here I will publicly state at our year end meeting next Thursday. I served 10 years on the town council and can not recall any Closed Session information getting out to the public before it was to be finalized or made official. On Monday we had someone in closed session reporting what was being said and when we walked out of session we were told what was going on before we even voted. Make no mistake about it, I will be asking our attorney to investigate and possibly charge that individual.

Politics here are worse than when I was part of the municipal government. I have continuosly been lied to as to what is wrong and right about appointments and I have only been here for 2 short months. Political patronage jobs will not be handed out under my guidance as chairman of personnel. I believe the person next in line should get the opening before we go to the outside. Eventually, the job will be filled by the most qualified, subsitute teaching teacher available. No longer will it be, you are my friend, you get the job. That is the only fair way to make it right. I will also be looking at this weeks meeting and trying to correct any injustices done.

Furthermore, being called the Fab5 is a compliment to me since they did go on to do great things. Just because I do not agree with your stance does not make me wrong. I was elected to do what was right by Kearny taxpayers. When the teachers union official gets up and calls us names, that is disgusting to me. We have been in charge for 2 months, how can she judge us? Also, the money we are saving on not hiring an Interim Assistant Superintendant would allow us to hire 3 possibly 4 more teachers. Last but not least, bringing in an Interim Superintendant, at less money than we were paying the Interim Assistant Superintendant reduces our Administrators costs and frees up money to put back into the classrooms. I wish her and others would have thought about that, and complained, before they gave out such a generous package to our outgoing Administrators

Edited June 25, 2011 by KOTW
Note: "John Leadbeater" is signed in as a Guest not a Member.

[Guest Guest]

Mr. Leadbeater Don't insult the inteligence of the people of Kearny. You are the biggest political hack to ever sit on the Kearny Board Of Education. You have been there two short months and don't have a clue what you are talking about or what you are doing. Board members are not "In charge". The chief school administrator is and that will be your down fall because your big ego will have you trying to administer the schools instead of being a responsible board member. Maybe you should get rid of central office all together and you and the board could run the district. Just think of the money you could save there. And vice principals, why do you need them? There are pricipals in the buildings. Why don't you get rid of the vice principals too? Just think of the money you could save there. And why do we need head custodians and assistand head custodians? There are custodians in the buildings. Just give them all keys and directions to the schools. Just think of the money you could save there. And why do you need an assistant director of facilities? You have a director. Get rid of the assistant. Just think of the money you could save there. And why do you need a curriculum director. The teachers have the books. Why not get rid of the curriculum person? Just think of the money you could save there. And why do we need a director of counseling in the high school? Our counselors are certified professionals. They can all do their own scheduling. They can all pick names out of a hat to see who is going to get what students. Why not get rid of this director? Think of the money you could save there. Mr. Leadbeater. This is not the town council where you are deciding if the town needs four garbage trucks or five. You are making decisions about the education of children and their futures.

First find out what being a board member's responsibilities and duties are before you run ramshod thru the district making decisions that will affect the future of the school district for years to come. The results of your wild west gun slinger mentality (New sheriff in town) will destroy the educational process. Mr. King was irresponsible as board president for making someone with no experience on the board,or knowledge of the district and it's positions, or knowledge of the responsibilities of being a board member the chairman of personnel.

As far as the next person in line should get the job, how about the next qualified person in line should get the job. So if I follow your rule of thumb, that means when the superintendent position is permanently filled, the high school principal should automatically move up and fill that spot? And then the high school prinicipal opening should automatically be filled by one of the vice prinicipals in the high school. What do you do when you have three incompetent vice principals in a high school? QUALIFIED. Can you say qualified Mr. Leadbeater. Not just with the certificate in hand. Proven track record plays a big part in qualified. Anyone can go to school and get a certificate. Proven success and dedication in a position is much more important then a piece of paper.

And you are going to fix all the injustices that you have uncovered in your two short months on the board. Let's see how you deal with the recent teacher hire that is incompetent and failing on the job. That should be an interesting one considering the affiliation.

The sad part is that the destruction that you and you band of egotistical pals will invoke on the school district will take years to repair when you all are long gone.

[Guest Guest]

Wht are they crazy? A Superintendent AND an Asst. Superintendent!

That's almost as bad as a Chief AND three Deputy Chiefs!

[Guest John Leadbeater]

Mr. Leadbeater Don't insult the inteligence of the people of Kearny. You are the biggest political hack to ever sit on the Kearny Board Of Education. You have been there two short months and don't have a clue what you are talking about or what you are doing. Board members are not "In charge". The chief school administrator is and that will be your down fall because your big ego will have you trying to administer the schools instead of being a responsible board member. Maybe you should get rid of central office all together and you and the board could run the district. Just think of the money you could save there. And vice principals, why do you need them? There are pricipals in the buildings. Why don't you get rid of the vice principals too? Just think of the money you could save there. And why do we need head custodians and assistand head custodians? There are custodians in the buildings. Just give them all keys and directions to the schools. Just think of the money you could save there. And why do you need an assistant director of facilities? You have a director. Get rid of the assistant. Just think of the money you could save there. And why do you need a curriculum director. The teachers have the books. Why not get rid of the curriculum person? Just think of the money you could save there. And why do we need a director of counseling in the high school? Our counselors are certified professionals. They can all do their own scheduling. They can all pick names out of a hat to see who is going to get what students. Why not get rid of this director? Think of the money you could save there. Mr. Leadbeater. This is not the town council where you are deciding if the town needs four garbage trucks or five. You are making decisions about the education of children and their futures.

First find out what being a board member's responsibilities and duties are before you run ramshod thru the district making decisions that will affect the future of the school district for years to come. The results of your wild west gun slinger mentality (New sheriff in town) will destroy the educational process. Mr. King was irresponsible as board president for making someone with no experience on the board,or knowledge of the district and it's positions, or knowledge of the responsibilities of being a board member the chairman of personnel.

As far as the next person in line should get the job, how about the next qualified person in line should get the job. So if I follow your rule of thumb, that means when the superintendent position is permanently filled, the high school principal should automatically move up and fill that spot? And then the high school prinicipal opening should automatically be filled by one of the vice prinicipals in the high school. What do you do when you have three incompetent vice principals in a high school? QUALIFIED. Can you say qualified Mr. Leadbeater. Not just with the certificate in hand. Proven track record plays a big part in qualified. Anyone can go to school and get a certificate. Proven success and dedication in a position is much more important then a piece of paper.

And you are going to fix all the injustices that you have uncovered in your two short months on the board. Let's see how you deal with the recent teacher hire that is incompetent and failing on the job. That should be an interesting one considering the affiliation.

The sad part is that the destruction that you and you band of egotistical pals will invoke on the school district will take years to repair when you all are long gone.

Dear Guest

Once again you come on here and hide behind guest. You are a coward. If you have some legitimate fact to state use your name. I know that won't happen because you will be seen as a puppet or puppetmaster. If what I said offended you then it must be true.

Calling me the most political hack to ever sit on the board is a joke. The board has consistantly had Mayor Santos' allies and councilpeople and aides there. You have got to be kidding. Look at all the so called hirees over the last decade and tell me they were not political. You my friend are just upset because that has come to an end now.

Your rants about me running the place and all the personnel are also a joke. I have been and will continue to support union members. But when there is injustices they need to be corrected. It bothers me some that anyone would try to degrade my integrity on this issue. I have always supported the employees. That does not mean when 1 has done something wrong they get a pass.

I know you are upset with me, but I truly don't give a damn. Do your job the right way and stop playing politics. As far as the recent teacher hire, I have no idea what you are talking about. I can only guess that you through that in there to make it look like a favor was done for me. NOT

Lastly, let me clear something up for you, I am a clear minded individual who will vote my conscience and not strictly with the Fab5 as you reported yesterday. As a matter of fact we should all be doing that. Lets see how many do

[Guest Guest]

AN ABSOLUTE IDIOT

Since I am a new board member, I wanted to clear some misinformation up right away. What I state here I will publicly state at our year end meeting next Thursday. I served 10 years on the town council and can not recall any Closed Session information getting out to the public before it was to be finalized or made official. On Monday we had someone in closed session reporting what was being said and when we walked out of session we were told what was going on before we even voted. Make no mistake about it, I will be asking our attorney to investigate and possibly charge that individual.

Politics here are worse than when I was part of the municipal government. I have continuosly been lied to as to what is wrong and right about appointments and I have only been here for 2 short months. Political patronage jobs will not be handed out under my guidance as chairman of personnel. I believe the person next in line should get the opening before we go to the outside. Eventually, the job will be filled by the most qualified, subsitute teaching teacher available. No longer will it be, you are my friend, you get the job. That is the only fair way to make it right. I will also be looking at this weeks meeting and trying to correct any injustices done.

Furthermore, being called the Fab5 is a compliment to me since they did go on to do great things. Just because I do not agree with your stance does not make me wrong. I was elected to do what was right by Kearny taxpayers. When the teachers union official gets up and calls us names, that is disgusting to me. We have been in charge for 2 months, how can she judge us? Also, the money we are saving on not hiring an Interim Assistant Superintendant would allow us to hire 3 possibly 4 more teachers. Last but not least, bringing in an Interim Superintendant, at less money than we were paying the Interim Assistant Superintendant reduces our Administrators costs and frees up money to put back into the classrooms. I wish her and others would have thought about that, and complained, before they gave out such a generous package to our outgoing Administrators

[Guest Inside Eyes]

Mr. Leadbeater Don't insult the inteligence of the people of Kearny. You are the biggest political hack to ever sit on the Kearny Board Of Education. You have been there two short months and don't have a clue what you are talking about or what you are doing. Board members are not "In charge". The chief school administrator is and that will be your down fall because your big ego will have you trying to administer the schools instead of being a responsible board member. Maybe you should get rid of central office all together and you and the board could run the district. Just think of the money you could save there. And vice principals, why do you need them? There are pricipals in the buildings. Why don't you get rid of the vice principals too? Just think of the money you could save there. And why do we need head custodians and assistand head custodians? There are custodians in the buildings. Just give them all keys and directions to the schools. Just think of the money you could save there. And why do you need an assistant director of facilities? You have a director. Get rid of the assistant. Just think of the money you could save there. And why do you need a curriculum director. The teachers have the books. Why not get rid of the curriculum person? Just think of the money you could save there. And why do we need a director of counseling in the high school? Our counselors are certified professionals. They can all do their own scheduling. They can all pick names out of a hat to see who is going to get what students. Why not get rid of this director? Think of the money you could save there. Mr. Leadbeater. This is not the town council where you are deciding if the town needs four garbage trucks or five. You are making decisions about the education of children and their futures.

First find out what being a board member's responsibilities and duties are before you run ramshod thru the district making decisions that will affect the future of the school district for years to come. The results of your wild west gun slinger mentality (New sheriff in town) will destroy the educational process. Mr. King was irresponsible as board president for making someone with no experience on the board,or knowledge of the district and it's positions, or knowledge of the responsibilities of being a board member the chairman of personnel.

As far as the next person in line should get the job, how about the next qualified person in line should get the job. So if I follow your rule of thumb, that means when the superintendent position is permanently filled, the high school principal should automatically move up and fill that spot? And then the high school prinicipal opening should automatically be filled by one of the vice prinicipals in the high school. What do you do when you have three incompetent vice principals in a high school? QUALIFIED. Can you say qualified Mr. Leadbeater. Not just with the certificate in hand. Proven track record plays a big part in qualified. Anyone can go to school and get a certificate. Proven success and dedication in a position is much more important then a piece of paper.

And you are going to fix all the injustices that you have uncovered in your two short months on the board. Let's see how you deal with the recent teacher hire that is incompetent and failing on the job. That should be an interesting one considering the affiliation.

The sad part is that the destruction that you and you band of egotistical pals will invoke on the school district will take years to repair when you all are long gone.

You are so wrong. The B of E hires the Chief School Administrator--the Superintendent. He/She answers to the B of E. The Superintendent makes recommendation to the Board. The Superintendent works for the Board not the other way around. Of all the various positions that you mention, you are right about most--get rid of them. Most are political hakes and learn on the job by trial and error. Custodians--get rid of them, hire some cleaning men and ladies from town--they will truly clean the schools. Hire some people to paint the schools--why do we need painters who spend more time watching the paint dry than actually painting?

Scheduling in the high school is done by computer and checked by a secretary in the main office--probably the director of guidance or the Vice Principal in charge of curriculum (that is a joke) might poke their nose in--your right anyone can check the numbers to see that the number of kids matches the seats in the rooms. Elementary schools and k-8 schools, the secretary does the scheduling with possibly some help from the principal and/or guidance counselor at each school. I don't remember a guidance counselor in the elementary school that I went to here in Kearny--new gig--too many guidance certified people--politically correct to give people advancements. Most guidance counselors work eleven months--one month in the summer to fix up mistakes made during the school year. Not necessary.

Curriculum Director--we have three, one elementary, one high school, and one new hire to do what who can say--I guess she car pools with the ** *********l so that is company for each other. Oh I forgot, the Assistant Superintendent is also in charge of curriculum--with all the heads put together we should have the best curriculum in the state.

If a principal and his assistant where to suddenly get ill, the secretary would run the school just fine--so , why have all these principals? Some secretary's actually tell the principals what to do and how to do it. Learning on the job--yes, the secretary does the training and the cheerleading--got to build up the egos of the administrators.

The central office is a den of vipers--they get paid more than other secretaries in the system--why? Probably because they keep their mouths shut as to what the boss(s) are doing or not doing. Clean House.

What is a director of facilities? Hire a landscaping company from town to take care of the grounds--what do you have to do with artificial grass? The front lawns of the schools can be taken care of by the landscaping company. Work inside the buildings--let's see--how about the principal check out his/her building and report to the superintendent as to what needs fixing. The director of facilities came about in the seventies as the Board tried to give a former Board member a position--please. Get rid of the director and his assistant--really what do they do that is so vital-oh yea, they vote or, gee, maybe they don't. Put all repairs out to bid to Kearny contractors only.

Can you imagine the outgoing Assistant Superintendent being the Superintendent? That is scary. As for the High School Principal moving anywhere--how about Howell? Your correct about the three vice-principals in the high school--*****, *** and ****--we know one might be able to change a flat but I'm not to sure about that--I guess he could call someone for help. The other two--one might still be able to tune a trumpet and the other might be able to throw out some soccer balls to kick around--other than that, let's see--no help at the Superintendent's job or even the Assistant.

As for the current Board--the only way to go is up. We are so low that we think we are number one. Time to look up and see that everyone is in front of us and, yes, there is no one behind. If you think that our educational system has excelled over the past twenty or even thirty years, you need to get your eyes examined. We are hurting academically and athletically. Face it, we have a football team so the band can play a halftime routine. We do have some really talented youngsters who are doing a great job with what they are given to work with. Imagine a school system with every student graduating on time or just graduating? Imagine all student who take the SAT's get truly terrific scores and are recruited to top notch universities with full tuitions or a great financial package to help them with their education? Imagine ever student who chooses not to go to higher education gets a good paying job because of the terrific vocational training they received at KHS? Until these thoughts can become a reality, we must strive to improve the system. Give the new guys a chance.

Edited July 24, 2011 by KOTW
Content.

[Guest Playa]

Wht are they crazy? A Superintendent AND an Asst. Superintendent!

That's almost as bad as a Chief AND three Deputy Chiefs!

Edited June 30, 2011 by KOTW
Empty post

[Guest Guest]

Mr. Leadbeater Don't insult the inteligence of the people of Kearny. You are the biggest political hack to ever sit on the Kearny Board Of Education. You have been there two short months and don't have a clue what you are talking about or what you are doing. Board members are not "In charge". The chief school administrator is and that will be your down fall because your big ego will have you trying to administer the schools instead of being a responsible board member. Maybe you should get rid of central office all together and you and the board could run the district. Just think of the money you could save there. And vice principals, why do you need them? There are pricipals in the buildings. Why don't you get rid of the vice principals too? Just think of the money you could save there. And why do we need head custodians and assistand head custodians? There are custodians in the buildings. Just give them all keys and directions to the schools. Just think of the money you could save there. And why do you need an assistant director of facilities? You have a director. Get rid of the assistant. Just think of the money you could save there. And why do you need a curriculum director. The teachers have the books. Why not get rid of the curriculum person? Just think of the money you could save there. And why do we need a director of counseling in the high school? Our counselors are certified professionals. They can all do their own scheduling. They can all pick names out of a hat to see who is going to get what students. Why not get rid of this director? Think of the money you could save there. Mr. Leadbeater. This is not the town council where you are deciding if the town needs four garbage trucks or five. You are making decisions about the education of children and their futures.

First find out what being a board member's responsibilities and duties are before you run ramshod thru the district making decisions that will affect the future of the school district for years to come. The results of your wild west gun slinger mentality (New sheriff in town) will destroy the educational process. Mr. King was irresponsible as board president for making someone with no experience on the board,or knowledge of the district and it's positions, or knowledge of the responsibilities of being a board member the chairman of personnel.

As far as the next person in line should get the job, how about the next qualified person in line should get the job. So if I follow your rule of thumb, that means when the superintendent position is permanently filled, the high school principal should automatically move up and fill that spot? And then the high school prinicipal opening should automatically be filled by one of the vice prinicipals in the high school. What do you do when you have three incompetent vice principals in a high school? QUALIFIED. Can you say qualified Mr. Leadbeater. Not just with the certificate in hand. Proven track record plays a big part in qualified. Anyone can go to school and get a certificate. Proven success and dedication in a position is much more important then a piece of paper.

And you are going to fix all the injustices that you have uncovered in your two short months on the board. Let's see how you deal with the recent teacher hire that is incompetent and failing on the job. That should be an interesting one considering the affiliation.

The sad part is that the destruction that you and you band of egotistical pals will invoke on the school district will take years to repair when you all are long gone.

You need help--I will tend to your misinformation. The Superintendent is an employee of the Board of Education. The Super answers to the Board. The Board is answerable to the citizens of the Town of Kearny. Now wasn't that simple.

As for your other rantings. You are correct in that we need to get rid of a great number of the chiefs in the system. Duplication of services is what we have going on. We don't need a Director of Facilities and the Assistant to the Director--the person in charge of the Facilities is the Superintendent--he/she has his principals monitor their buildings and grounds--they report to the Superintendent who then advises the Board of Education. The Board should put all work out to bid. Having a paint crew is not necessary--the hardest thing they do is watch the paint dry on the small jobs that they do--we now have a part time painter who works nights--really. The plumber(s) are not necessary--get some local guys with a license. Mason(s) are we nuts? And with all this fluff, we have the Director and his Assistant observing the work being done. Oh yea, how about the guys to cut the laws and plow the snow. Bid that out to a local landscaper--pay them as you need them.

Custodians--only one man per school in the day with a Black Seal License--fire the rest. Hire cleaning crews from town to come in at night and watch the great job they will do for us--the name of their trade is pride. Pride is something that most custodians do not have in their work. It seems that most of the day crew works from three until four and the night guys work from three or four until five or at the latest six. Head Custodian with an Assistant is a waste. Every custodian must work--no head--that is, if we keep the custodians--for most, being a custodian is second job before retirement. A sad group.

Principals and Assistant/Vice Principals have proven to be a waste of money. Elementary schools are run by the secretary--the principal is there for dressing as they usually don't have a clue as to what has to be done. K thru 8 schools need a principal to handle the children with emotional problems--his/her help should be a Kearny Police Officer who can arrest and take the problems out of the schools. Children go to school to learn not to disrupt. If they wish to disrupt, put them into the legal system. Parents need to be responsible for their children. Parents must face the facts that if their children are constantly in trouble, they need help--both the child and the parents. School is not a joke. If children want to play stay home--have the parents stay home with them and home school the little angels--parents will then be monitored by the legal system on a daily basis to see what is being done educationally with the child. No more, the child is being harassed by the system.

Now the high school--three Assistant/Vice Principals is a joke. Get a person in charge of discipline--a policeman--get rid of the Vice Principal in charge of Discipline. Prior to Sal V, we had a Dean of Discipline, who had a Bachelor's degree and that is it. He was paid a small token for the extra duties of his job. SV comes along and we get a Vice Principal who make well over $100,000 and does no more than the Dean did. By the way, we now have a teacher per period assigned to help the VP as well as a secretary or two. Big bucks for the job that was once done by one person. Vice Principal in charge of Academics/Curriculum is really interesting as the person in the position is a former auto shop teacher who didn't have a clue in that position but he did play drums in FD's musical group--Just Friends. Now what are friends for, that's right to get one another jobs. The Academic guy has been learning on the job over the past twelve or more years. No more the drummer or a friend, one would guess that he should go back to doing accounting for the family business. We don't need this position. Vice Principal in charge of Athletics--another SV job. In the Seventies we had a teacher who served as the athletic director--he taught half a day and work on athletics half the day. He was usually found daily at every home game and then would travel to the away games in a suit and tie. He was a true gentleman and did a great job. He was followed by people who got the entire day off to work on athletics with the help of a full time secretary. The teacher/athletic director had a part time secretary. Finally, SV and the Board, which included Zibby, got a Vice Principal with two secretaries to help. Get rid of the lot. Big Joe was the only Vice Principal who was in charge academics, curriculum, and was always around the building day and night. He was at every event in Kearny and did travel to away athletic events. Get someone like Big Joe--a man/or woman who cares about the school.

Oh yea, Big Joe did the scheduling--which is hard to believe. He manually created the master schedule on this monster bulletin board in his office. He explained the process to me-- it seemed difficult but after having it explained it made sense. Today we have a computer service do the scheduling for the HS. The company makes a run with requests of the students and then that is checked by the people in the computer room--the same folks that do the attendance. After checking, the company runs the scheduling a second time. The results are checked once again and passed on to the Vice Principal in charge of Academics--then to the Principal. Guidance people take the student's requests and that is it for them. They come in one month in the summer to fix students schedules. Something else that can be shelved.

As for filling jobs from the bottom up--I can't imagine any of the current Vice Principals at the high school being anything more than they are--they are Peter Principled out. The Current HS principal is not qualified to be the superintendent and, if she were, she shouldn't get the job. The Board of Education must go outside the system and get a qualified person--not someone who left Kearny and now wants to come back. Stay away.

The current board has their work cut out for them. But the only way to go is up. Your children and my children deserve the best. We can not get the best from the people who have been given that taskm, as they have been failing for years. We need help and hopefully the Board of Education will seek ways to get the biggest bang for our bucks. They must control the money and get rid of all the people that are clueless. Check people's degrees and how long it took them to get their degrees. Spread the wealth--not all administrators should come from the same local colleges--who about some new, fresh people with ideas from colleges and universities out of the region or out of the state. We had a Principal at the high school from Pennsylvania who got the job done and we did see some progress academically.

Political hacks--are you kidding? That is the nature of the beast. People are elected--duh. You cast your vote and hope for the best. Let's give the new people and the old a chance to meld together and, maybe, just maybe, we will get a great board who will get people to lead the schools of our town.

[Guest Guest]

Wht are they crazy? A Superintendent AND an Asst. Superintendent!

That's almost as bad as a Chief AND three Deputy Chiefs!

Thank your Mayor and Council for that..if not for personal bias on their part and refusing to negotiate for the last 5-6 YEARS, 2 of those D/C's would have been long retired by now. They would have already been gone this year..except YOUR MAYOR refused the last settlement with the DC's. But hey why should I intrude with something as silly as a fact after all??

[Guest Guest]

If they were able to move up any of the Vice Principals they would have hired one of them instead of Baumgartner. Truth is, they can't promote incompetence. Now, you have a Vice Principal of Curriculum who is handling dress code violations. Are you kidding me? Give it to a secretary.....The high school is a failing school and no one seems to care. Are we waiting for a state take-over? Exactly what does his job description say?

[Guest Holy Smokes]

If they were able to move up any of the Vice Principals they would have hired one of them instead of Baumgartner. Truth is, they can't promote incompetence. Now, you have a Vice Principal of Curriculum who is handling dress code violations. Are you kidding me? Give it to a secretary.....The high school is a failing school and no one seems to care. Are we waiting for a state take-over? Exactly what does his job description say?

What does his job description say? If the FABFive have their way, it will say ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT!!!!!!! They are pushing this person to be #2 in the district.

[Guest Befuddled]

Thank your Mayor and Council for that..if not for personal bias on their part and refusing to negotiate for the last 5-6 YEARS, 2 of those D/C's would have been long retired by now. They would have already been gone this year..except YOUR MAYOR refused the last settlement with the DC's. But hey why should I intrude with something as silly as a fact after all??

Unless you're a Deputy Chief, I don't see how you would know who's planning to retire.

In any event, your rationalization that no contract resulted in no DC retirements doesn't add up to me. Every public employee and retired employee gets a retroactive payment once a contract is settled. Could the reason instead be plain greed with the DCs wanting more $$ than the Town's offer?

[Guest Cry Baby]

Unless you're a Deputy Chief, I don't see how you would know who's planning to retire.

In any event, your rationalization that no contract resulted in no DC retirements doesn't add up to me. Every public employee and retired employee gets a retroactive payment once a contract is settled. Could the reason instead be plain greed with the DCs wanting more $$ than the Town's offer?

Unless you are an idiot crybaby who is trying to attack the integrity of an individual or individuals you would know that the dc's contracts were no secret. This has been going on for years and it is not known by just the dc's. See you are too DUMB to know the correct info, the fact is that big al's ego got into the way of a extremely good offer from the dc's which would have benefited all parties envolved including the taxpayers, but doing the Right Thing is not something that you or your cronies know anything about! Keep trying to attack honest people and soon everybody will see who is here for the good and who is here for their Own interests.

[Guest Guest]

Unless you're a Deputy Chief, I don't see how you would know who's planning to retire.

In any event, your rationalization that no contract resulted in no DC retirements doesn't add up to me. Every public employee and retired employee gets a retroactive payment once a contract is settled. Could the reason instead be plain greed with the DCs wanting more $$ than the Town's offer?

Actually, anyone who knows any of them, knows exactly what was already posted. BOTH of the brothers have said, PUBLICLY, that they would have gone long before now if the contract had been settled, Even the 3rd DC has hinted he doesnt have too much interest in reamining with the current climate out of Trenton. While you are correct in that the SALARIES get a retro (IF the town does not oppose it, and with today's arbitration decisions that is no longer a given), New contracts are also Binding by whatever changes in made to benefits...such as Helthcare costs, which anyone with 2 brain cells rub together knows is a HUGE issue right now. Simple fact is that the Town has paid a LOT more in salaries that they needed to..merely because Certain Council members and YOUR Mayor decided to get into a Genital Measuring Contest. If I was a taxpayer in Kearny I'd be pissed about it..but I'm not, so I can be amused by you blind idiots backing the Thi...oops, I Mean Politicians you elected.

[Guest Befuddled II]

Actually, anyone who knows any of them, knows exactly what was already posted. BOTH of the brothers have said, PUBLICLY, that they would have gone long before now if the contract had been settled, Even the 3rd DC has hinted he doesnt have too much interest in reamining with the current climate out of Trenton. While you are correct in that the SALARIES get a retro (IF the town does not oppose it, and with today's arbitration decisions that is no longer a given), New contracts are also Binding by whatever changes in made to benefits...such as Helthcare costs, which anyone with 2 brain cells rub together knows is a HUGE issue right now. Simple fact is that the Town has paid a LOT more in salaries that they needed to..merely because Certain Council members and YOUR Mayor decided to get into a Genital Measuring Contest. If I was a taxpayer in Kearny I'd be pissed about it..but I'm not, so I can be amused by you blind idiots backing the Thi...oops, I Mean Politicians you elected.

Your rationalization is still not working.

I'm also Befuddled. Where "publicly" has any DC said that he would retire upon getting a raise and a new contract?

Your health care argument doesn't work. If arbitrators have begun making public employees pay more for healthcare, why wouldn't the town wait for the arbitrator's decision? (DC's are in arbitration.) And if the new pension and healthcare law makes public employees WITHOUT contracts, or whose contracts have expired, immediately pay more for their health care, shouldn't the DCs have taken the town's last offer instead of filing for arbitration? Sounds like the strategy may have backfired.

As to salary costs, DCs don't get overtime so they make less money than what the lower title Captain makes.

[Guest Guest]

Politics here are worse than when I was part of the municipal government. I have continuosly been lied to as to what is wrong and right about appointments and I have only been here for 2 short months. Political patronage jobs will not be handed out under my guidance as chairman of personnel. I believe the person next in line should get the opening before we go to the outside. Eventually, the job will be filled by the most qualified, subsitute teaching teacher available. No longer will it be, you are my friend, you get the job. That is the only fair way to make it right. I will also be looking at this weeks meeting and trying to correct any injustices done.

Mr. Leadbeater,

It is refreshing to hear that the BOE will finally start reviewing appointments and doing their best to ensure that positions are going to the most qualified individuals within the district. I agree with almost everything you said in your post, but there is one aspect of it that bothered me. You state: “Eventually, the job will be filled by the most qualified, substitute teaching teacher available.” Are you aware that there are teachers within the district who work in pull-out programs (Resource Room, Basic Skills, etc.) that want classroom positions, but are consistently overlooked when they interview for classroom positions? There are so many energetic teachers who are dedicated to the children of this district, but because we don’t know the right people, we can’t get into a classroom. Is it because we have bad evaluations? No, we have great evaluations and our supervisors are pleased with us. Is it because we aren’t qualified? No, many of us are highly qualified in a numerous subject areas. Is it because we live far away and don’t care about this town? No, many of us live in Kearny and we truly care about the district and the future of our town.

I hope that the BOE takes this into consideration. Please don’t just consider the substitute teachers. Consider individuals who have already proven themselves within the district. We just want to move upward and onward.