Fort Lee BOE Crashes & Burns! Like the Phoenix Rises It Rises Again from the Ashes!

On Tuesday Night, September 8, 2015, the Fort Lee Board of Education crashed and burned. And then, like the Phoenix, it rose from the ashes.

For the first approximately thirty minutes of the meeting, Board member Joseph Surace thoroughly embarrassed himself with his tirade regarding the new Superintendent’s Merit Goals (Agenda Item 2B) and Appointment of Co-Curricular Personnel (compensation for teachers in charge of school extra-curricular activities) (Agenda Item 17B). Now one must understand that this is far from the first time that Mr. Surace has publically humiliated himself at a Board meeting, and I believe that I can safely predict that it will not be the last. But this one may have been the most embarrassing for any Fort Lee Board in many years. As Warner Wolf would say: “Let’s Go to the Video Tape”.

Mr. Surace’s primary objection to the Merit Goals and compensation was measuring the achievements. For Goal #2, Mr. Rota indicates that we should aspire to have 100% of students use the new chromebooks on a regular basis. Mr. Surace explained that 100% was ridiculous, as it could never be attained. Obviously, Mr. Surace does not understand the difference between an idealistic goal and a measurable one. For Goal #4, Surace objected on the basis that this was not a “new goal”, that he himself had suggested it for years. So in his opinion, Mr. Rota should not be compensated for an old agenda item. Mr. Rota explained that it had never been fully achieved and that he was hoping to improve the current situation. But his words had no impact on Mr. Surace, who was too busy ranting and raving to listen to anyone. BOE President Sarnoff tried to reason with Mr. Surace, but to no avail. Trying to reason with a dinosaur can be exhausting.

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Comment: on a simplistic basis, Fort Lee may be out of compliance with the County BOE. It is required by law to have nine human board members. It is unclear that eight members and one troglodyte qualify for certification. A troglodyte by any other name remains a Neanderthal.

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Mr. Surace’s tirade on Agenda item 17B may rank with the most hypocritical of all time! Mr. Surace stated that teachers running extra-curricular programs were not filing reports to the Superintendent, providing evidence that they were actually performing the duties to earn this compensation. Note: Compensation ranges from $755 – Teen Pep Co-Advisor, to $ 7,127 – Band Director. Mr. Surace implied that these teachers were not performing the assigned tasks and accepting compensation, basically accusing them of fraud. While there is no compelling evidence of such abuse, it is theoretically possible that there are a few individuals that do not put in the appropriate time and effort to merit the compensation.

However, what makes Surace’s allegations so laughable is that he is the worst offender of all in wasting BOE funds. From personal observation, it appears that for many years, as head of the Buildings & Grounds Committee, Joe Surace arranged with Jack DeNichilo, the former BOE Superintendent of B & G to have school custodians work for the Fort Lee Jr. Bridgemen Football League during school hours and to perform services to receive overtime compensation. Note: Joe Surace was President of the Fort Lee Jr. Bridgemen at the time, Jack DeNichilo was treasurer, a clear conflict of interest. What is even worse is that the BOE members sanctioned this misuse of public funds, protecting Mr. Surace!

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Alas, the meeting draws to a close and the BOE members must now vote on the items on the agenda. First the Board votes down 2B, sending a message of “no confidence” to our new Superintendent.

For the record, Ken Rota has been the new Superintendent for a few months. We recruited him in the hope of bringing stability to a community that has had multiple superintendents over the last decade. His credentials are impeccable and there was optimism that, upon his engagement, he would stay with Fort Lee for many years to come. But after enduring Joe Surace’s imbecilic tirade on Tuesday, after being embarrassed by having his Merit Goals and compensation package voted down, after watching the BOE members vote to terminate all school extra-curricular activities in one fell blow, one could hardly blame Mr. Rota for seriously reconsidering his commitment to Fort Lee.

For the more intelligent individuals in the audience, it must be stated that the Merit Goals and the accompanying Merit Raises might appear on the surface to be optional, but in reality, the issue is not. It is a smoke screen for a certain reality. Several years ago, Superintendent salaries were capped by the State of New Jersey. Since then, communities have used these merit raises as a tool to compensate quality superintendents, to increase the cap to a sum commensurate with the responsibility that the job entails. If a community votes a merit raise down for a superintendent, it may be construed as a statement that they no longer wish to retain the services of that superintendent. When Ken Rota was engaged, the goal was long term, not short term. So this vote is a catastrophe, i.e. it sends the wrong message.

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Onward to 17B. This resolution now fails to get the required votes! I pull out my Galaxy 5S and get ready to dial 911, as President David Sarnoff appears to be ready to have a coronary. Board Attorney Dennis McKeever is shaking his head in disbelief and trying to find room to hide under the table, because he knows what is coming next. BOE member Esther Han Silver calmly states to the dissenting Board members words to the effect of “So I guess you all understand that there will be no band practice tomorrow!!!” David now turns to Mr. McKeever and asks for options. Mr. McKeever responds that the vote has been taken and that there does not appear to be another option until the next Board meeting in late September. At that time, the resolution can be again placed on the agenda for a new vote. Mr. Sarnoff understands that the ramifications of waiting until the next BOE meeting are unconscionable, i.e. no extra-curricular activities in the school system until a new vote. He then turns to Holly Morell, a dissenting Board member, who clearly did not appear to realize the ramifications of her “no vote”. David asks her to make a motion for “reconsideration”. Her motion is seconded and there is a revote, whereupon the Board unanimously passes Resolution 17B. Keystone Cops anyone? (The other dissenting votes were Surace, as expected, and Ammad Quraishi, whose “no” vote was somewhat surprising and never verbally justified at the meeting.)

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While President Sarnoff saved the day with his legal acrobatics, this meeting was an unmitigated disaster and a public embarrassment. And for the citizens of Fort Lee, it was just one more example of why continuing to elect BOE members like Joseph Surace will prevent Fort Lee from ever elevating its status in the educational community!

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