Parents Organizing Drive to Save Principal's Job

A petition asking school officials to keep a first-year principal who was not reinstated has begun circulating, a parent involved with the drive said. Parents opposed to the removal of that principal -- and the transfer of another -- are also being asked to attend the Board of Education meeting next Monday, May 23 to again make their case in person before the board.  

Parents and students last night asked the board of education to keep Gabriel Nazziola as principal of School 5, a school which has had a new principal every year for the last several years.  Nazziola, a former teacher who has been in the post for just nine months, was not reinstated as principal and will be replaced with School 9 principal Nanette Rotonda for the 2011-12 school year. Rotonda’s departure has also raised concerns with parents, who fear the disruptive effects of a change in school leadership.  

Nazziola, the School 5 principal, was not a tenured principal but earned tenure as a teacher, meaning that he is free to return to a teaching position next year. “There will be a process” to find a replacement for  Rotonda at School 9,  Superintendent of Schools Joseph Picardo said last night.  

“School 5 has had four principals in five years,” Carmen Vellon, the school’s PTA president, said to the board during last night’s meeting. “We are asking you to please reconsider this decision....the students just got to know him. Why are you doing this to School 5 again?”  

Vellon said today a petition was started yesterday asking that Nazziola be kept in his current position.  

Last night parents also complained about the timing of the decision, which comes as students take NJ ASK standardized tests. The timing of the announcement, however, was at least partly driven by state guidelines, which require school districts to inform employees of personnel decisions of this kind by May 15.

Vellon and other parents praised Nazziola’s leadership, describing him as a parent of school-age children whose “heart is in the school.” Board members declined to comment directly on the decision because of confidentiality rules regarding personnel matters, but parents still felt compelled to ask for an explanation.

“The children respect him, they love him....what did he do in 9 months to be moved from this position? I really just don’t understand,” said parent Jessie Osorio. “I know you can’t answer these questions, but what could he possibly have done?”

Speaking after the meeting, Osorio was critical of the board, pointing out that it was composed of the same members for the last few years, when School 5 principals were being replaced annually.

“What does that say about their decision-making?” Osorio asked. She and other parents also said they would take their concerns to “the next level,” but did not specify what that would involve.

Because Nazziola was not tenured as principal, the decision about whether to reinstate him is left to the superintendent of schools, said board president Peter Zangari. The board has taken  no official action on Nazziola’s reinstatement.

However, the board may vote to reinstate a nontenured employee such as Nazziola despite the superintendent's recommendation, according to district policy. 

The decision to replace Nazziola has also upset parents at School 9, which is losing its longtime principal, Rotonda. Erika Jacho, president of the School 9 HSA, repeated a complaint that has been leveled against the district leadership by others throughout the year: That the board and administration are indifferent to the concerns of parents and that decisions are not always made with the best interests of children in mind.

“They’re taking a principal from School 9 to fix problems at School 5. If that’s their reasoning, it’s not good enough,” said Jacho, who referred to the board and district administration as “heartless.”

“They’re not representing the ideals of the community, the ideals of the parents or the school itself.  I know at each meeting people ask various questions and they don’t address the questions.  What is the point of having a public forum if they don’t address the public?  Why do we have to listen to them if they don’t have to listen to us?”

Nazziola’s removal is the second controversial personnel change in the school district in recent weeks. Early this month, Joseph Petrillo, the longtime Belleville High School principal, abruptly retired, citing health reasons. At least some parents charged, however, that Petrillo was forced out. Those parents believe that the personnel changes are actually being made to free up positions within the district and given to personnel who have supported the board majority politically.

Ralph Vellon, who lost a bid for election to the board last month, repeated those charges again at last night’s meeting.

“Many in our district question this change as yet another political move to create more vacancies in an effort to award political supporters,” said Vellon, who is the husband of Carmen Vellon, the PTA president at School 5.

Tempers flared later in the meeting, when Ralph Vellon yelled at another speaker, GeorgeAnn Polite, who Vellon felt was addressing the audience directly and not the board, which is the official protocol at board meetings.

Polite was defending the district administration, apparently referring to the unusually large crowd at last night’s meeting when she urged parents to be regular participants in school affairs.

“I don’t see parents here for every board meeting, unless it’s an issue they’re passionate about. Have a consistent concern,” she said.