Filippone Says He Didn't Aim To Be Brick Superintendent Long-Term

BRICK, NJ — When the Brick Township Board of Education asked 40-year district veteran Dennis Filippone to step into the role of acting superintendent in June, it was with the mutual understanding that he wouldn't be staying permanently.

Filippone, in an email Friday morning, said the search for a new superintendent was the plan going back to June.

"The simple answer is that I am not interested in the permanent position," Filippone said, responding to the questions raised about the advertisement the district placed Monday on the NJ School Jobs website.

Filippone was appointed acting superintendent in Brick in June and took over July 1 for Thomas Gialanella, who had been the interim superintendent since early February 2016. The move to appoint Filippone came as Gialanella's time as interim superintendent was running short. Under state law, retired school administrators (Gialanella was the superintendent in the Jackson Township School District before he retired several years ago) can serve a maximum of two years in any interim assignment.

"This is my 40th year in Brick," he said. "I owe so much to this district and community that when I knew Mr. Gialanella would have to leave in January, I accepted the board's appointment to help in the transition to a new superintendent who would be here to lead this district for five or more years, and provide the students and staff with the consistency that has been lacking over the last 10 years."

While much of the focus has been on the most recent disruptions that started with the arrest of Superintendent Walter C. Uszenski in May 2015, the disruptions have been continuous going back at least 15 years. Since 2000, the district has been through nine superintendents.

There was Philip Nicastro, who had been the district's business administrator and board secretary before becoming superintendent in 2000. He served until 2002, then Thomas L. Seidenberger was hired. Seidenberger left in 2007 to run the East Penn School District in Emmaus, PA, and the board then appointed Melindo Persi as interim superintendent.

Persi served for less than a year before being notified by then-Board President Daniel Woska that he was being fired — which set off a chain of legal wrangling that was only settled last year. Mary Ann Ceres then was appointed as interim, and served until Walter Hrycenko took over at the beginning of the 2009 school year.

But Hrycenko ran afoul of the school board and much of the town almost immediately when he decided to hire Patrick Dowling in 2009 as the head coach of the Brick Township High School football team after town icon Warren Wolf retired. Hrycenko, whose contract as superintendent was not renewed at the end of his three-year stint, remains in the district as an administrator to this day.

Uszenski was hired in 2012 after a search conducted by an outside firm for what the board at that time thought would be a five-year stint. But complaints about the hiring of Andrew Morgan and his wife, Lorraine Morgan, nagged at the district. Andrew Morgan was hired to perform an audit of the district's special education programs after a $750,000 shortfall in the special education budget caused when Donna Stump, the former director of special services, failed to submit invoices that would have resulted in reimbursement to the district.

The complaints about the Morgans — Lorraine Morgan served as the district's academic officer — blew up when Uszenski, his daughter and Andrew Morgan all were arrested in May 2015 and later indicted on chargesof running what Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph Coronato says amounted to a taxpayer-funded daycare scheme. The initial indictments were thrown outby Superior Court Judge Patricia B. Roe in March 2017; in June 2017 a new grand jury voted to indict the three and Lorraine Morgan a second time. Uszenski's attorney has called the new indictment frivolous.

Uszenski's arrest and subsequent suspension led the Brick school board — which at the time consisted of Sharon Cantillo, Karyn Cusanelli, Michael Conti, Frank Pannucci Jr., John Barton and Susan Suter (John Talty had resigned his position a month prior to the arrest due to health issues) — to name Richard Caldes as interim superintendent. Caldes, another long-term district employee who has doctorate in education, dealt with incessant issues from the moment he was named, including a transportation plan that would have laid off as many as 30 bus drivers that turned board meeting into shouting matches.

However, Caldes was replaced immediately when new board members John Lamela, Victoria Pakala, Stephanie Wohlrab and George White were elected in November 2015 following a contentious school board race. The scorched-earth move to replace Caldes and most of the district professional services led to the hiring of Gialanella as interim in 2016. Filippone is the ninth to serve in the role since 2000.

Until the second round of indictments in June, the board could not consider a search for a new superintendent because Uszenski's contract is in force until June 30, 2018; the possibility existed that the district would be forced to reinstate him. With the second indictment, that possibilty seems far more remote. Starting the application process now — the application window closes Dec. 1 — gives the board time to thoroughly vet any applicants before the start of the 2018-19 school year.

Having Filippone in place, meanwhile, helps the district bridge the gap through the crucial school budget development period, a time that's sure to be even more challenging due to state aid cuts that Sen. President Steven Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto set in motion in June 2017.

Filippone said his goal is to help keep things moving forward, instead of being stuck in the past.

"I will stay on as long as the new superintendent wants me to to aid in the transition," Filippone said. "I am truly honored to serve as the district's superintendent and will work hard in the coming year to move the district forward."

Dennis Filippone, photo via 10th District Legislative Office