Parents Upset As Brick Plans School Administrator Moves

Brick, NJ -- When the Brick Township Board of Education sits down to meet Thursday evening, they may be facing a number of upset parents once more.

The posting of the board agenda Tuesday sent ripples through one school community in particular, as word got out that the agenda includes moving their beloved principal to another school in the district.

Parents of students at Midstreams Elementary School are upset enough that they started a petition to ask the board not to move principal John Billen from their school to Veterans Memorial Elementary School.

"Dr. Billen has created a warm, welcoming environment that fosters a sense of family and community in our school. Our children have thrived under his leadership," the petition, which had 194 signatures in less than a day, said.

The change is one of about a dozen personnel moves the board will be asked to approve, as well as approving professional contracts for the 2016-17 school year.

Other key personnel moves include:

Dr. Richard Caldes will move from educational specialist in central administration to principal at Brick Memorial High School. Caldes would replace principal Jennifer Joseph, whose resignation also is on the list of personnel moves to be approved and accepted. Caldes served as interim superintendent from May 2015 until January 2016, in the wake of the arrest and suspension of superintendent Walter Uszenski. Caldes was ousted as interim superintendent among a host of changes made by the four newly elected board members in January when they were sworn into office. Caldes will receive a salary increase from $151,470 to $158,418.

Dennis Filippone will move from principal of Brick Township High School to director of planning, research and evaluation in central administration. His salary remains unchanged.

William Kleissler, an assistant principal at Brick Township High School, will become principal at the school with a salary increase from $134,293 to $148,152.

Colleen Kerr will move from assistant principal at Veterans Memorial Elementary School to principal at Midstreams Elementary School, with a salary increase from $121,553 to $126,991.

Michelle Cloud, the academic coach at Warren H. Wolf Elementary School, will become an elementary supervisor in central administration, with an increase from $67,850 to $96,875.

Amanda Beattie, the academic coach at Drum Point Elementary School, will become an elementary supervisor in central administration, with an increase from $72,850 to $96,875.

Other noteworthy changes the board will be asked to approve include ratifying the transfer of Laurena Staub, school psychologist, from Brick Memorial High School to Midstreams Elementary School. Staub had moved to the high school from Herbertsville School in May, but the move to Midstreams will move her away from Caldes, who is one of several people named in a lawsuit Staub filed against the district in late April.

In the lawsuit, Staub accuses several members of the district's administration of retaliating against her when she refused to sign off on special education services for a student who she says was not entitled to receive them. Staub in her lawsuit also claims she was suspended after she spoke to detectives in the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office who were investigating the case against Uszenski, who was indicted in late September on charges of official misconduct.

Uszenski, Andrew Morgan and Lorraine Morgan all were indicted, along with Uszenski's daughter, Jacqueline Halsey, in late September on charges stemming from what prosecutors say was a scheme to provide Halsey's son with educational services at public expense to which the child was not legally entitled. Prosecutor Joseph Coronato at the time said the scheme amounted to taxpayer-funded daycare for the boy, who is Uszenski's grandson.

In addition to the personnel moves, the board will be renewing professionals' contracts for the 2016-17 school year. Chief among them will be that of board attorney Nicholas Montenegro, who was appointed in January on a temporary basis at the same hourly rate -- $145 -- that had been charged by the firm of former board attorney Jack Sahradnik. The professional services contract the board is being asked to approve for Montenegro's firm, M0ntenegro, Thompson, Montenegro & Genz, includes a maximum amount of $287,680, more than $100,000 higher than the maximum set for Sahradnik's services in 2015-16, $179,800.

It appears Montenegro will be picking up special education counsel duties, as the board also is being asked to approve the firm of Schwartz, Simon, Edelstein and Celso only for the completion of 10 pending special education cases.

Thursday's meeting begins about 7 p.m.; it is preceded by an executive session.

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