Board of Ed OKs $7,800 Bonus For Former Regional Schools Chief

Mackey Pendergrast left his post as West Morris Regional High School District superintendent on May 31.

On Aug. 17, he received a $7,796.50 bonus from the district’s board of education.

That’s because in August 2014, a set of qualitative and quantitative merit goals were created for Pendergrast, as is the case for superintendents throughout the state of New Jersey, that would pay out bonuses if and when achieved.

At Monday night’s board of education meeting, the district approved Pendergrast’s Quantitative Goal #2 Criterion, based on Excellence and Equity Student Achievement Metric: Seniors. The payout came in the amount of $5,197.50, or 3.3-percent of Pendergrast’s $157,500 base salary.

The second bonus came from the Quantitative Goal #3, Excellence and Equity Student Achievement Metric: Juniors. This goal was partially achieved, the district said, and paid out 1.65-percent of Pendergrast’s base salary, or $2,598.75.

Pendergrast announced his resignation from the district – where he taught and was a guidance counselor before becoming an administrator – in late February. He took the same post in Morristown for the Morris School District and started on June 1.

Pendergrast took over in the regional district in March 2012 for Anthony diBattista. He has been succeeded by Michael Ben-David, who began on Monday, Aug. 10.