New Principal Appointed For Washington Township Elementary School

LONG VALLEY, NJ — The Washington Township Board of Education announced the appointment of Christopher Perruso as principal of Benedict A. Cucinella Elementary School, effective Aug. 1.

Perruso will take over for Melissa Keiser, who resigned from her position at Cucinella Elementary School after two years.

"I take it with great honor to get to serve as the next principal at Cucinella, I also want to say being there for the past two years, I am extremely excited to be there. It is an amazing school, it is a great learning community, and I am so happy that I get to lead that community," Perruso said.

During the public comment period, members of the Cucinella community expressed their concerns about Keiser's "sudden" departure.

"I'm such a proud Cucinella parent. They have done an amazing job, and with that said, I'm really disappointed with the process. I do feel, unfortunately, that politics has seeped its way into Cucinella. We are losing another great principal. It has been a revolving door of principals for the last several years," said Walter Curioni, a Cucinella parent.

Keiser was appointed principal of Cucinella Elementary in the summer of 2019 following the resignation of former principal Monica Whitmore.

The following parent to speak during the public session was Taryn Mansolino, who expressed similar sentiments, saying, "when I heard that Keiser resigned, I was shocked, and then when I heard that she was not leaving because she was offered another job or because she was moving or because of personal reasons, a huge red flag went up for me."

Mansolino questioned the board members about why an investigation into her resignation was not conducted, and she claimed that one of the board members voted against rehiring Keiser because of their own personal agenda.

Jessica DeCicco, board president, quickly rejected this claim.

"May I correct misinformation, please? Just to provide some clarity here, the first year that Mrs. Keiser was up for contract renewal, several board members, including myself, voted no. I'm not going to get into the details of that... Whenever there is a question of whether a board member may have a conflict of interest, we confer with board attorneys on the issue of whether the conflict exists and, if so, the extent to which the board member must abstain from any actions and decisions," DeCicco said.

Perruso formally served as the assistant principal at Cucinella Elementary after being appointed by the board in Aug. 2020.

"I want to address one thing about stability. I know that is definitely a concern and I want to assure everybody here in the audience. I think my track record speaks that I am not somebody who leaves very often. I served for 17 years in Florham Park before I got here, so I think that is a testament to my commitment to the district long term," Perruso said.