Administrative Raises Tabled by High School BOE

The Freehold High School District Board of Education met Monday, June 27 at Colts Neck High School. After executive session at 7 p.m., Superintendent Charles Sampson announced that the reappointment section on the agenda for the evening would be pulled. The reappointments of personnel for the 2011-2012 school year included a 2 percent raise for administrators. 

Marlboro resident Jim Sage voiced his opinion on the potential 2 percent raises for next year which Sampson said could make their way back onto the agenda in the future. Sage wrote a letter to Sampson in regard to the possible raises, and paraphrased those thoughts to the board last night. 

Sage said that “raises should not be considered in light of the current economy.” 

At a , administrative raises  to the extent of 28 percent were discussed, resulting in a dissenting outcry from the public. The board decided to reinstate the non-unit employees up for raises at their current salary with the stipulation that an adjustment to compensation could be made in the future. 

Sage said that in contrast to the exorbitant raises considered in the past, a 2 percent raise is supposed to seem reasonable, “but nothing could be further from the truth.” 

“I am really getting tired of reiterating this over and over again - I feel like I’m spitting in the wind,” Sage said. “Taxpayers are losing their homes, they’re losing their jobs, they are unemployed, underemployed and the absurdity of pay raises should not be considered at this time or for this entire year.”

Another dissenter, Leon Sirulnick of Manalapan, agreed with Sage. “If we have to live within our means why can’t the administrators and others live within their means? And if not, they shouldn’t be making budget decisions for the district,” Sirulnick said. 

Assistant Superintendent Donna Evangelista was on the agenda to receive a 2 percent raise on Monday, before Sampson pulled the reappointments off the table. Evangelista was the center of a state education controversy three years ago when it was discovered that she received a PhD from the online school Breyer State University, which turned out to be non-accredited; Evangelista’s degree was paid for by the taxpayers and her degree authorizes a raise each year. Evangelista has tenure. 

Sage, the self-proclaimed whistle blower on the Breyer State affair, said that Evangelista should apologize, reimburse the district, and not receive any raise. 

Sirulnick also brought up the Breyer State affair and said that Evangelista should not receive a pay raise because she never addressed the issue of her unaccredited degree and never returned the money she “should not have been given in the first place”. 

“I’m sorry Mr. Sampson,” Sirulnick concluded, “but this is the wrong time and the wrong way to make a fresh start.” 

For a full list of the names of who could potentially receive a 2 percent raise for the 2011-2012 school year, click here and scroll down to the reappointments section underneath H-1 (the bottom of page 8).