Wall School Board OKs Superintendent's Controversial Contract

WALL, NJ — Wall Township Schools Superintendent Cheryl Dyer received a second approval of a three-year contract extension from the Board of Education on Tuesday night, the culmination of an 18-month fight.

The extension, however, also came with a blunt message from much of the community: that she was no longer wanted or welcome in the district.

The Board of Education approved the three-year contract extension by a 7-0 vote with Ralph Addonizio abstaining due to a conflict. It extends Dyer's contract through the 2019-2020 school year and includes a salary increase and increases in other benefits.

Tuesday's vote was ordered by the state appellate court after the Wall Township Education Association and residents protested the process that occurred in 2017, when the contract extension initially was approved. The appellate court ruled the vote taken in 2017 came without the required 30-day notice to the public and without a public hearing.

The 2017 vote also occurred when Dyer, who was hired as superintendent in 2014, already was under fire over a pair of incidents that rankled township residents: First, the sharing of a New York Times article on the district's website titled "Bullying in the age of Trump" in late 2016 that was taken down a few hours later; and second, the censorship of a student's pro-Trump shirt in the 2016-17 Wall High School yearbook. The yearbook adviser, Susan Parsons, was suspended as a result; she filed a lawsuit on Monday against Dyer and the school board over their handling of the incident, which made national headlines. Read more: Ex-Wall Yearbook Adviser Sues Over Trump T-Shirt Controversy

The controversy over the yearbook censorship lingered into the new school year, as some who were dissatisfied with the investigation of the incident continued to press for more information. Then, on Sept. 19, 2017, the school board approved what was called a rescission of Dyer's original contract and approved the three-year contract that included pay increases. The move was undertaken as the state raised the cap on superintendent salaries, Board President Allison Connolly has said. It resulted in heightened rancor.

On Tuesday, the anger directed at Dyer was on full display. Gail Maher, president of the Wall Township Education Association, said the teachers union had given a no-confidence vote on Dyer, the first time in its history the union has done that. Of 546 members of the teaching and support staff, 94 percent voted "I do not have confidence in the ability of Cheryl Dyer to lead the district."

"Cheryl Dyer does not foster a positive school culture," said Maher, who elaborated by saying that while Dyer sets up committees on various topics, she doesn't listen to their advice or suggestions but goes forward based on her own view of a matter.

"She implies she alone has the power to fix the Wall school district," Maher said. "We are not broken. We do not need to be fixed."

"The change we wanted was to stay out of the news for the bad stuff," said Robin Cervantes, who was a member of the school board when Dyer first was hired. "We're on the national news because a T-shirt got edited and that's wrong."

Christine Stites, who is involved in the PTA at one of the schools, called it a toxic environment and said it had been brewing for some time. "We all just need to be moving in the same direction," she said, urging the board to tell Dyer immediately that her contract will not be renewed after June 30, 2020. A clause in the old contract provided that if the board did not give Dyer notice of nonrenewal by the deadline, the contract automatically renews for a similar length of time, in this case three years.

A nearly identical clause existed in Dyer's old contract, which put the school board in a difficult position: if the board rejected the extension Tuesday night, Dyer would have reverted to the contract that was in place before the 2017 vote. That clause said if the board did not notify Dyer by June 30, 2018 of its plans, the contract would renew automatically for five more years. Because the extension vote was coming nearly a year later, it was impossible to turn back the clock on the notification.

There were some who supported Dyer. Monica Butler, who worked in the Wall schools for the final three years of her career and has known Dyer for 20 years, said the superintendent faced a lot of pushback on changes she sought that would provide greater accountability. Butler said Dyer was well-respected among districts in Somerset County, where she worked before coming to Wall. "She had high expectations and demanded accountability," Butler said, citing changes to the curriculum in Bernards and changes in professional development in Bridgewater-Raritan that, Butler said, had lasting positive impacts in those districts.

"Cheryl says no, and not everyone is prepared to hear that," Butler said. "This smear campaign is baseless and unwarranted."

Board Vice President Robin Zawodniak read a letter the board received from Scott Ridley, the superintendent of the Hazlet Township schools, praising Dyer's professionalism and noting that he has taken ideas she has shared at roundtables and incorporated them into his district.

Dyer, who responded to the WTEA complaints point-by-point, defended herself by saying there have been noticeable gains in student performance, including the district being named to the Advanced Placement Honor Roll for the first time and improvements in SAT scores, and the coming addition of academies to the district.

Dyer also said a number of issues the WTEA raised are decisions made by the board.

In response to one complaint, about the elimination of a February break that had been very popular with some staff but not so popular with others in the community, Dyer said the change — from a full week off to a four-day weekend — was made to maximize the instructional time in the winter that can be disrupted by bad weather, and to enable the district to get out of school earlier in June.

She also noted that when administrators first objected to the elimination of the February break, "their reasons at the time focused more on the way in which it affected them and their time off than the educational value for students," adding the administrators haven't complained since their new contract "gave them additional days off." The remark set off a loud, negative response from the audience.

Dyer's defense and response did not sway her most vocal critics, and there calls from some residents for Dyer to resign or retire immediately that were met with loud applause.

"File your paperwork by Friday. Retire. Resign. Just do it," said Betsy Cross, a persistent critic of the district. "It's amazing that a superintendent currently working is more hated than one in jail," she said, referring to James Habel, the former superintendent who was convicted of official misconduct in connection with his use of and failure to record vacation days.

"We just feel like we are humans that deserve a little bit of respect," teacher Allison Cadigan said.

Note: This article has been updated to correct the last name of Robin Cervantes, the former board member who spoke at the meeting. Patch regrets the error.

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