It sounds like the Superintendent can now concentrate on getting down to the business of deploying his staff for maximum efficiency. It's refreshing to see that the bickering has ceased and the healing has begun.

Luca, the bickering was epic. Luppino's behavior was embarrassing to say the least.

The behavior as a whole was epic. Its hard to agree on anything when there are two different focuses, two different goals --
BOE= education and the children (note the new curriculum and all that construction going on, benefiting our children).
Gallery last night and of late= all about being obstructionists and defiant with a glaring and continued LACK of focus on the children (they are more interested in tripping up the BOE for minutes, commas and last names, than the education/care of our children).
I simply do not understand why there is such antagonistic and and short sighted, destructive behavior.
OUR CHILDREN DESERVE BETTER FROM THE PARENTS, CITIZENS, and those employees who choose to be present at the meetings, moaning and groaning. There are FAR better ways of inspiring change and working together for a common goal, (and to employees- there are other more suitable ways of airing grievances, follow them, do not use your parents as sounding boards, its unprofessional). At some point the gallery has to understand that they are undermining and weakening their own arguments. There are valid and notable concerns but they get lost in irratic and flaring emotions.

Mrs Giacomelli needs to STOP! boo hoo! she got a transfer, instead of being so defiant,so angry all the time, just make the change. The tone of your unsolicited comments last night alienated S1, and those parents should be concerned about your lack of professionalism, seething lack of respect for your supervisors. Acknowledging how much you will miss the MS but are looking forward to S1 would have been appropriate, not "my boss is making me do it, even though I don't want to but I will' attitude.

All I can say is thank the lord, the high school has been spared! ((Huge sigh of relief)).

Just curious when was the last time Fort Lee shuffled principals like this?

Tracy I disagree. I did not think Mrs Giacomelli conducted herself inappropriately. She spoke the truth and admitted the decision wasn't hers, as everyone in the room knew, but assured parents and staff of School 1 that she was ready and willing and comitted to do the best job possible and thereby allayed their concerns. I don't know why they should feel alienated, they are getting a popular and well-regarded principal. The ones who should be real worried are the parents and staff of School 3, who seem to be getting short shrift here.

Tracy I agree with you wholeheartedly. I felt it was very unprofessional of many of the staff members at the meeting. There are better ways to air your grievances. In a public forum in pitchfork and torch style is not it. Whether or not the teachers or administrators like it Mr. Engravalle is thier boss and we have placed him with the task of making our schools more productive. They should step back and work with him to make the district better instead of chastising him(THIER BOSS)in unison hiding behind thier tenure. If that happened in a corporation he would be handing out final paychecks to those employees today. People complain that his tact and personality are abrasive but it's not in his job description that he needs to be nice, which most of the time he is. It is his job to manage the school district how he sees will benefit the kids. All the schools are lucky to have the principles they do. Each and everyone of them are dedicated to the students and will make thier schools shine.

The inappropriate behavior was not only on the teachers though. The gallery needs to start behaving and speaking to the board as people not petulant children. Congratulations Mr. Park for completing extra training hours for your position. People need to remember these are regular community members that wanted to help our kids and Borough. They have no formal training prior, just like every board in the state of New Jersey. They are learning as they go as well. If you would like to correct mistakes like punctuation send an email, it's a waste of time at a meeting and if caught quick enough can be fixed before the meeting. Procedure and protocol can also be discussed in a more friendly manner as well. Basically there is no need for someone to say to me that because of these meetings and the way people act they are ashamed to be part of this community.

It appears that the shuffling was well thought out and pragmatic. With Ann Marie Bruder taking on the the position of site position at FLECC, will this be combined with Special Services Director or will her position be open or eliminated? Ms. Bruder has made a difference in overall Special Education Services at a crucial time in educational times. I hope she will not be marginalized as a site supervisor when her overview of the complexities ahead are needed and valuable.

Tracy, I also disagree with you and agree with Anna. Mrs. Giacomelli was not insubordinate by getting up and speaking. If you read her quotes in the article above, she did not say anything to alienate the School 1 parents or to disrespect anyone. She spoke from the heart. I have two children in the school district. My older son graduated from FLHS last year so I have experience with ALL of the administrators and I must tell you that Rosemary Giacomelli was and is by far an exceptional principal. She was the first priincipal to ever treat my son equally and fairly in regards to his developmental disabilites. When my son attended the MS, I as a parent felt a sense of relief for the first time knowing he was in very good hands. It was the best two years of his education and I give Rosemary all of the credit! Secondly, it is apparent by your statement in regards to Jay Berman, that you have not been in this district long enough to make the proper judgements to our principals. My experiences with Jay Berman was anything but good. Unless your child was an AP student, he did not want anything to do with you or your child. I had requested, on two seperate occasions, a meeting with him to discuss the constant mistakes being made in my sons schedule, IEP requirements, etc, and lack of help I was receiving. He would never meet with me. He pawned me off to other staff that were no help whatsoever, because they did not do their jobs appropriately under his leadership.

On one back to school night as I was simply passing him in the hallway, I smiled to say hello and he put his hand in my face and said your son is special Ed, go deal with the CST. At a PTA meeting he actually stood up and spoke about how he was trying to get all special ed students exempt from taking the HESPA so as to bring up the state scores for the school and referred to "these studsents as lazy". I was shocked and appalled to say the least. This is just the tip of the iceburg with this man. I could go on for days with stories of unprofessionalism and scandal, yes I said it, scandal. He may have been aquited but I know otherwise. My heart does go out to the School 3 community. I can only hope that his time as the FLECC principal has softend his heart and changed him for the better. Also, your statement in regards to the parents being a linch mob is a bit exagerated. The parents, of course, will become emotional and passionate in regards to their children and their education. It is only natural. Especially when they are slapped in the face at the last minute with these changes and not allowed to have to time to process or absorb it before the meetings. So they are naturally put on the defense. I do agree with you in regards to the nit picking of minutes, etc. But as you may have noticed, those complaints were mostly from people without children in the system now. Let's stop picking people apart and start working for the common good of our kids!!!

I also just want to end by saying that I am so grateful that Mrs. Church is staying at the HS and not being moved to School 3 as originally planned. We finally have someone at the HS that will take our school to the level it should be. You have no idea the mess she had to clean up and is still cleaning up when she arrived there. From what I understand, there were no files or data for her to even work with. Most of her first year was researching and assessing the school. Which she did an amazing job. I had the privelage to sit on the freshman academy committee with her and experience her professionalism and passion for the students, the staff and the school as a whole. She certainley has her job cut out for her, but I have the utmost confindence in her. She has intelligence, strength and grace! I pray we continue to benefit from her expertice for years to come. Its what our children deserve!
Maureen Stitham

I missed the meeting, but the public should know that the new law (should be signed by Gov this week) that weakens the power of tenure also applies to administrators. If they receive a poor rating by their direct superior (Supt) they can be removed from their positions in two years. If they are retiring within that time period, I guess you could take a cheap shot at your boss to voice your displeasure, but if you plan on staying around for longer....good luck with that.

@KC
The BOE members are ELECTED by the people of Ft Lee. They do not go into your classrooms and tell you what to do, that connection is flawed. The experts are the Superintendants, BA, Directors, Adminstrators and yes, those people should be telling you what to do. There is always room to learn for all people of all ages and expertise levels. The BOE should be listening to the hired experts, that is where balanced and thoughtful decisions can be carried out.
On the flip side, will a grocery store clerk be employed long or valued as a good employee if they are contnually bashing and disrespecting their employer? Or telling their customers all about how bad it is to work there?
I don't wonder why there is skepticism, go to a BOE mtg and watch the pummeling. That is Ft Lee's staus qou, and it needs to change, working together for a like goal is needed now, more than ever. We have a chance now, a really great opportunity to get better as a SD. I feel obligated to be a proponent of stabilty in the central office FOR our teachers and children--they need to be supported and encouraged to do what they do best- teach. So no more nonesense.

As far as people being let go---NJ is an 'at will' state, unless you have a contract,( as tenure implies), you can be let go at anytime, from any job, at any level without reason. Now the educational industry doesn't like that but that is life in the Garden State.
You also stated that transfers are not based on performance or the employee--you forgot to mention the needs of the school and the chldren in that school-- a big peice to that strategic puzzle ignored, and that is dangerous!

Wow, so I've never posted here and I've been to very few BOE meetings.

My kid goes to school #3 and I feel completely gypped, Kravitz is a fantastic principal and I've not heard great things about the one coming in, but I'll wait and see.

I too find it bizarre that teachers would come to a BOE meeting in Fort Lee and carry on in ANY manner about what is happening. It is simply unacceptable. For me, it tells me that Engravalle has to do the things he does just to be able to show them that he is in charge and he will do what he feels is best.

There are thousands of students in the Fort Lee schools; there were what, 65 people in that room? at least a third of them seemed to be teachers so that leaves us with only a few vocal town folks, really not representative of the schools or the town. It was made quite clear that they expected to hear crap at the meeting and crap online about the move but they went ahead and did it and they will continue to go ahead and do as they seem fit. I felt that the meeting was an utter waste of time.

I want to know in what other business can an employee get up and bash it's CEO or howl and cough while he is speaking and not get fired. Oh I know the NJEA cause they're allowed to do whatever the heck they want. Last meeting it was that idiot teacher who got up and sounded like a thug, how dare the Super say "hey how are u." Seriously? If the Super had ignored him, he would be complaining that he was ignored. What other District would hire this guy?

Now this meeting employees are carrying on about being transferred? Guess what, it's allowed. Get used to it. In my company, the directors get transferred every 3 years, often to different countries, so they don't get complacent.

I can't believe that guy was a teacher. I was like why is he mad that someone said hi to him. He made no sense.

Mr Kravitz is an exceptional leader and truly did a great job at school 3.. he made school 3 the place to be with his leadership..I can only hope that his great efforts will continue with Mr Berman and the school will not slide back to what it once wad with poor morale.. Mr kravitz is a great person and a great, professional leader and I can only imagine that the middle school will benefit greatly and pray school 3 stays on a positive path forward.

Im not certain of the scandal that Mr Berman was involved with at the hs?
Was this around the grade changing scandal a few years back? If so, how does he still have a job? I'm assuming he was not involved? If anyone knows, please advise as I'm nervous about this change to school 3 and the impact it may have on the school 3 students and teachers.

Yes there was grade changing and he was exonerated of responsibility. Huh?

Most of the people on here complain anytime someone says anything bad about Engavalle and why would anyone want to work in this town with these nasty people harassing him. Yet you constantly complain about the teachers and principals. Makes one think why would anyone want to work in this town at all. The teachers complain at meetings because they see one thing at school and then hear another thing at the meeting. It is really hard to keep quiet when you hear lies being spewed. But I agree they shouldn't be bashing Engravalle in public but you cannot group like 4 teachers with the other hundreds that are in Fort Lee. Are there teachers that suck, yes, but there are also a lot of great teachers in our district that work their butts off and get really angry when they read this crap. The board is a joke, they are just there to agree with the superintendent because they have no idea about anything educational. Everyone thinks they can be a teacher and do their job but if you think you can do better then home school your kid. Teachers are heroes on moment and then they next moment they are all horrible and do nothing but complain.

Let's not loose sight of what is important here. Our children of Fort Lee deserve the best education that we can give them. We the citizens of Fort Lee need to provide the resources, both human and material, to prepare the next generation for the difficult future ahead.
A pox on all our houses if we can't recognize that, put our differences aside, and work together towards this goal.
It does no good to belittle anyone, whether they be a Parent, Taxpayer, Teacher, Administrator, or Board Member.
While there is always room for honest debate, this is not the time for theatrics, politics, or posturing.
I feel that we have Great Teachers, Principals, and Administrators. They deserve the respect and support of our Board. That being said, the Board has a tough job and always must be aware of their due-diligence responsibilities. I personally know how hard it is sometimes to tackle the tough decisions. Especially when it affects a person's livelyhood. But do it the Board must.
And we must accept that these decisions whether we feel they are for the good of the School District or not. Yes, we can voice our concerns and yes, if we disagree, we can vote for someone else.
I ask all my fellow citizens of Fort Lee to pause, reflect and think about how we can all help our children. Then ask someone you may have passionately disagreed with, to sit down, talk, listen, understand and find common ground. Our children deserve it.

@ Billy Mays, your statements in regards to students with learning disabilities are some of the most ignorant statements I have ever heard. George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant, Woodrow Wilson, George Patton, Werner Von Braun, John Horner, Henry Winkler, F.W. Woolworth, Charles Schwab, Sir Richard Branson, Ted Turner, Ansel Adams, Pietro Masagni, Hans Christian Anderson, Agatha Christie, Bruce Jenner & Jeffrey Gallet are but just a few that would also disagree with you. They all had learning disabilities and struggled greatly to get through their educations. I shutter to think what would have become of them if the people in their lives had your mentality! Is that realistic enough for you???

I think it would be wise to make Superintendent an elected position. We'd save money by not hiring search firms when the Board has already made it's choice.

I worked in fort lee when German was principal of the hs and Maureen is right on. The man is a money grubbing piece of crap. Ask anyone who worked under him at the hs. He was ineffective and an elitist. He collects a huge pension from ny and then comes to work in nj.ask yourself why he didn't stay retired?. Money money money why is this ineffective man still running a school. I'll tell you how to finally get ride of him make him teach 8 graders science to low students I bet he retires real fast. Good luck sch 3. Parents!!

So, is there any truth to the rumors that Kravitz is going to e superintendent in Englewood Cliffs?

I'm not sure if Mr. Kravitz is leaving but if you look at the district site for employment the district is looking for a middle school principal.

Yes he is leaving as is Albro at the high school

I had the pleasure of knowing Mr. Kravitz as my son was assigned to a self-contained classroom at S3, due to his learning challenges. It was always clear that Mr. Kravitz not only loved his kids at S3 but that he LOVED making sure his school was providing EVERY child the opportunity to learn; it also appeared that the teachers and administrators at S3 had a great working relationship with him. What a great atmosphere at S3, and it was all his doing. It's been my experience that any workplace is directly affected by the person who is in charge; that person's personality will ultimately permeate a workplace for better or for worse. In the case of Mr. Kravitz it was always upbeat and focused on learning. Everyone knew they were there for the same reason. Very cohesive.

I was very happy to hear he was going to the MS but now sad to hear that indeed he has left. I wish him well taking the top spot with a neighboring school system. He will be the feather in their cap for sure.

Did Albro give a reason for leaving?