Superintendent Search Firm Could Hold Stakeholder Meeting After All

After appointing a firm to conduct a search for a permanent Superintendent of Schools at its last regular business meeting on Jan. 23 but first removing a clause from the firm’s proposal offering to meet with stakeholders prior to conducting its search, the Monday voted to request that Leadership Advantage put the clause back into the contract without changing the cost to the district.

The motion was introduce by board member Peter Suh near the end of Monday’s regular business meeting after several members of the public expressed concerns about why the clause had been taken out in the first place, whether the entire board knew about it and whether an accompanying reduction in the company’s fee was the result of the removal of the clause.

Leadership Advantage’s original proposal included 10 points of service it would provide, including “meet with designated stakeholder groups in a full day and evening session designed to provide for participation and information gathering that would be of further help in the search process.”

But in the resolution approved by the board, that line had been whited out and the fee for the company’s services reduced from $13,500 to $9,500.

Business Administrator Cheryl Balletto said Monday that the two changes in the contract were unrelated, and that in negotiations with Leadership Advantage, the firm agreed to lower the fee because it “had previous experience with the district.”

David Sarnoff, who announced last week that he’s running for a seat on the BOE, urged the board to reconsider the clause and reinstate it.

“There has been precedent in prior searches where members of the community can meet with the search representative outside earshot of the board and administration,” Sarnoff said. “I recall for the search for [former Superintendent of Schools Raymond Bandlow], there was very good participation; there was very good give-and-take.”

He added, “I found it to be a very productive meeting.”

Paula Colbath, who has been outspoken in her criticism of the board for removing the stakeholders’ meeting clause, echoed Sarnoff’s comments on the “importance of getting input from the community into the superintendent search.”

“All the proposals that the board got from the [search firms] … included a provision that they would do some type of a forum with the public,” Colbath said. “I think it’s important for the community, the taxpayers, teachers, civic groups, the administration—all the different stakeholders—to have an opportunity to come and give their views of the vision for the district; what they’re looking for in terms of qualifications and experience. We’ve always had it in the past, and it really stands out that you’re not doing it this time.”

Board president Arthur Levine, who was unable to attend Monday’s meeting, previously told Patch that the clause was removed because the board had already taken public comment and received all the input it needed on the matter at a special meeting in October and a series of public business meetings since, and intended to pass that feedback along to Leadership Advantage—an explanation repeated by Balletto but that some refused to accept at Monday’s meeting, saying the meeting in October was for a different purpose entirely.

“There was no search firm here, and there were board members here,” said Ada Garcia. “In the past, there was no board present; no administration present. It was the stakeholders, community, parents, administrative leaders, and they were with the search firm alone. So what happened in October was not at all a stakeholders meeting for the search for a superintendent. It was a 20-minute meeting for something completely different.”

Howard Lipoff of the Fort Lee Education Association pointed out that the FLEA is “one of the stakeholder groups that would be included in such a meeting.”

 “I would be of the belief that it would be in the best interests of all in the community, on the board and in our schools that we add in what was deleted,” he said.

Suh’s motion passed with five ‘yes’ votes, board member Angela Napolitano voting against it and Helen Yoon abstaining. Board vice president Linda McCue was also not in attendance Monday.

Board member Yusang Park, who did vote in favor of attempting to have the clause added back into Leadership Advantage’s contract, nonetheless expressed his dissatisfaction “with the way things are being run here” and “with the whole superintendent search process.”

“I’m really unhappy with the way decisions are made right now; it’s off the cuff,” Park said. “[At] the last meeting, we had a majority of board members expressing their intention of how they’re going to vote once the search process is final.”

He added that such public expressions of support for Interim Superintendent Steven Engravalle and the way things are playing out are not conducive to “an effective or successful search process.”

Fort Lee resident Diane Sicheri offered a slightly different perspective after Monday’s meeting on why she wanted to see the stakeholders’ meeting clause reinstated.

She told Patch that she and her husband were forced to take their children out of the public school system a few years ago after a bad experience with a previous superintendent and assistant superintendent resulting from a bullying incident involving one of her kids.

“When I tried to talk to the then superintendent of schools, I got nowhere,” Sicheri said. “They all closed ranks, and that was it. I think it is very important for the public—especially parents—to have a discussion in private with the company that’s going to be choosing the superintendent.”

She added that she knows she’s not alone, saying other parents have come forward with “similar stories and situations” since she brought the issue out in the public.

“People say to me, ‘Well, why are you here? Your children aren’t in the school district,’” Sicheri said. “The reason I’m here is because I don’t want this to happen to somebody else.”

Patch will have much more on Monday’s BOE meeting, including a public hearing on New Jersey’s new school election law.