Parsippany Board of Education Manipulates System

Parsippany Board of Education Manipulates System

Same Old Shenanigans, Time for a Change

(TRENTON) On Tuesday, November 9, the Parsippany Board of Education (PBOE) voted to renew Superintendent LeRoy Seitz’s contract, which grants him an average annual salary of $220,651 for five more years.  Their vote defies and considerably exceeds Governor Christie’s anticipated pay cap for superintendents, which will be comparative to the number of students in the district, capping Seitz at $175,000.

Christie defined the PBOE’s contract as “the definition of greed and arrogance” (nj.com).   The governor’s words accurately represent the dismay of a good number of taxpayers in Parsippany, as well as taxpayers throughout New Jersey, whose dollars will go towards Seitz’s unnecessarily lavish salary in the form of pension obligations.  Many are outraged, calling it a direct slap in the face by the PBOE.

As the governor strives to make a difference for New Jersey working families, many of which are struggling to make ends meet, the PBOE and the administration have schemed to dodge the cap. In the words of Bill O’Reilly, “Who’s looking out for you?” Well it’s certainly not the PBOE. We applaud our governor for attempting to take on the mess in Trenton in hopes to fix our financial woes, lest we become like California. Christie states, “We have real problems in our state that we have to fix and we don’t have the time, nor the money, nor the patience any longer for people who put themselves before our citizens.”

Indeed, the people of New Jersey should not be forced to support the extravagant salaries of greedy superintendents.  On Thursday, November 18, a public hearing was held at Kean University.  Most of the meeting was dictated by school administrators and representatives – those vocally against the cap because of personal interests.  Despite the dominance of outspoken anti-cap administrators, PBOE members Mike Strumolo and Bob Crawford, spoke in support of Christie’s intervention.  Crawford explains, “At the top, there can’t be greed and ignorance.  I want to thank the governor.  I want to support what he is trying to do” (APP.com).  While board members are accusing the governor of being greedy by not allowing superintendents to earn more than him, Crawford recognizes that Governor Christie’s primary concern is the wellbeing of New Jersey citizens and reining in the out-of-control spending, not himself.

The national average of a school superintendent’s salary is approximately $140,000.  Again, Seitz would be capped at $175,000 – a substantial $35,000 above average.  In Delaware, the highest paid Superintendent earns $193,000 a year, and citizens there are complaining about the lack of logic behind how salaries are determined.  In New Jersey, Christie’s plan brings both logic and justice to the amount of money superintendents earn each year.

We the people must voice our concerns. “Citizen Activism is at the root of our nation’s uniqueness.  We can either stand by like ostriches with our heads in the sand, or we can do something about it.  If we continue to let these situations occur, we have no one to blame but ourselves,” stated Len Deo, Founder and President of NJFPC.

The heated debate will continue on Tuesday, November 23 at the PBOE meeting. The New Jersey Family Policy Council call on the citizens of Parsippany to vocalize their dissatisfaction with Seitz’s contract extension and to seek to have it reversed to honor the cap. These shenanigans have brought us to this point, and we must not sit by idly and allow them to continue!