The Hoboken Tax Reform Coalition
How much is too much for a Superintendent of Schools?
As reported in various media outlets, the Hoboken BoE offered the position of Hoboken Superintendent of Schools to Dr. Frank Romano. Apparently, the yearly salary offered is $190,000. Knowing that this is more than the $182,000 that former Hoboken Superintendent of Schools Raslowski was paid in the 2008/2009 school year, I decided to conduct a small benchmark analysis on the salaries and benefits of superintendents in the state of NJ. The data were taken from the website of the NJ Department of Education:http://www.nj.gov/education/finance/fp/ufb/index.shtml#salary
While I do not know what benefits were offered to the incoming Hoboken superintendent, the data for the previous one were quite amazing. What a stunning combination of overcompensation and underperformance! This begs the following question:
How much is too much?
While I do not know what benefits were offered to the incoming Hoboken superintendent, the data for the previous one were quite amazing. What a stunning combination of overcompensation and underperformance! This begs the following question:
How much is too much?
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Permalink Reply by georgia on -
I do hope that when the BoE negotiates the superintendent's benefits, they will reduce them down so that they are no longer at the top of the list. If Romano is indeed the man we need, then at least let him prove himself.
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Permalink Reply by Red Elephant on -
Frank Romano, to put it mildly, was a rather underwhelming candidate. He certainly didn't merit such a lucrative offer. The fact that his pay would exceed that of Raslowsky floors me. In addition, he'll receive automatic raises that are not performance-related whatsoever. The Board of Ed has really let taxpayers down. Kudos to Sullivan and Gilliard for their dissenting votes.
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Permalink Reply by npincus on
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Red E,
I am assuming you attended the Superintendent's Forum, where you found Dr.Romano "underwhelming". I was there as well, and my unscientific polling results of others there found most liked Romano quite a lot and thought he was impressive in the Q & A. My impression of the man is that he is deeply committed to improving public education, an innovator, thoughtful, energetic, highly enthusiastic and an outside-the-box thinker. He certainly knows what he's up against here in Hoboken.
Before you pronounce him DOA, you ought to open your mind to the possibility that he will save our town far more than he's costing us. What I've heard of him, his reputation is as a 'fix-it' man who will do a line-item staff review and 'thin the herds' as he as done, notably in Millburn where 'stay at homes' and other admins were let go. Other cost-saving measures Dr. Romano has implemented in other districts include outsourcing and online AP courses, both which save salaries, pensions and benefits.
I am not sure why you were "underwhelmed" but certainly hope you and other skeptics give Dr. Romano the opportunity to prove all of you wrong. As a parent of a child in Wallace, and a taxpayer I can only wish for Dr. Roman's success here; that he streamlines our bloated school employee rolls, employs innovative techniques to increase educational opportunities without adding cost, and raises the performance of our schools, which raises our property values and provides a viable option for parents who now have to pay both property taxes and private school tuition. For my child's sake, I am counting on Dr. Romano to improve the middle and upper grades so we can stay with the public school system, which has been wonderful thus far.
It seems to me there's an orchestrated effort underway to declare him a failure before he gets here. Smells like politics; an effort to galvanize an anti-Romano, anti-Kids First movement in anticipation of next year's BoE contest. Surprise, surprise. Who woulda thunk it? And all because KF did not move in lockstep on this ONE choice when they have made so much progress as a majority this year? Ridiculous. KF's hiring an outside attorney to audit all previous contracts was a bold, unprecedented move, demanding a public reading of the 2008-2009 school audit revealed corruption and malfeasance on an astonishing order of magnitude-- Kids First is now implementing procedures to prevent such abuses going forward. The process to expel out-of-district students is underway, some positions have been eliminated and with a constructive, good working relationship with the incoming Superintendent, we can expect progress to continue.
Red E, stay involved and keep the pressure on Dr. Romano when he gets here. Go to BoE meetings, tell him exactly what you think. But please give him a chance before you declare him a failure.
I'm told Dr. Romano reads the blogs so he certainly knows what he's in for.
Red Elephant said:Frank Romano, to put it mildly, was a rather underwhelming candidate. He certainly didn't merit such a lucrative offer. The fact that his pay would exceed that of Raslowsky floors me. In addition, he'll receive automatic raises that are not performance-related whatsoever. The Board of Ed has really let taxpayers down. Kudos to Sullivan and Gilliard for their dissenting votes.
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