Supervisor Of Curriculum And Instruction Steps Down

At the June 14th meeting, the Mountainside Board of Education awarded student contest winners with certificates of acknowledgement. Additionally, the board announced the staff members to be recognized at the Staff Recognition Reception which will take place at 3:30 p.m. in the Deerfield School cafeteria. Staff members will be recognized for varying years of service, along with this year’s retirees and teachers of the year.

Will Tracy beat out four thousand entries to be the grand prize winner of the PNC Annual Patriotic Essay Contest. Tracy won VIP tickets to the annual Balloon Festival. To preview this prize and to the delight of students, Deerfield School was visited by a hot air balloon on June 13th, where Tracy got a tethered ride in the balloon.

The 2011 Reflections Program awarded artistic entries themed “together we can.” Out of 38 entries, Frances Hisgen, Samantha Mimosa and Allison Post won county-level awards. Elizabeth Leick won both county and state level awards.

Governor Livingston High School senior Matthew Arrigoni received the Frederick Rosenstiehl Memorial Scholarship. The Deerfield School graduate will be attending Syracuse University in the fall.

The Tricia DeRosa Memorial Award was given to Amanda Sabarese before the board went into closed session due to scheduling.

Along with the awards, the board officially accepted the resignation of the Supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction, Thomas Conroy, after his five years of service with the district. Conroy addressed the board during the Chief School Administrator’s Report to outline his job description and to encourage the board to replace him in the position.

“If I made all of my decisions in the best interests of the kids, they would all be good decisions,” said Conroy, of his philosophy when he began his work in Mountainside. “It would be a disservice to the community,” he said, to make any cuts to the position of Supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction. Conroy detailed how his time was allotted during the 60-hour weeks he worked during his time as supervisor. He detailed aspects of his job including teacher evaluations, meetings and the possible implications of cuts or shared services.

Discussion became heated once Board Vice President Christopher Minks questioned how Conroy knew the exact concerns that had been stated in executive sessions and confidential emails from board members during the two weeks prior to the meeting.

“The way this has occurred is deplorable,” said Minks, who also stated that while he has always supported Conroy, he was “troubled” by the planned presentation regarding the position.

Tensions mounted when Minks implied a school administrator had released the contents of confidential communications to Conroy during preparations for the meeting. The administrator and board president both defensively entered the discussion after accusations appeared to be made towards both individuals regarding the release of confidential information regarding the position.

Various board members also commented that they felt the questions of time management and shared services were topics that had been previously discussed publicly and logical concerns when looking for a replacement in any form.

Board member Dante Gioia calmly stated that there was a correlation between what was discussed privately and Conroy’s presentation, although made no accusations and simply asked Conroy a series of questions in regards to his job description. Gioia questioned how much time Conroy spent on curriculum and how much of his time was filled with a variety of other tasks.

During public comment, PTA co-president Venessa Rittman addressed Gioia’s concerns by noting that Conroy was originally hired as the Assistant Principal of Beechwood School, although the title was not approved by the state. This original title and job description is a source of the aspects of Conroy’s job not based purely in curriculum.

Mountainside resident Mr. Schmedel also addressed the board first by apologizing for his own outburst during the discussion and saying, “I’d like to remind all of us we are on camera and tonight’s meeting will likely become a very popular program.” Schmadel went on to request all further discussion of the position be made in public, which was received favorably by the board.

Finally, School Business Administrator Daniel Saragnese presented an update on subscription busing. With the deadline for deposits falling the day after the meeting, Saragnese reported receiving 75 deposits. Saragnese also announced that after continual double-checking of distances, 153 K-8 students would be bused for free, up from the 128 originally reported. Including students attending Governor Livingston, 478 students will be transported during the upcoming school year. Due to the decrease in ridership, routes will have to be totally revamped. Saragnese will meet with Vogel Transportation on June 16th and report the results at the June 28th board meeting.

This story was updated for clarification on Aug. 6, 2020.