Joseph Zarra clearly stated multiple times that he signed Frank Quatrone’s contract without reviewing the proposed sick day payout…

 Joseph Zarra

Executive Superintendent

 Department of Education, Bergen County Office

Frank Quatrone ordered that his contract be dumped on board members’ steps the night before it was to be approved so nobody would have time to review it.  The contract was renegotiated in the middle of a term without the required 30 day notice and public hearing.  The contract was rushed for a reason.

Before the vote on Mr. Quatrone’s contract, I provided state statutes and a memo from the Sciarrillo firm clearly showing that the proposed sick day payout was illegal.  Instead of addressing my concerns, Joe Leto and Frank Quatrone threw Joseph Zarra’s name around.  They placed responsibility on him for signing off on the contract.  After all, why would the interim county superintendent sign off on a proposed payout that is not compliant with state statutes?

I emailed Mr. Zarra my concerns beginning in early May.  I have pages of email responses from Mr. Zarra, mostly apologizing for not reviewing the matter as promised.  Some excuses: going on vacation, busy reviewing budgets, being recalled to the Essex County office, etc.   


At one point, Mr. Zarra stated that a new executive superintendent would be taking over the Bergen County office at the beginning of July and that my documents would be placed on the top of his/her desk.  Mr. Zarra is still in charge of the Bergen County office.

Mr. Zarra called me on many occasions.  He was overly friendly and apologetic but he clearly didn’t review any of the documents I sent him. 

When told that Leto and Quatrone threw his name around to justify the proposed sick day payouts, Mr. Zarra asserted that he never spoke to them and only met Mr. Quatrone for the first time at a luncheon months after Mr. Quatrone’s contract was approved.

Mr. Zarra clearly stated many times that he never reviewed Mr. Quatrone’s contract pertaining to the proposed payout for sick and vacation days.  He used many excuses and blamed others. He mentioned Nora Peck (she left the office months before Quatrone’s contract was approved).  He mentioned a woman from the office that was out for a long time after surgery. Mr. Zarra’s signature is on the contract.

On October 9^th, Mr. Zarra contacted me again by phone.  He asked me to lay out all the problems I found with Mr. Quatrone’s contract.  Mr. Zarra seemed to agree that it was problematic that Mr. Quatrone’s proposed payout for sick days changes from year to year in his 5 year contract (If an agreement existed prior to June 8, 2007, why is the amount changing?)  Mr. Zarra claimed that he was not aware of the changes to superintendent sick day payouts that took effect in 2007 (he mentioned something from 2011) and asked me to forward him that information.  He also asked me to forward him the guidance that board members received from Sciarrillo’s office prior to the vote on Quatrone’s contract.  Immediately following our conversation, I emailed the following links to Mr. Zarra at his request along with the complete memo from Sciarrillo’s office.

https://lodioverhaul.blogspot.com/2018/04/june-8-2007-date-that-really-matters.html?m=1


https://lodioverhaul.blogspot.com/2018/05/quatrone-and-his-boe-completely.html?m=1

Shortly after, I provided Mr. Zarra with this inconsistency:

https://lodioverhaul.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-177122-sick-day-deal-is-not.html

Mr. Zarra stated that he would get back to me.  After weeks passed, I asked Mr. Zarra if he reviewed the documents.

Mr. Zarra emailed me today.  After six months, Mr. Zarra still has not reviewed the matter.  Mr. Zarra covered himself by ending his email, “I do not oversee the actual payout when an administrator is retiring.”  Mr. Zarra has advised in the past that the district review all payments before they awarded at the time of retirement.

Where are we?  Mr. Zarra signed Quatrone’s contract without reviewing if the proposed payouts are even legal.  The county office is placing blame on the board members that approved the contract.  Leto and Quatrone placed responsibility on Mr. Zarra for signing the contract.   Marc Capizzi has previously stated that he issues retirement payouts based on contracts.  If a contract lists something, he pays it.  Board members do not approve the payouts at the time of retirements.  The payouts are not reviewed at the time of retirement by anyone other than Capizzi’s office.

Lodi was set up to be robbed.   All responsible for providing some form of oversight are grossly negligent. Shame on all, especially those collecting six figure public salaries to do their jobs.