Last year, Dawn Fidanza (former Superintendent of the South
Bergen Jointure) was all over the news:
The State only began an investigation into the
controvesy after news reports came out.
That is very typical of the State.
The State does nothing until it is shamed by reporters to take action.
Within the news stories, we witness how the following
policies were disregarded or waived by the State:
1) Nepotism: Dawn Fidanza was a Superintendent covered by
the State’s 2008 nepotism policy. She
was prohibited to hire her daughter in the district. She received a waiver by Nora Peck to hire
her daughter. That’s the same Nora Peck
that rubber-stamped anything Frank Quatrone sent to her office no matter how
outrageous or costly. No oversight. No
accountability.
2) Superintendent Salary Caps: Governor Christie pretended to cap
superintendent pay at the Governor’s salary plus bonuses. That was just pretend. $25,108 merit-less bonuses were handed out like candy. The base salary cap didn’t apply to all public
districts. County school districts and
public entities like the South Bergen Jointure were exempt. Dawn Fidanza’s base salary was $236,735 for a
district that enrolled 276 students.
Mark Finkelstein, who Christie appointed to the School Ethics
Commission, has a base salary of $288,207 for district enrolling 700 students.
How about passing policies and actually enforcing them? How about ending unwarranted "waivers"? How about providing some form of oversight to out of control administrators and board members?
