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Schools

BOE Wrongful Termination Lawsuit Continues

Case centers around the feuding former transportation director Kathleen Warrick and bus repair vendor Michael Strumolo

The decision to not renew the contract of a former Parsippany school district transportation director was based on three incidents and some interpersonal relationship issues, former board business administrator Marlene Wendolowski testified Monday. Wendolowski faced questions for more than three hours in the , the district’s transportation chief from 2005 to 2008. 

Warrick claims in her suit that she was fired because Michael Strumolo, a former Parsippany Township Council member and current member, influenced BOE members to fire her after he and Warrick clashed repeatedly over the quality of bus repair services supplied by his company.

Hiawatha Towing, Strumolo’s company, held the bus repair contract from 1973 to 2008, prior to his BOE tenure.

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Among the complaints Warrick brought against the company was the 2007 inspection failure of 11 of 19 district school buses, and in 2008, the inspection failure of 17 of 25 buses.

Wendolowski, in careful testimony before Superior Court Judge Donald S. Coburn—she repeatedly used the phrase, “To the best of my recollection"—said the key issues in Warrick’s termination were:

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  • the first day of school in 2007, when 10 drivers working for a new bus contractor failed to show up and Warrick was late to work
  • an incident that involved the failure to paint the gas caps of diesel buses green to distinguish them from gasoline engine buses
  • a meeting with Puddingstone School parents concerning where their children were picked up.

The school district’s attorney Robert Gold tossed in one more incident that questioned Warrick’s job performance. That was the 2010 hostage situation near when, Wendolowski said, Warrick was unaccounted for while the district needed to shuttle students from the school and out of harm's way.

Wendolowski said during the 2007 school opening, the new bus contractor failed to supply 10 buses and drivers for the morning run. This caused confusion and delays, she said. Worse, she continued, Warrick was late because she was having her own issues getting her child to school.

Gold asked if Warrick’s  presence that morning would have made a difference in solving the problems.

Wendolowski  said yes, but under questioning by Warrick’s attorney Jon Green, she admitted that Warrick’s presence would not have made much of a difference that morning.

Further, she said “Warrick worked with [the bus contractor] to get additional buses and doubled-up runs” for the afternoon trips home.

In the gas-cap and Puddingstone School incidents, Wendolowski said, Warrick failed to provide Superintendent LeRoy Seitz with the proper information.

She said Warrick told Seitz that all the diesel gas caps had been painted green when in fact less than half had been painted and told the superintendent that Puddingstone children, except in special circumstances, were not picked up in front of their homes, when parents in a public meeting on the issue showed Seitz bus passes that allow special pick-ups.

After that incident, Wendolowski said, the superintendent “felt Warrick had embarrassed the school district.”

The former business administrator also noted in her performance review of Warrick that she had exhibited poor interpersonal skills with staff and parents that suggest an inability to be flexible and an willingness to seek common ground when solving problems.

In his long interrogation of Wendolowski, attorney Jon Green focused on the clash between Strumolo and Warrick. Wendolowski testified that the antipathy was long standing and at times less than cordial.

The key issue before Strumolo’s contract was the failure of buses to pass inspections and the district's need to hire a second bus repair firm to fix numerous brake problems.

Also of interest was an official letter Warrick wanted to send Strumolo detailing issues with a number of repair invoices.

Wendolowski testified that she had reviewed the letter and found some of the language directed at Strumolo might be inflammatory. She also found inaccuracies in the document and brought them to Warrick's attention. Green asked her to highlight the passages she wanted changed, but ultimately, Wendolowski said the letter never was sent.

Wendolowski retired from Parsippany schools in 2011. She is now interim board administrator for the Roxbury district.

Judge Coburn also heard testimony Monday from Superintendent Seitz and former BOE member Dr. Louis Valori.

Warrick has yet to testify in the proceedings.

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