Calabria: School Board Waiting to Settle Superintendent Overpayment

A new controversy surrounds the contract of Parsippany Superintendent of Schools LeRoy Seitz. 

On Nov. 3, the township's buckled under state pressure, voting to rescind Seitz's contract and to cut his salary from the $220,565 stipulated in the allegedly illegal pact to $177,500. But Seitz's first paycheck under the reduced pay amount, received Tuesday, shows the superintendent's revised salary does not take into consideration the excess money he was paid between July and October. 

School Board President Frank Calabria confirmed the pay discrepancy for Patch. He also said he and Board Attorney Mark Tabakin certified the salary reduction on the morning of Nov. 4, the day after the and avoid a threatened loss of up to $3.6 million in state education funding. 

According to Calabria, Seitz's twice-monthly paychecks were to be based on the $177,500 salary figure stipulated by the state Department of Education. As a result, the district is still out about $14,000, the difference between the new and old salary amounts paid to the superintendent over the past four months.

The overage keeps Seitz above the governor's mandated salary cap for superintendents, according to Justin Barra, a spokesperson for the state Department of Education.

"We sent a letter to the Board of Education [on Oct. 26] saying that whatever the superintendent has been overpaid, his total annual salary cannot exceed the $177,500 set by the law," Barra told Patch, adding that the $14,000 may be recouped by prorating some or all of Seitz's future paychecks.

The controversy over the superintendent's contract flared in November 2010, when the even though it did not conform to Gov. Chris Christie's then-proposed salary cap, which . Under orders by County Executive Superintendent Kathleen Serafino, who insisted at the time that she did not approve the agreement, the . In response, Seitz filed a complaint with the state education commissioner defending the voided contract. 

Last month, it was discovered that the disputed agreement was still being honored. That news led to another threat from the state and the Nov. 3 vote to void the agreement and to cut Seitz's pay.

"I can't say too much about it because the matter is in litigation, but we have asked the county executive superintendent for clarification and once we get it, our attorney says we will figure out how to deal with the money that was overpaid," Calabria said. The president added that a revised contract aligned with the salary cap was sent to the education department last week.

Department spokesperson Barra said the newly proposed contract was received and that it currently is under review by the county executive superintendent.

A request to Seitz for comment was not returned by publication time.

Calabria said the board now is looking ahead to other matters.

"Negotiations are going on between the board's committee and the unions," he said of continuing talks regarding new contracts for teachers, custodians and secretaries. "Nothing is before the full board yet, but I hear things are going well. Everyone is aware of the fiscal realities, so people know we don't have a lot of leeway to work with this year."

Calabria said work to develop the next school budget is in progress as well.