Thursday, January 24, 2013
Judge's decision could come by summer, but the embattled schools chief says he expects the issue to continue for a long time.
Months after it quietly began last September, the hearing to decide the validity of Parsippany's Superintendent of Schools LeRoy Seitz's contract with the school district is finally over. On Tuesday, in the final day of the oft-delayed hearing at the Office of Administrative Law in Newark, dramatic testimony was offered that, if found credible by the judge, could swing the case in Seitz's favor. Then again, it may not. "It's a very complicated case," the superintendent told Patch. Seitz took legal action against the BOE, the state Department of Education and former County Executive Superintendent Kathleen Serafino over the board's rescinding of a five-year contract struck in November 2010. Under the pact, which Seitz said was approved by …
Thursday, November 15, 2012
School board member Anthony Mancuso said Robert Crawford's activities regarding his 'private' communications invaded his privacy.
The author of the so-called "secret" emails sought by citizen-activist Robert Crawford says he isn't surprised that what he calls "private" communications were deemed by the school district not to be government documents. School board member Anthony Mancuso, concluding that his personal privacy was invaded, said he is talking with an attorney and considering taking legal action. "The whole thing raises questions for me," Mancuso told Patch. "These documents were found to be un-OPRA-able. Mr. Crawford clearly has seen them. How did he obtain them?" In September, Crawford made an Open Public Records Act request to the school district inquiring about a number of emails that came from Mancuso's personal email address. Crawford, a former Board …
Friday, October 19, 2012
Board of Ed members testify Thursday as Dr. LeRoy Seitz's breach of contract suit against the BOE and Department of Education quietly began last month.
The long-promised legal face-off between Parsippany Superintendent of Schools LeRoy Seitz, the school board and the state Department of Education over the schools chief's disputed contract is underway. Testimony in the case being heard at the Office of Administrative Law in Newark began quietly in September, with no announcement by the school district. Seitz, who gave his testimony last month, is alleging breach of contract against the school board and the state. In December 2010, Parsippany's board signed a contract with the superintendent—a year before the old pact's expiration date. The state then demanded that the pact be rescinded because it did not comply with a salary cap announced in summer 2010 and enacted in February 2011 by Gov…
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Meanwhile, lawsuits involving Parsippany's superintendent, the BOE and the state continue.
After more than a year of back-and-forth and in the midst of ongoing litigation, the contract for Superintendent of Schools LeRoy Seitz proposed by the Parsippany Board of Education has won written approval from the executive county superintendent. In a letter dated April 12 and obtained through an Open Public Records Act request, Dr. Kathleen Serafino gave the OK to a proposed pact. "I have determined that the provisions of the contract are in compliance with [state] regulations." Serafino wrote. "Therefore, I approve the contract for the period of five years, extending from July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2015." According to Interim Board Administrator Mark Resnick, of the Parsippany school district, the contract has yet to be signed by …
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Depositions to begin on April 5, hearing dates set for June.
A court date has been set for the start of the long-awaited legal action between Parsippany Superintendent of Schools LeRoy Seitz and the Board of Education. A March 13 letter from Weiner-Lesniak LLP, the official law firm representing the school board, obtained through an Open Public Records Act request, states that oral arguments on depositions are scheduled for April 5. Another letter, similarly obtained, is from the law firm of Gold, Albanese & Barletti, which is representing the BOE in Seitz's lawsuit. In this missive, peremptory hearing dates—meaning the dates cannot be changed—are slated for June 18-29. The subject of the suit is the contract agreed to by Seitz and the school board in November 2010. Under the five-year pact, the …
Friday, March 9, 2012
School board attorney says litigation makes the answer a complicated one.
At Thursday's Board of Education meeting, school board member Gary Martin asked a question many in Parsippany are wondering: Does Superintendent LeRoy Seitz finally have a working contract? According to Board Attorney Katherine Gilfillan, of the firm Weiner Lesnial, there is no easy answer to that question. The reason, the lawyer said, is "pending litigation between Seitz and this board." In the unfinished business portion of the meeting, Martin said he had received an email from "a civilian" who wanted to know the status of the superintendent's contract. Gilfillan said the pending legal action seeks to answer the question of "whether or not a contract does currently exist between this board and Dr. Seitz." "Allegations [from the Seitz …
Monday, February 6, 2012
Board reportedly says filing a lawsuit is the only legal means it has to satisfy the Department of Education's demand.
So far, most of the players in the controversial contract of Parsippany schools Superintendent LeRoy Seitz are still mum about the school board's latest plan to head to court. The Board of Education answered a Department of Education deadline by sending the state a letter dated Jan. 30, indicating that it will head to the judicial system to try to recoup the $38,000 it allegedly overpaid the superintendent under an unapproved contract, according to the Daily Record. The executive county superintendent gave the Par-Troy school board until Jan. 31 to report its plan to recover $38,000 in alleged salary overpayments from Seitz. According to the Department of Education, the superintendent was paid too much money under a contract that continued…
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Did the board ignore a deadline that could lead to the loss of state education aid?
Tuesday is the deadline set by Executive County Superintendent Kathleen Serafino for the Parsippany Board of Education to present a plan to recover about $38,000 in alleged overpayments to schools Superintendent LeRoy Seitz. And as of the end of the traditional business day, there has been no announcement as to whether the board complied with the state's mandate. Patch has made numerous attempts by phone and email to contact school board President Frank Calabria to discuss the matter, but he could not be reached and did not return messages. Several board members said that under law, only the president may speak for the body. Interim Business Administrator Mark Resnick did not answer a Patch request for comment. Resnick told the Daily …
Friday, November 18, 2011
During the 4-month standoff between the state and Parsippany over the school superintendent's contract, Lee Seitz was overpaid by roughly $14,000.
A new controversy surrounds the contract of Parsippany Superintendent of Schools LeRoy Seitz. On Nov. 3, the township's Board of Education 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 board met in an emergency meeting to end …
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Thursday, November 17, 2011
Commission says school board member's documents charging himself with ethics violations were incomplete.
Less than two weeks after Parsippany Board of Education member Gary Martin filed ethics charges against himself in connection with the superintendent contract controversy, the matter has ground to a halt. The state School Ethics Commission sent a letter to Martin indicating that it would take no action against him. "As far as I'm concerned, it's done, then," Martin told Patch. In late October, Martin mailed a package to the commission containing an admission that, in his opinion, he had failed in his duty as a school board member last July by not following up after the Parsippany BOE rescinded the disputed contract of Superintendent of Schools LeRoy Seitz. Martin's statement alleged three things against himself: The letter sent to Martin …
John Roonerdt
1:41 pm on Friday, January 25, 2013
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