Recap of the Jan 4th RIH BOE meeting last night (while I haven’t yet listened to the full livestream, these are the big take aways):
Kim Ansh was elected Board President
Marianna Emmolo was elected Board Vice President
The legal firm of Porzio Bromberg & Newman was renewed 8-1 (with Dr. Lorenz voting no)
The Curriculum and all resources were approved unanimously 9-0
On a walk in motion, the Board voted to hire Hazard Young Attea Associates (HYA) as the Superintendent Search firm. The item was NOT on the agenda (contrary to the ‘transparency’ promises of some board members).
The Board received two proposals, one from NJ School Boards Association and one from HYA. The majority of the Board refused a suggestion to post the proposals on the district website, for transparency, as some board members suggested. The proposals are public information obtainable via OPRA request. I received both proposals today and will post them here shortly. The proposal from HYA was significantly higher than the cost of that of NJSBA. HYA proposal was for $21,900 (the previous search they conducted cost only $15,500). Marianna Emmolo had previously said HYA would do this search at a discount, as the Superintendent they helped us to hire left in just two years, however that is not apparent in the proposal, which significantly increased the cost over the prior one. NJSBA proposal gave a range of options from $4,000 to $15,000, with the NJSBA recommended option at $12,500.
According to HYAs proposal, they will match the price of comparable proposals.
"Price Match
HYA will agree to match the price of any competitive bid as long as the bid is for a comparable level of services and support (both time and process).”
I emailed the Board today to ask if HYA will be matching the NJSBA price.
Mariana Emmolo claimed NJSBA is ‘more oriented to training’. That is nonsense. NJSBA conducts many Superintendent searches in NJ, and does an excellent job. I say that from my experience in hiring NJSBA to run numerous searches for the BOE I served on; they are well qualified, familiar with the Superintendents in NJ, and run a robust process. Her opinion that NJSBA is 'more oriented to training' is just that, her personal opinion, which is not based on facts.