School board accepts resignation
The borough will pay Carol Moldan $187,000 to end relationship
By ELAINE VAN DEVELDE
Staff Writer

TINTON FALLS — Carol Moldan is no longer serving as superintendent for the borough’s schools.

In a 6-3 vote, the board decided to accept Moldan’s resignation at its meeting on Sept. 10. According to one of the dissenting voters, board member Bill Donnelly, a statement was read by board President Tony Shaible that the board would be acting on motions to accept Moldan’s resignation based on issues that couldn’t be elaborated on but which substantiated the action. While no reasons were given, Shaible did say the district could no longer move forward with Moldan at the helm.

Asserting that it was improper to reiterate, to any measure, the particulars of personnel issues, Shaible could only comment that the "board was concerned enough to take the measure to ask for Carol Moldan’s resignation sooner [than the June 30, 2002 date]."

Shaible explained that in June the board had accepted Moldan’s resignation effective at the close of her contract on June 30, 2002, but in light of "confidential personnel matters" that were brought to their attention, they opted to buy out the contract. So, the previous resignation was rescinded. In essence, Moldan agreed to resign prematurely in exchange for the board buying out her contract.

In doing so, the board agreed to pay a total of $187,000 to Moldan to leave effective Sept. 14, before the contract had expired. Of that $187,000, $127,000 was paid for the remainder of the contract, $10,000 was paid in lieu of accumulated sick leave and $50,000 was paid to Moldan as a pension adjustment, because she was "leaving the district prior to being eligible for full pension benefits. This figure is an adjustment for time she’s missing," Shaible said.

The option of buying out the contract was a reasonable move, according to Shaible when juxtaposed with the possibility of entering into litigation that could have ended up being more of a financial burden on the schools.

"When a district certifies charges with the state commissioner of education, in effect, attempting to terminate a contract early, it becomes a court case.

In the meantime, the superintendent still has to be paid even if she were to be suspended pending a decision. An acting superintendent would have to be appointed and the suspended one would still be paid because officially she’d still be on the payroll and covered by the contract until something was decided. Then there would be mounting litigation costs to add to the salaries. The board attorney, Martin Barger, advised us that, in the end, buying out the contract would be the better way to go financially."

Donnelly said that there were two factors leading to what he deemed Moldan’s forced resignation. Both were on the agenda of a closed-session meeting the board held on Aug. 13. According to Donnelly, those two things were a letter from a contingent of concerned parents and a conversation in which the parties remain unidentified.

In a prepared statement that was read by Donnelly at the Sept. 10 meeting where Moldan’s resignation was accepted, the three dissenting voters — Donnelly, Peter Karavites and Paul Ford — said they felt accepting Moldan’s resignation was neither cost-effective nor substantiated by what was discussed at the Aug. 13 meeting.

Recounting the events that they believe led up to the action calling for what they deemed "the removal of the current superintendent," the trio specified that they thought the information on which the action was based was uncorroborated hearsay that required professional investigation before being acted on.

That statement was repeated in the statement Donnelly read on Sept. 10. The statement also reads, "The board minority respectfully requested in private session at the May reorganization meeting that the board majority engage with the superintendent in some workshop, retreat, meeting or any other forum in order to devise a plan that would allow the parties to work cooperatively until June (when her contract is up)."

"Carol Moldan’s contract is up on June 30, 2002, anyway," said Donnelly in an interview after the meeting. "She was definitely leaving the district. To throw everything into a state of upheaval and waste taxpayer money with the hiring of a search team and interim superintendent, why not just wait the term out? You don’t have to like Carol Moldan to know that this is the most wise way to go."

In the statement read at the Sept. 10 meeting, Donnelly, Karavites and Ford noted, "After a discussion of approximately 15-20 minutes, we pointed out to the [other] members that the allegations in this statement [the letter and conversation] were unsubstantiated, uncorroborated and third party hearsay. We requested that the board conduct due diligence to investigate the allegations prior to taking action.

"The board has since received information that mitigates the allegations and cast doubt that any official misconduct occurred. To date, no substantiation of the original allegations has been presented to this Board of Education. In other words, the vote before the board on this matter rests solely on the acceptance of the prepared statement read aloud to this board by the board president at the August [13] meeting."

Donnelly added that before the majority of board members "prematurely pulled the trigger" by accepting Moldan’s resignation Monday night. At a special meeting on Sept. 5 two candidates for the position of acting superintendent were interviewed. Maryann Piefly, an administrator hailing from the Chesterfield area, was hired. She is to begin working in the district Sept. 25.

It was said there was a list of 150 candidates for the position, but Donnelly said he had not seen the list and to his knowledge only two board members were privy to all of the names on it.

Right now, a search for a permanent superintendent is on. The board has officially authorized the N.J. School Boards Association to conduct the search, which is mandatory. Conducting the search through the association will cost $5,000. Had the board used a private agency the cost would be significantly more. The district has six months in which to find a superintendent to replace Moldan.

At the meeting, the board had appointed the business administrator acting superintendent from the time Moldan was to leave on Sept. 14 to Sept. 24, the day before Piefly was to step in. After consulting with the county superintendent, Shaible said that the decision was made to appoint Director of Special Services Richard Wesler acting superintendent because Wesler has the proper administrative certification and the business administrator did not.

According to Donnelly, the salary for Piefly is to range from $600 to $800 a day.