|
Gov. Jon Corzine has called on his administration to review school superintendent contracts for large severance packages, like the one that made statewide news in Keansburg.
In that district, outgoing Superintendent Barbara Trzeszkowski is retiring with unused sick and vacation time amounting to $740,924.
Corzine said on Tuesday that he will ask executive county school superintendents to review other superintendent contracts for severance/retirement provisions. In addition, he directed Education Commissioner Lucille E. Davy to seek a court order through the attorney general to freeze the payout to Trzeszkowski.
On Tuesday, the Keansburg Board of Education voted to temporarily withhold payments of the severance package while it seeks a compromise with the superintendent.
Trzeszkowski started working in the district in 1970 as a teacher, and was appointed superintendent in 1998. Her contract set a severance of $556,290 in five equal annual installments beginning July 15, according to the governor’s office. The remaining amount is for unused sick and vacation days.
“This is completely contrary to any reasonable public policy. It should be stopped dead in its tracks and the public should receive a clear and immediate explanation about how such a contract came to be approved,” Corzine said in a prepared statement.
Under a law enacted last year, unused sick and vacation time is to be capped at $15,000, but the Keansburg contract was in effect prior to the law.
|