Good choice, bad choice

Brick Board of Education members made their best move of 2007 when they agreed to hire Robert V. Caldes to serve as Brick Memorial High School's new principal.

For starters, Caldes, unlike several other former top district administrators, actually lives in New Jersey. He won't be renting out any apartments near the high school during the school week and going home to another state on weekends, like former Schools Superintendent Thomas L. Seidenberger.

Even better, Caldes has a long history with Brick. He grew up here. He began his educational career in Brick. He put in 15 years as a teacher, guidance counselor, then department head of guidance at Brick Township High School. He was the head coach of the girls basketball team for 10 years and even served as an assistant football coach to Brick legend Warren Wolf for 17 years.

He spent the last two years as principal of New Egypt High School in Plumsted Township. Prior to that, he was an assistant principal and the athletic director at Point Pleasant Beach High School.

With that lengthy local history, chances are Mr. Caldes may stick around for awhile.

That would be in marked contrast to a number of administrators who have jumped ship over the past several years.

The school board made an inexplicable choice when they tapped Seidenberger as superintendent several years ago. A man who has to rent an apartment in town because he actually lives so far away is probably not going to stay for long. It was common knowledge that Seidenberger was shopping his résumé around for at least the past year and a half. It was fairly obvious his heart was not in Brick.

And he didn't leave much of a legacy. The budget passed this year, thanks to the voters, not "Dr. Tom."

An audit commissioned by board members to review the district's tattered transportation department came back in March, even worse than most expected. It was so bad the firm hired to review the department's functions recommended that most or all of the school transportation services be outsourced.

When the Bulletin published the report's highlights before it had been discussed publicly, Seidenberger said he had delayed releasing it because he didn't want to "panic" employees.

He botched the handling of the future of the district's Educational Enrichment Center this spring by his refusal to give parents of special-needs children a straight answer about whether the school was going to close or not.

It's a shame the school board was contractually required to give Seidenberger a retroactive 4 percent raise in his 2006-07 salary, when he couldn't wait to head for home.