BOE gives departing super a 4-percent raise BY DANIELLE MEDINA Correspondent BRICK TOWNSHIP - The Board of Education recently approved a retroactive raise for departing Superintendent Thomas L. Seidenberger. Seidenberger will receive a 4-percent increase in his 2006-07 salary and a 3-percent raise in his salary from July 1 to July 3, 2007, his last day in the district. Seidenberger earned $156,697 in 2005-06 and in 2006-07. The addition of the approved pay hike means Seidenberger will earn $162,965 for the 2006-07 school year. He will be paid for his last three days of work in July based on a pro-rated annual salary of $167,854. Seidenberger will also be paid for accumulated sick and vacation days starting on July Fourth and into September. The number of days accumulated was unavailable at press time.. Board Chairman Brian DeLuca and board member Daniel Rosa said at the June 25 board meeting that the raise was retroactive. If the district denied the raise, Seidenberger could have taken the matter to arbitration and the district would have lost, Rosa said. Board members Virginia Reinhold, Rosa and Daniel Woska voted in favor of the increase at the June 19 meeting. Allen Atheras voted no. Board President Brian DeLuca, Vice President Cynthia McCarthy, and board member Frank Pannucci all recused themselves from the vote because they have family members who work in the district. Atheras said that although he was in favor of giving Seidenberger an salary adjustment, he was against the amount he received. "I think a cost of living increase would have been appropriate," Atheras said. Prior to the vote, the public had the opportunity to comment on whether or not Seidenberger, who officially resigned on June 19 to become the superintendent in the East Penn (Pa.) school district, should receive an increase. "I want to thank Dr. Seidenberger," Austin Avenue resident Brenda Calderone said. "In the past few years, he's done quite a few things that he will leave behind as his legacy." Susan Resch, a Spruce Drive resident and representative for the Transport Workers Union (TWU), said that Seidenberger also deserved the same increase that the TWU and the teachers unions received. "The superintendent worked hard to get the budget passed," Resch said. "He put us on a good path. We should be fair." But others disagreed and said that Seidenberger shouldn't receive an increase because he's leaving the district. "My job has a wage freeze and my husband has had a 1-percent increase in years," resident Valerie O'Neill said. "He's leaving. He shouldn't get any money. If he was staying, it would be another story." "I have a hard time with it," said Linden Avenue resident Victoria Leustek. Timothy Puglisi, the president of the Brick Township Education Association (BTEA), the district's teachers union, said he was uncomfortable having Seidenberger's salary discussed in public. "We negotiated our contract in a private venue," Puglisi said. "We should leave it up to the professionals." The public hearing on the superintendent's salary, however, is a part of the School District Accountability Act, which was signed into law by Gov. Corzine on March 15. The law, in part, requires school districts to provide notice and conduct a public hearing on the renegotiation, extension, amendment, or alteration of an employment contract with the superintendent of schools, assistant superintendent of schools, or school business administrator. "There were superintendents who had outrageous contracts," board member Cynthia McCarthy said. "It's very uncomfortable, but we need to be transparent." Seidenberger sat stoically and did not comment during the hearing. "There were 30 or so superintendents that make us all look bad," Seidenberger said when the board went into closed session to discuss his increase. "It is what it is."