New Board of Ed boots Persi, installs Ceres New board president vows to find ways to keep PLC open BY DANIELLE MEDINA Correspondent The newly organized Brick Township Board of Education wasted no time in ousting interim Superintendent Melindo A. Persi and replacing him with a former Brick school administrator recently. After swearing in its three new members - Vicky Leone, Michael Pifko and Kim Terebush - on April 29, the board went into closed session for almost two hours to discuss personnel issues. When the board came out of the meeting, Persi was out of a job and Mary Ann Ceres was in the superintendent's seat for the next 135 days. "I am not a miracle worker," said Ceres, "but I do have a great concern and great love for the children of this district and for the people who work here. I'm here to help, and I'm here to try." Newly elected board President Daniel Woska said Sunday that the decision to terminate Persi's contract was the result of the outcome of April's school elections. "The community spoke,"Woska said. "The 'no' votes on the budget didn't have anything to do with the tax rate. It had to do with closing the Primary Learning Center." The district's $141,104,370 failed budget, which is now in the hands of the Township Council, called for the closing and sale of the Laurelton School on Route 88 and the relocation of its students to the Educational Enrichment Center (EEC) on Hendrickson Avenue. The EEC students would then bemoved to the Primary Learning Center (PLC), which was also slated to be sold. Kindergarten students who would have attended the PLC in the fall will now attend classes in their home schools The school board andmembers from the Township Council were expected to meet on Monday night, when the Bulletin goes to press, to discuss the budget. "Without a doubt, there are ideas," Woska said. "We are working on a way to keep it open. That was what the new board members campaigned on and why I voted no on the budget." But resident Cathy Ericksen questioned at the meeting the move to replace Persi at this time. "I am totally dismayed," Ericksen said. "You have a board with three new members who have no time to go over the budget which failed.You have a superintendent with 50 years of experience who knows that budget in and out. Now that budget has to be cut and you're putting someone in who is not familiar with it." Woska said on Sunday that Ceres was contacted prior to the meeting to see if she would be interested in coming back for a short period. "I thought about who in this community is most familiar with this district," Woska said. "Obviously, Mrs. Ceres was one of the names that came into my head." Ceres, a former Brick Township and Ocean County Teacher of the Year, has 30 years of experience in Brick. She began her teaching career in Newark and moved to Drum Point Elementary School in 1975. Ceres was promoted to assistant principal of Veterans MemorialMiddle School in 1989. In 1992, she became the district's assistant superintendent for elementary education. Ceres, who retired from the district in January 2006, will be paid $550 a day. Persi, who was named interim superintendent in June 2007, was paid $700 a day. Persi originally came to Brick in November 2006, when he was appointed interim business administrator, after Nicholas C. Puleio resigned. Then, after Superintendent Dr. Thomas L Seidenberger resigned last June, Persi did double duty as the district's interim superintendent and business administrator, for a month until James W. Edwards Jr. was hired as the district's permanent business administrator. Woska said that the board will advertise for a permanent superintendent within the next two weeks. "The search should have started a year ago," he said. "We shouldn't have had an interimfor this long for a district this big. It was time to move forward." Board member Cynthia McCarthy said that the previous board had planned to find a permanent superintendent but was delayed by committee meetings and numerous budget meetings and presentations.