Wednesday, July 11, 2012
The one-time interim Berkeley superintendent departing district after 31 years
Bayville Elementary School Principal Arleen J. Lippincott - who served as interim superintendent of the Berkeley Township schools from 2009 to 2011 - has submitted her retirement papers. Lippincott's retirement request was approved by the Berkeley Board of Education recently and is effective Sept. 1. Lippincott, who has been with the district since 1981, took over as interim superintendent in mid-2009. Lippincott was chosen to step in after the school board at that time refused to extend the contract of then-Superintendent Joseph H. Vicari, and hired Harry Colangelo. Colangelo's appointment was challenged and he was stripped of the job before he even started. Colangelo was assistant principal of the Berkeley Township Elementary School at…
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Freeholder says he wants to put issues in past
When the Ocean County Board of Freeholders voted on Tuesday on a list of new staff members working in the county, it seemed like a routine matter. And when Freeholder Joseph H. Vicari abstained from the vote, most people in attendance at the freeholders' meeting probably didn't even think twice about it. Until Vicari explained the reasons for his abstention. "Because of the ongoing controversy, I want it on the record that I did not vote, and why I abstained," Vicari said. "Jason Varano has nothing to do with (the county). The election board is not a part of the county, it is a state agency. But every time I vote on something there are continuous OPRA requests, and differing opinions on this." "I will support Jason Varano but I will …
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Freeholders Gerry P. Little and Joseph H. Vicari pose with fireworks
We all know illegal fireworks are bad. And that's actually why Ocean County Freeholders Gerry P. Little and Joseph H. Vicari are posing in front of a table packed with them, to illustrate the dangers. Have a little fun with this and write your own caption. I'll get us started. "Hey, Gerry, I got dibs on the Cherry Bombs!"
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Freeholder again calls for Ocean County representative on Board of Public Utilities
How much profit is enough? That's the question Ocean County Freeholder Joseph H. Vicari says needs to be answered, when it comes to JCP&L, and he offered his support of the demand by AARP for a rate review of the electric company. According to the Asbury Park Press, AARP added its request for a review to that of the state Division of Rate Counsel, which exists to challenge utility companies' rate increase requests. The rate counsel has said JCP&L may be earning more than it is entitled to, as a regulated company, estimating its profit at about $90 million. The electric company makes a profit on its base rate, which includes customer service, delivering electricity to homes and the infrastructure (power lines, etc.) by which that …
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Vicari cautions against sharing administrators
When James Fulcomer ran for a seat on the Berkeley Board of Education last year, he pledged to do what he could to share services with other school districts. "That was a campaign commitment," he said today. "I'm doing what I can to consolidate services." Fulcomer was trying to do just that at the May 24 school board meeting when he questioned why Superintendent Joseph H. Vicari and other school officials recommended hiring a pupil transportation supervisor. "I think we have missed a number of opportunities over the years...to save hundreds of thousands of dollars," Fulcomer said during the meeting. "We are missing an opportunity to consolidate essential administrative positions, and it is costly to taxpayers." Fulcomer said Central …
Friday, May 25, 2012
Board votes to hire interim superintendent, Vicari lashes out at 'Blitzkrieg of 2008'
The Berkeley Township school district will have another 'interim' superintendent on June 1, when former Monmouth County schools superintendent Carole K. Morris takes over. It's the second time in four years the district has had a temporary superintendent. Current Bayville Elementary School principal Arlene J. Lippincott served for nearly two years in the position when Vicari left. Berkeley Board of Education members went into closed session at the May 24 board meeting for over an hour. When they came out, they voted to appoint Morris to the position, at a salary of $500 a day. Current Superintendent Joseph H. Vicari — who returned to the district 14 months ago at a reduced salary — said he left feeling "vindicated" over a previous board …
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Deadline to apply for Berkeley schools superintendent position is May 31
The people who attended the forum last night on the search for a new Berkeley Township schools superintendent let a consultant know exactly what they wanted. Someone involved in the community. Someone already known in town. Someone who could streamline curriculums in the elementary schools to make the transition to Central Regional Middle School and Central Regional High school a little easier. Someone who can bring in revenue. Someone non-political. And while his name was never mentioned, the man they described was sitting quietly in the audience - Central Regional Superintendent Triantafillos "Tom" Parlapanides. "We've had a very political community here for some time," one woman said. "It's time to put politics away. We've lost …
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Freeholders say they're working with Turnpike Authority to find ways to mitigate noise concerns
New Jersey Turnpike Authority officials have said that a sound barrier to muffle noise from the widening of the Garden State Parkway between Toms River and Brick is highly unlikely. But the Ocean County Board of Freeholders say they're committed to trying to work with the Turnpike Authority to find a compromise. "We’re happy about the widening," Freeholder John P. Kelly said during the freeholders' meeting in Toms River on Wednesday afternoon. "While we want this, we believe we need to be responsible to community that lives in that area." Residents of Todd Road in Toms River, in particular, have been lobbying the Turnpike Authority to construct a sound barrier as the parkway is widened between exits 88 and 83, citing concerns about noise …
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Berkeley Board of Education hired consultant late last month
It's been nearly three years since Joseph H. Vicari cleaned out his desk and left his job as superintendent of the Berkeley Township school district. He had served for six years. He did not go willingly. A previous Board of Education in 2008 took a vote and declined to renew his contract, a move Vicari says was illegal and engineered by the Democratic majority on the school board. That's when the search for a permanent superintendent for the four-school K-6 district began. It continues to this day. And it's understandable if Berkeley residents find their heads spinning over this interminable process, a process rife with politics and controversy. Grab a chair, folks. It's a long story. Shortly after Vicari left when his contract expired, …
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Superintendent search was on the agenda
It's on. It's off. The Berkeley Board of Education has cancelled a special meeting to discuss the superintendent search to replace Joseph H. Vicari, who is leaving at the end of the school year. The May 2 meeting was slated to begin at 6:30 pm. at the Berkeley Township Elementary School. But the district website says today the meeting has been cancelled. The agenda for the now-cancelled meeting listed "superintendent search and replacement" as the first item. It also stated that formal action could be taken. The superintendent position in Berkeley has been mired in controversey since 2008, when a previous board declined to renew Vicari's contract. Vicari called the vote "illegal" and said it was engineered by the then-Democratic majority…
voice of reason
8:03 am on Wednesday, July 18, 2012
If she had gotten the superintandant position she would have stayed on a couple of years to get a bigger pension more ›