Board of Ed to Announce Interim Superintendent

The Board of Education is expected to announce an interim superintendent Monday night.

The agenda for Monday's meeting does not include the name of the interim, nor does it specify the rate per day that the person will be paid.

According to the agenda, the interim will begin August 1, 2011.

The board approved Superintendent Jim O'Neill's resignation for the purpose of retirement. O'Neill gave the Board of Education a letter of resignation on Feb. 28 stating his intention to retire the purpose of retirement.

The board, however, took no action on his resignation, pending the outcome of O'Neill's lawsuit against the state Department of Education regarding the state-imposed salary caps for school superintendents, which would have reduced O'Neill's salary by nearly 20 percent.

O'Neill's resignation will be effective July 1 when his contract expires.

The board obtained a list of candidates willing to serve as interim superintendent from the New Jersey School Board Association and the New Jersey Principals And Supervisors Association and narrowed the list down to a few names. According to Vice President Tom Belding, the board interviewed three people before narrowing it down to the final candidate.

Belding said the board has "a very good internal candidate for the long term," but that they want that candidate, Assistant Superintendent Michael LaSusa, to have one more year as an assistant before moving stepping into the role of superintendent.

"The primary function of the interim superintendent would be to mentor our internal candidate," Board President Steve Barna said.

The Board of Education's public meeting will be held at the  at 7:30 p.m..