Ramapo Indian Hills board moves forward with superintendent search
OAKLAND — The Ramapo Indian Hills Board of Education voted 5-4 at its reorganization meeting Thursday to hire Hazard Young Attea Associates of Arlington Heights, Illinois, to search for a new school superintendent for $21,900.
The vote was opposed by four trustees who objected to the walk-in motion when the deadline for search firm applications was four days earlier on Dec. 31, 2023. They said they expected to interview representatives of Hazard and the New Jersey School Boards Association, which also applied to serve as consultat, before making a decision.
Newly elected Vice President Marianna Emmolo presented the motion, arguing that interviews were not necessary and the applicants had provided sufficient information with supplemental answers to questions. Emmolo said the board was behind schedule in seeking a replacement by July for former Superintendent Rui Dionisio, who resigned in August to assume charge of the Fair Lawn school district.
Emmolo said Hazard was already familiar with the district, having conducted the previous $15,500 five-month search that ended in the August 2021 hiring of Dionisio, who joined the district that November. She praised the firm's nationwide reputation and argued they were better suited to do the search than New Jersey School Boards, which she said was more oriented toward training.
Trustee Brian DeLaite objected to Hazard's fee, arguing it was "three times" what New Jersey School Boards was charging, and the board should be more "fiscally responsible" given legal bills from October and November totaling $171,000 he said had to be paid from "seven parts of the budget."
Newly installed Trustee Melissa Kiel of Oakland argued Hazard's fee was justified because the firm needed more staff to "get through faster," that she was able to learn sufficient information about Hazard from their website, and that she had been elected to push for the search.
Trustee Aaron Lorenz expressed concern that Hazard had a reputation for screening out applicants, rather than presenting the entire list of candidates to the board for their interview choices, and would prefer to interview the applicants in person before voting.
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But newly-elected Board President Kim Ansh argued the board was "months and months behind" in beginning the search process, and questioned why the decision was "getting pushed off."
Franklin Lakes Councilman Joel Ansh, Kim's husband, urged the board to proceed with the search along with grade school board member Ari Donio as members of the public.
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"To quote Ben Franklin, don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today," Donio said. "Put the drama aside."
Voting in favor of hiring Hazard were Ansh, Emmolo, Kiel, Doreen Mariani, and newly installed Trustee Audrey Lynn Souders.
Voting against immediately hiring Hazard were trustees Tom Bogdansky, Helen Koulikourdis, DeLaite, and Lorenz.
The board was expected to meet with Hazard officials later this month for a preliminary planning session.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Ramapo Indian Hills board moves forward with superintendent search
