No Surprise: Schools superintendent staying in Ridgewood despite salary cap
TUESDAY JUNE 4, 2013, 10:40 AM
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Superintendent Daniel Fishbein has received the Distinguished Service Award from theBergen County Association of School Administrators (BCASA).
Fishbein on Tuesday expressed appreciation for the award. He also announced that he will be staying in the district after his contract expires this summer, despite the much-publicized salary cap that the state put into effect in 2010.
The cap, which has been opposed by theRidgewood Board of Education, will result in a significant pay cut for Fishbein next year – from more than $220,000 to about $170,000.
The superintendent said he thinks it is unfortunate that superintendents have been singled out by the cap.
Some elementary principals make more than he does!! How is that right?? Maybe they need to take a cut too!
The residents and taxpayers of Ridgewood think it is unfortunate that their superintendent thinks it is unfortunate that superintendents have been singled out by the cap. So they played the worlds smallest violin for him.
Why not cut the pay of police and fire chiefs?
The salary cap for superintendents is ridiculous. Why single out one position from the whole district? Towns are capable of setting salaries on their own.
We are fortunate that he has agreed to stay.
fortunate? where’s he going to go? out of state only….
anyway, it’s not rocket science being a school superintendent? i’m sure it’s a tough job but there would be plenty of takers at $170k.
Why not cut the entire school budget by 10% (or more).
Ridgewood is fortunate to have him. It is unfortunate that this cap was only instituted for superintendents. The union has represented the teachers’ interests very well for many years. Automatic annual increases are killing the taxpayers. With all due respect to teachers, yes, you have difficult jobs but many other jobs are equally as taxing without such generous benefits and tenure. Once you are tenured, some of you continue as excellent teachers; some of you become tenured and simply go through the motions and remain substandard or mediocre at best and you still get an annual increase. Many of us in the private sector have had their salaries frozen or even had to take pay reductions along with substantial increases in our contributions for health insurance. Please don’t respond with the famous line about how if we envy your jobs so much the rest of us should try to become teachers. If there were actually more openings in the field, many of us would be happy to try and we might actually be very good and effective in the classroom. And, to the benefit of the students we would bring some real world experience and pragmatism into the classrooms. All public employees need to come to grips with the new realities of the recession and its effect on taxpayers.