Below is today’s article about the return of Dr. Lewis to the district. I am quoted in this article; however, the entire quote I made was not included. What I stated to the reporter is that the district knew back in June that Dr. Lewis won his case. The decision came in on that Wednesday morning, and they hired a new principal Wednesday evening, knowing that they lost the case. My opinion was then, and it continues today, that the district should have cut their loses and appointed him as the principal of the High School. Instead, they now have two (2) principals that will be in the Middle School at $140,000 a piece. They could have rehired two teachers and two support staff members with that money and the creation of this new position of “principal on special assignment”. Once again, the children in our district suffer with less in class support and the taxpayers foot the bill. That’s every taxpayer in the State of New Jersey. I’m glad he won his case because it makes the tenure law that much more important to all that are protected by this law. Read on in the article. I also contacted Nancy Shields to correct my statements.
Ousted Asbury Park schools chief to return as principal – Link
By NANCY SHIELDS • STAFF WRITER • August 9, 2010
ASBURY PARK — Antonio Lewis, who twice lost his job as schools superintendent, is expected to return in an administrative capacity now that the state education commissioner agreed that he retained his tenure rights as a middle school principal.
Bret Schundler, the education commissioner, last week adopted an administrative law judge’s decision in which Lewis retained his rights as a middle school principal and the city Board of Education is required to give him a job for which he is qualified. His pay and benefits would be retroactive to June 30, 2009, when his contract as superintendent expired.
Lewis’ position is expected to be finalized when the school board meets Aug. 18, board President Gregory Hopson said Monday.
As of Monday, it appeared that Lewis will be given a new position as principal on special assignment at the middle school where he was principal from 1992 to 1999 before being appointed superintendent.
Lewis would work out of the middle school where Howard Mednick will continue as principal, and would not get his own school.
“As the president of the Asbury Park Principals and Supervisors Association, I welcome him back,” Mednick said Monday. “Beyond that, I have no comment. Any comment should go to the Board of Education.”
Hopson said the board was looking at two options: appointing Lewis a co-principal at the middle school or appointing him a principal on special assignment, which means he can be in any of the buildings when needed. Those schools include the high school, three elementary schools, the middle school and a new alternative high school starting up this fall.
It appeared Monday that Lewis would share some principal duties with Mednick, being in charge of some classes and students.
“I’m very comfortable with the approach we’re taking,” Hopson said.
Lewis was first suspended in December 2003 when the board said he had failed in his leadership responsibilities. In June 2004, then-Education Commissioner William Librera reinstated Lewis, saying the school board did not give Lewis written notice of what he was doing wrong and 90 days to improve his performance.
In September 2006, the school board, with some new faces, again suspended Lewis. Lewis and the board reached a settlement for Lewis to be paid about $600,000, which included $150,000 he was owed from a lawsuit regarding the first suspension.
But the state was launching an investigation of Lewis and said the board could not use its state aid to fund such a settlement, which in effect canceled the agreement because most of the board’s revenue came from the state.
Lewis continued to draw his annual salary of $188,000 while administrators filled his role until Lewis’ contract expired last June 30. The district hired a new superintendent, Denise Lowe, and Lewis sued to get hired as a principal.
State investigators never filed charges against Lewis.
“I maintained my stance from the beginning that I didn’t feel Dr. Lewis had done anything wrong,” Hopson said Monday. “I didn’t feel what was being done to him was just. In three years, in every level of court where he’s been, the decision has gone his way.”
Schundler made his decision Wednesday to uphold the findings made in June by Administrative Law Judge Ronald W. Reba.
In his decision, Schundler said he was “compelled” to concur with the administrative law judge, that current law gave him (Schundler) no recourse, and that “the result in this matter is mandatory, not discretionary in nature.”
He quoted the provision: “A superintendent of schools promoted from within a district shall retain all tenure rights accrued in any position which was previously held by the superintendent in the district.”
“We have no idea what is in store for Dr. Lewis at the moment,” said Robert T. Pickett, Lewis’ attorney. “We will be in communication with the board attorney and the school superintendent to move forward consistent with the commissioner’s ruling.”
Lewis had both fervent supporters and detractors during his years leading the district, when disagreements often centered on who was to get what job. In the end, the district was marked by instability and a lack of leadership that did not end until Lowe was hired a year ago.
John Napolitani, president of the local teachers union, Monday blasted the district’s creating a new principal position for Lewis, which Napolitani estimated could be in the $140,000-a-year salary range.
The union lost dozens of members in layoffs last spring, and Napolitani said the money should be going to restore teacher or support staff positions.