Dear Editor:
The 2015 school year had a very rough start this year for an approximately 1,700 middle school children in Parsippany. In a nut shell, the District implemented a new scheduling system that failed spectacularly when the schedules were given to the students. While elementary and high school children began their curriculum on the first day of school, the middle school students participated in planned activities with educational ties to keep them busy while the district scrambled to come up with a schedule for the children. Our first school day was September 3rd. On September 28th, the district finally had middle school schedules for the children and they could begin their academic year.
At the September 25th Board of Education meeting, many people asked how this could have happened and demanded answers. While watching from the audience, it was baffling to see the many different views expressed by Board Members on how to conduct such an investigation. Most problematic was that at the end of the discussion, there was still no definitive answer as how they will proceed with providing the citizens of Parsippany with answers as to how this could have happened.
My prediction is that the Board of Education and District will not be able to come to terms on how to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into this matter. While I am sure there are resources out there that can conduct such an investigation, at what cost will this come to the citizens who are already fed up with property taxes. In my opinion, we do not need to pay any lawyers or special groups to investigate this matter. As it is, the scheduling fiasco has undoubtedly cost the district plenty as they attempted to fix this problem.
While I am sure some may debate my analysis of this matter, I would like to give my opinion on how this happened in an attempt to prevent this from happening in the future. Like many, I am frustrated by the rising tax bills and enraged when I see such wasteful spending of our tax dollars. There is no doubt this may be long-winded, but I encourage you to read from start to finish.
It is my belief that there is no single person to blame on what happened in Parsippany. What happened in Parsippany did not happen overnight and occurred over an extended period of time. With documented news reports, I hope to paint a clear picture as to how this happened in hopes of preventing this from happening further down the road.
Ultimately, the person responsible for the mess is Scott Rixford, Parsippany Superintendent. On March 24, 2014, The Parsippany Board of Education made the announcement that Mr. Rixford was going to be appointed Superintendent. In a press release issued by the Board of Education, they stated “The entire Board congratulates Scott on his appointment. We are confident that his vast experience, deep knowledge, unwavering dedication, and unquestionable character will bring further stability, integrity and academic growth to our district. We look forward to partnering with him, as we work collectively to address the challenges and to embrace the opportunities of continuing to provide the high quality of education that the Parsippany-Troy Hills School District has come to expect.” At face value, if this statement was followed, it may have led to a successful working relationship. However, the working relationship between the Board of Education and Mr. Rixford was far from a partnership and appeared to be a dictatorship in which full control of the district was relinquished to Mr. Rixford.
After his appointment he had the opportunity to earn extra money above his salary of $175,000. What many may not know that is despite salary caps, merit bonuses may be awarded if certain criteria are met. One such goal that Mr. Rixford thought needed to be changed was the structure of the middle school. The goal he presented to the Board was as follows. “The District has been chronologically plagued by its Middle School Programming of scheduling instruction. I will conduct a thorough review of this program and present a course of action to the Board for Implementation as a remedy.” As outlined in his goal, it was his belief that the middle school programming of scheduling was wrong for Parsippany. As a remedy, he reviewed the programming, and came up with “The Rixford Plan” to overhaul both Middle Schools.
On November 25, 2014, the Rixford Plan was presented and was met with great resistance by the public as well as the teachers. In fact over 30 people spoke against this plan that evening. Despite the fact that there was such great public opposition to this plan it moved forward and was pushed through all based on the recommendations of Mr. Rixford. In my opinion, with such a strong showing of opposition, the Board Should have taken a few steps back, took a deep breath, and listened to the concerns that were addressed from those who attended the meeting to slow down passage of the Rixford Plan. In fact, two such Board members had this thought process and attempted to hold off voting on this plan. Board members Timothy Berrios and Allison Cogan felt this was a lot to absorb and tried to table the vote so that a Special Meeting could be held by the Board the further review the plan. With no support from the other Board Members, they had no backing and the request to postpone the vote was shot down. Needless to say, Board Member Fran Orthwein pushed to have the Rixford Plan voted on and the plan was passed by a vote of 7-2. -Reference #1- Had the Board listened to the concerns from the crowd, this fiasco could have been avoided. However, the majority of the Board approved Mr. Rixford’s design plan without any questions, revisions, or other feedback from the audience. This was a complete overhaul to the middle school curriculum and it was left in the hands of Mr. Rixford to make all the changes he wanted with no questions or restrictions. While it was Mr. Rixford’s idea, the Board Members who gave him the green light to move forward on this should be held accountable for the poor decision that was made. Based on the audience participation and the fact that two Board Members had recommended postponing the vote, in my eyes this is where the mistakes were made and things began to further deteriorate in the district.
Let’s not forget that just prior to this meeting, the teachers in Parsippany had a rally over deteriorating working conditions that they were faced with. In a prepared statement, they union said “We have enjoyed a positive working relationship with the board, which we hope will continue as we make them aware of the deteriorating conditions and moral that the current administration has created”. Once again, the Board failed to recognize this as a serious concern from the teachers. Interestingly, in the past, the Teachers Union had a good working relationship with the Board yet under the Rixford regime, things were going downhill. Seems to me like Rixford had total control of the majority of the board and took control of the district. Despite the opposition of the teachers, Mr. Rixford continued to do whatever he wanted and to run the district as he saw fit, even if it meant creating unfavorable working environments for the Teachers of Parsippany.
If we look back even further, to the very 1st Board of Ed meeting that Mr. Rixford attended as Superintendent, he unveiled his cabinet which would be a total of six administrators that reported directly to him. Once again, this dream team that was created by him more than likely lightened his work load a great deal. The duties of Superintendent are great and for that they are compensated rather generously. However, rather take on the full responsibility of his job, he added more top administrators to the Board of Education Payroll. In his own words, when he created the dream team he stated “Frankly, my time can be either be spent signing my name to some very simple thing that really won’t have any profound effect on the kids, and not be in the schools, or we can delegate it as an administrative function.”
Once again, the Board at the time approved these new positions despite the fact that if asked, the vast majority of citizens would agree that there is no need for more administrators due to the fact the district already had a lot of top-level administrators.
These three major events occurring after Rixford took office, in my opinion, were huge mistakes that led the district in an uncontrolled nose dive that ultimately led to the crash of Schudulegate 2015. For reasons unknown to me, Mr. Rixford had complete and total control on how he felt the district should be run. I can’t recall any matter that he presented to the Board of Education that was rejected as a bad idea. In less than six months of office, he added more top administrators, created a hostile working environment for the teachers, and came up with his plan to reform the middle schools. Mr. Rixford was a bull in a china shop and there was no way of stopping him.
When the middle schools schedules were released in August of 2015, it was clear that many problems existed with “The Rixford Plan.” The first few days the Genesis Portal was open, schedules often changed on a daily basis until the system was shutdown all together. As the first day of school approached and there was no schedule, it was clear the district had a major dilemma that they were faced with. For the first two days of school, both middle schools had planned activities due to the fact they were without a schedule. Meanwhile, Mr. Rixford reported this as a computer glitch and also tried to blame Genesis for this epic failure. While I wish Mr. Rixford a speedy recovery for what ever caused him to take a medical leave, I find it odd that he would take a medical leave of absence at a time when the district needed him most. After all, this was his merit goal in which he was awarded $5,872.50 in May 2015 as a bonus for what was known as “The Rixford Plan.” With that, I guess you can call this a mixed blessing in that upon the start of his medical leave, Dr. Gigante was appointed the Interim Superintendent. It was at this point a switch was flipped and the district began to reveal the truth behind Schedulegate. As many expected, this was not a computer glitch or a problem with the Genesis. Dr. Gigante’s first order of business was to make it clear that it was not Genesis’s fault. With being in her new position for less than one week, the next major stepping stone was when she came to the conclusion that the Rixford Plan was not viable, and vowed to return to what has always worked in the past. While many may argue that she should have came forward to this conclusion a long time ago, it is really not that simple. As you all know, Mr. Rixford had a great deal of control on the entire district and ruled with an iron first. It is clear that the power that was given to him was much more than any such person should posses as a Board of Education Employee. Judging from the way the majority of the Board Members sided with Mr. Rixford, do you honestly think that Dr. Gigante would have been supported by the Board if she went against the plan?From the start, this was Rixford’s Plan and there was nothing that was going to stop him. After all, if a room full of irate parents, students, and teachers could not put a stop to it do you think that someone under him would have had the pull needed to stop this. Ultimately, Dr. Gigante’s hands were tied in that Mr. Rixford was her boss and she had to follow his rules. Just like any other job out there, while you may not agree with what your boss is telling you how to do your job, the fact remains that you have to follow your boss otherwise you will not have a job. With that, if your boss tells you to do something and you follow his instructions and something goes wrong, it falls on the bosses lap. In a corporate setting, If a boss fails miserably, he gets fired.
Unfortunately, with the lucrative contract that the Board signed that favors the Superintendent, it is very hard to bad mouth him. For reference, here are some of the highlights of his contract that offers him a great deal of shelter.
Article XI – Indemnification — “The Board shall defend, hold harmless, and indemnify the Superintendent in accordance with state law.”
Article X – …No material derogatory to the Superintendent’s conduct, service, character, or personality may be placed into his personnel file unless he had the opportunity to review the material…. Article V – Section D — The parties agree that the Board will not hold any discussion regarding the Superintendent’s employment unless the Superintendent is given written notice at least 48 hours in advance. In addition, the Board shall not hold any discussion with regard to the Superintendent’s performance, or that may adversely affect the Superintendent’s employment, in public session, unless the Superintendent requests that such discussion be held in public session, pursuant to the Open Public Meeting Act.
Article X – …No material derogatory to the Superintendent’s conduct, service, character, or personality may be placed into his personnel file unless he had the opportunity to review the material….
While I am far from being a contract / labor lawyer, I am guessing these articles is what will protect Mr. Rixford and allows him to walk away from this entire mess. Luckily, the public is not bound by any of the above listed articles and can speak freely and express their opinions on matters such as this and not be in violation of the contract.
As I warned from the beginning, yes, this is very long-winded, but it is my belief that the entire picture needs to be painted in order bring light to the issues at hand. While the new schedules were released, the problems that have evolved from this event will plague the school district for years to come. While many mistakes have been made, it is important to realize we need to learn from our mistakes and move forward. It is also important that someone should take the blame for this screw up. Our children are in school and are graded on test day. They are given the material and informed of when a test will take place. If they choose to study and know the material, they will excel on test day and get a good grade. If they choose to goof off and not prepare for the test, the will fail. The Rixford Plan was introduced in November 2014. Mr. Rixford has over 9 months to ensure that his middle school redesign would work. However, his design clearly failed and he offered no support when the district needed him most. Like the kid who failed the test, Mr. Rixford needs to accept the fact that he failed the district in so many ways. It started with creating a Cabinet filled with top administrators, to the deterioration of the working relationship with the teachers and ended up with Schedulgate 2015. In addition, the Board needs to come to the conclusion that they failed the residents in that they put too much faith in Mr. Rixford as an administrator. As elected officials, they need to realize that they need to listen to the very same people who elected them into their position. Had they done this, they may have all stepped away, analyzed, and realized that the Rixford Plan as presented was not right for Parsippany at the time. The Plan was rushed through so that Mr. Rixford could achieve his merit goal. Ultimately, this is what Schedule-gate comes down to. In order for him to get his bonus, he had a deadline to meet and if it was delayed, he would not have been entitled to a bonus. Of course, the vast majority of the Board wanted to see him succeed and get his bonus. Too bad they did not listen to the people who elected them into their position. Hopefully the district will be able to move forward and focus on what is important and that is enriching the educational experience of our children. I urge the board to bring back the partnership philosophy in that the board will listen to the people and not be so quick to dismiss what we are saying. Hopefully there are more board members who are not afraid to tell it is and not be afraid to go against the grain. If this partnership philosophy is enacted, I can guarantee that the Board of Education will be successful in the future as we work with a new superintendent.
Andy Sadowski
Resident of Parsippany
