Guttenberg’s superintendent of schools abruptly resigned last week, leaving the township scurrying for a part-time replacement to take the district through the remainder of the school year. Frank Alfano, who has served as Guttenberg’s schools chief for the last five years, first asked for an indefinite leave of absence in the beginning of the month. Two weeks later, Alfano was gone without word, leaving the district in the lurch. According to Board Attorney John Schettino, Alfano resigned to concentrate his efforts on his educational consulting business. “From my understanding of the situation, Frank left voluntarily,” Schettino said. “Apparently, he wasn’t able to do both. He wanted to devote more time to his business at this point in his career.” Alfano did not return phone calls at press time, nor did Board of Education President Gabino Hernandez. In the interim, the school board has hired Richard Rice, a retired Bergen County former schools superintendent, to take over on an interim part-time basis at a rate of $65 per hour for four days a week, through the opening of school next September. Alfano was hired as the Guttenberg schools chief in August of 1994 after serving as the vice-principal at Cliffside Park High School. He was the business administrator of the Cliffside Park school district and also served as a football and baseball coach there. Alfano was hired among 12 finalists for the position. At the time, there were some Guttenberg residents who were upset that an outsider was brought in as a superintendent and that the hiring was not done from within. Since that time, Alfano has had to endure his fair share of opposition within the town and has been under constant criticism. Several opponents have fired off accusations as to what they believe to be the real reasons why Alfano resigned, but the rumors could not be substantiated. “Anything like that would be totally false,” Schettino said. “Frank left on his own terms.” When he was hired, Alfano earned a salary of $75,000. When he left, his salary was approximately $90,000. During his tenure as superintendent, Alfano saw the enrollment at the township’s lone elementary school, the Anna L. Klein School, grow to over 1,000 students. It forced the school system to build one extension on the school, while another is in the development stages now. Although Rice will handle the district on a temporary basis, Schettino believes that a new superintendent could be hired shortly. The school board has enlisted the services of the New Jersey School Boards Association’s superintendent search, which made a presentation to the school board at the last meeting. “They have such a fine track record in helping school districts find suitable superintendents that we felt it would be beneficial to at least hear their presentation,” Schettino said. “We’re not ruling out that someone could be hired from within, but it can’t hurt to have other options.”
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