Dear Editor:
It was front-page news last week that Hoboken Schools Superintendent Patrick Gagliardi “publicly blasted” former New Jersey Educational Commissioner William Librera at a Board of Education caucus.
What did Pat do? Did he call Librera a “girly man?”
Did he call his parentage into question?
No, Pat called Librera a “salesman.”
What? Ooooo, right here in River City? A salesman? Here? It would have been better had Gagliardi flayed the interloper about the head and neck with a strand of yesterday’s fettuccine. Those hairy-knuckled educators really know how to mix it up!
Seriously, it’s pretty obvious that Gagliardi doesn’t like Librera very much, and if you accept what he says, you might conclude that he doesn’t like the rough and tumble of politics very much either.
On the other hand, Pat has worked for forty-three years climbing the educational ladder in the City of Hoboken, County of Hudson, all the way up to Superintendent. He doesn’t like politics? Does anyone really believe that? What about the time in 1998 that a man in the employ of the Hoboken schools got caught in an FBI sting? His arrest was front-page news as well. How strange it was that, when asked, neither the then high school principal, Frank Spano, nor Superintendent Gagliardi would say that the arrested man did to justify his being paid by the district. Pat doesn’t like politics?
Whether it is politics or not, it seems a shame that Superintendent Gagliardi is standing in the way of Hoboken receiving much-needed help for its struggling schools. For a man who will shortly receive a handsome pay off in order to convince him to stay home and leave the Hoboken District alone, Gagliardi’s harsh criticisms of Commissioner Librera seem like so many soar grapes.
A.A.S., Jr.