HOBOKEN — Hoboken’s chosen new Superintendent of Schools for next year, Dr. Frank Romano, has decided to withdraw from consideration for the position after he and the Board of Education could not agree on the terms of his three-year contract.
The Board of Education voted last month to hire him, pending final contract negotiations. Apparently they could not agree on the terms of the $190,000 contract.
Board members were given a letter from Romano yesterday withdrawing, board member Maureen Sullivan confirmed.
The letter said he was “less than comfortable” with a “non-renewal” clause in the contract, which he said didn’t show respect for the office of the superintendent or give him enough chance to make decent strides.
The majority of the board voted for Romano, a school administrator from Fort Lee, although two members — Sullivan and Carrie Gilliard — criticized the process of hiring him and felt that it was not transparent enough.
Romano did not mention anything about that controversy in his letter, Sullivan said.
The board’s Governance Committee plans to meet Wednesday and the full board is meeting March 9, so they will have to enter another process to find a superintendent for next year.
The withdrawal comes at a time when the board members are gearing up for an election on April 20 (see this weekend’s Hoboken Reporter for more details).
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