The Secaucus Board of Education held an emergency meeting Wednesday night at which board members accepted the resignation of Middle School Principal Pat Impreveduto.
In mid-September, just days after the school year began, Impreveduto fell in a school building and injured his back, according to school officials. He initially went out on worker’s compensation, then was out on paid sick leave after a doctor released him from worker’s comp on Nov. 17.
Despite being out on worker’s compensation and paid sick leave from his job, Impreveduto regularly attended meetings of the Holmdel Township Committee – the counterpart to the Secaucus Town Council – which typically meets twice a month. Impreveduto is a resident of Holmdel and that town’s deputy mayor.
Impreveduto was frustrated with the district, sources said.
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During his absence from Secaucus, Impreveduto continued to receive his full school salary, which sources have said was $180,000.
Was ‘given an opportunity to respond’
Throughout this episode, Schools Superintendent Cynthia Randina and School Administrator Ed Walkiewicz said they could not comment on when Impreveduto might return to work.
However, following a December article in the Secaucus Reporter about Impreveduto’s attendance at Holmdel meetings, the Board of Education decided to investigate Impreveduto’s activities, Randina said this past January.
Impreveduto declined to comment for that story.
“At the direction of our attorney, Stephen Fogarty, I have given Mr. Impreveduto an opportunity to respond to some of the comments that appeared in the newspaper,” Randina told the Reporter in January.
This past Thursday, Randina was in a meeting when called for a comment regarding Impreveduto’s resignation. She did not respond by press time.
Acting principal announced in December
Facing a leadership void created by Impreveduto’s absence, the Board of Education responded quickly.
Just before the holidays, the Secaucus Board of Education officially appointed Humanities Director Rob Daniello as acting Middle School principal in Impreveduto’s place. Daniello, who has certification to be a principal, had already been serving in the position in Impreveduto’s absence.
“Mr. Daniello certainly has a lengthy history in the school district as a teacher of English and as a teacher of English as a Second Language,” Randina said. “He has worked in both the High School and the Middle School environment. He knows the community very well, has an excellent demeanor, and he has the credentials to fill in in Mr. Impreveduto’s absence.”
Incident happened during transition
Impreveduto was frustrated with the district, sources said. This school year, he was expected to step into a new role as principal of the Middle School after having served for several years as the head of the High School.
His reassignment to the Middle School was part of a larger restructuring plan Randina put into effect over the summer.
Deidre Ertle, the former Clarendon School principal, took over as head of SHS this year. Former Middle School head Pasquale Cocucci became the principal at Clarendon, an elementary school. Huber Street School Principal Fred Ponti kept his position there.
When the change was first announced, Randina, who was hired last year, emphasized that these changes were not made to pass judgment on any of the principals, but rather to reinvigorate the learning environment.
“I think this is a great opportunity for everybody to look at things with in a different way,” Randina said at the time. “When you move principals around in a school district, they go into a situation with new eyes and a new attitude. So it’s like you’re giving everybody a fresh start.”
Impreveduto did not respond to a phone call for comment by press time this week.
E-mail E. Assata Wright at awright@hudsonreporter.com.