By Joseph L. Kuchie –

PERTH AMBOY – A number of important staffing concerns were addressed during last Thursday’s Perth Amboy Board of Education meeting.

The board supported Superintendent Janine Walker Caffrey’s recommendation to name Michael Heidelberg the new Principal of Samuel E. Shull School. Heidelberg served as the school’s Vice Principal and will replace Lorraine Morgan.

One representative of the school district referred to Heidelberg as a “young, energetic, innovative leader” and expects him to change Shull from a “focus school to a un-focus school.” The new head of the Shull School thanked the board and Superintendent Caffrey for their support and addressed his plans for the future.

“I’m very excited to lead an unbelievably dedicated staff,” Heidelberg said. “My whole goal and our goal as a school is to make Shull School a great place for kids to come to learn and a great place for teachers to come and teach.”

However, there were a few recommendations that the board did not approve.

One of the big recommendations to be shot down involved swapping three Vice Principals from the Shull School, Perth Amboy High School, and William C. McGinnis Middle School.

In the potential transfer, PAHS Vice Principal Edwin Nieves would move to Shull School, Derrick Kyriacou of Shull would move to PAHS, and Brian Rivera from McGinnis School would move to the Shull School.

Board member Dianne Roman appreciated the effort and thought that went into the recommendations, but felt that the high school was being neglected in the process.

“I’m concerned that although we are looking to help support the needs at the Shull School, I want to make sure that we don’t neglect the support of the high school,” Roman said. “I want to make sure this board thinks about what is best for both schools.”

Board Member Obi Gonzalez agreed with Roman and also added her concerns about a lack of a bilingual male administrator at the high school.

“I see there will be no male bilingual person at the high school and I think that’s something we need to look at more carefully,” Gonzalez said. “This is the last stop on the train [the high school] and I want to make sure this staff gets the support it needs to show the improvement that we need to show in our district.”

After a long discussion, the board voted against the transfer 6-2 and will keep Nieves, Kyriacou, and Rivera in their current roles.

The ongoing situation of the open head baseball coach position was also discussed during the athletics portion of the meeting.

The board originally chose to table the decision to appoint Ryan Boyd to the position back in June and discussed it again last Thursday. Board member Milady Tejeda believed that because Nephtaly Cardona was named new Director of Physical Education that night, the job should be reposted to allow the new director to have a say.

Despite support from board members William Ortiz, Maria Garcia, Anton Massopust, and Mark Carvajal, the vote did not pass after Tejeda, Roman, Gonzalez, and Varela all abstained. The decision will once again leave the position open.

Cardona was the Supervisor of Special Services for Grades 5-12 in Perth Amboy and the former PAHS girl’s basketball coach. He will replace Julie Schick.

The meeting was delayed nearly a half-hour when the fire alarm forced an evacuation from Perth Amboy High School. It is the second time this summer that the meeting was brought to a halt due to a fire alarm.

Vice President Kenneth Puccio was not in attendance. The next scheduled board meeting will be held on Sept. 19 at 6:00 p.m.