Thursday, March 02, 2006

REPRINTED FROM 3-2-06 COURIER-POST Winslow official lodges complaint

Winslow official lodges complaint

Thursday, March 2, 2006

By ERIK SCHWARTZ
Courier-Post Staff


The top full-time administrator in the Winslow Township School District accuses the school board president of multiple legal violations, including racial discrimination and intimidating employees, in a complaint filed with the New Jersey School Ethics Commission.

Assistant Superintendent Daniel M. Swirsky is claiming whistleblower status which, under state law, protects him from retaliation on the job.

He alleges that Winslow school board president Patricia Parker violated the state's ethics code for school board members and the state Sunshine Law.

Swirsky said the district, which is trying to close a projected $3.7 million deficit and has been without a full-time superintendent and business administrator since last summer, is in turmoil at a time when it should be engaging in "a public discussion of our future."

"As a district, we're nonproductive," he said in an interview. "We have a school district that's being directed by the board president, as opposed to the administration."

Once the document is served on Parker, she'll have 20 days to reply.

Swirsky, 57, of Allentown, Monmouth County, declined to provide a copy of the complaint. He said he wants "to give Pat an opportunity to get served and then have a candid discussion in the press about each of the items."

Parker, a retired educational administrator who worked in the former Lower Camden County Regional High School District, did not return calls for comment. She joined the school board in 2004 and became president last May.

The ethics code for school board members requires them to limit actions to "policy making, planning and appraisal" and "not to administer the schools."

Swirsky alleges that Parker is often present in school buildings and the central office.

"She's constantly intimidating and bullying and harassing administrative staff and school staff," he said. "We operate in an environment of fear now."

Another part of the code mandates members to "refer all complaints to the chief administrative officer." Parker is "soliciting complaints from the public and attempting to resolve them on her own, based on her own directive and interpretation," Swirksy said.

Also, the code requires members to "vote to appoint the best qualified personnel available after consideration of the recommendation of the chief administrative officer."

Swirsky, who is white, said: "I'm alleging in my complaint essentially that she's exercising reverse discrimination. She only wants people that look like her, and she talks about us as "regulars.' She calls us "regulars.' "

Parker is black.

Allegations Swirsky made against Parker under the state Sunshine Law include: continuing board meetings past midnight, thereby limiting public access; approving items discussed in closed sessions without then deliberating the matters in public; and altering meeting minutes after the board approved them.

Swirsky, who has 25 years of experience as an administrator, came to Winslow in 1999 after working in Princeton as interim superintendent and Livingston as acting business administrator.

He was hired by Winslow's former superintendent, Lawrence A. Hobdell, one person Parker has blamed for the district's financial problems.

Swirsky said he submitted his name to become Winslow's next superintendent.

The board's makeup would probably have to change significantly for it to select Swirsky. That's possible, since 11 people have filed to run for four seats on the nine-member panel on April 18. A group of residents also has begun a recall campaign to remove Parker from the board.

Reach Erik Schwartz at (856) 486-2904 or eschwartz@courierpostonline.com


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