JUST A THOUGHT!

Anyhoo, time to get a task force together of all the stakeholders (including residents) and call on our other elected officials to do something to help for a change, rather than just taxing us to the hilt - and by that I mean:

• Edison Mayor Tom 'Now 15.4% But Won't Debate' ChoiLankey
• 18th District Assemblyman Rob 'March on Trenton' Karabinchak, and
• Freeholder Deputy-dog Charlie 'I Abstain' Tomaro

Surely, they can do more than they're doing now!

Second, the Board of Mythomania will be having their Reorganization Meeting on January 3, 2018 and will be voting for a new Board President to replace Dr. Frank. Now, it doesn't take much to figure out that there are only two members who can come up with the 5 votes needed and that would be Jerry Shi and Beth Moroney. Both were part of Señor Lankey's 'You Got to be Kidding Me' team of incumbents in this past election and they both won another term. So, to the victors goes the spoils, I guess.

Now, in my opinion, neither has a record that I would consider beneficial to the taxpayers or would likely take back control of the Board from Super Dr. Richard 'Looking for the Exit Ramp' O'Malley and make sure we are $pending our tax dollars in the most beneficial and efficient way possible for all the stakeholders here in the 'DemBadLands' of Downtown Edison.

If I were a Board Member, I would Vote No when their names come up and would say why. I believe we will be getting more of the same with either of these these two at the helm rather than more of what we need over there on Mythomania Lane - Hugs & Kisses with O'Malley aside.

But the good thing is that I don't get a vote - and it becomes a simple choice of who will be more open and transparent with the People of Edison when dealing with the many challenges and opportunities facing the Board this year. Will that be Moroney or Shi? Hint: it's a tad bit not likely Shi.

And since you can easily see how the Board splits on this vote, it all comes down to the Vote of 2 Board Members, Shiva Prasad-Madhukar and Falguni Patel to make that call. If Moroney can get one of them to vote for her, she gets to be Presidente over there on Mythomania Lane. If not, it goes to Shi. Of course, this gives Prasad-Madhukar an opportunity to make a move and put her own name in for consideration. Hey, it could happen - and what a mistake that would be!

Let's get serious now, the only real choice to head up the Board (for all the stakeholders) with what's coming up in 2018 is Ralph Errico. The Board should rally around him if they want to move things forward in a positive way.

Finally, one last thingie - given the ugly politicization of this past election, the Board should give serious consideration to moving the election back to April when the opportunity arises to do so in 2018 (post moratorium).

Rather have the right to vote on the bloated buckets of money they call a school budget than have to put up with all the negativity that comes with campaigning for a November election. As I understand it, it can be moved back to April in 2018 by either the Board, the Edison Council or the People of Edison by Petition.

Board of Education Member Mrs. Ward - 'Your hair is in my soup now.' - let's not jump to judgment!

Here in 'Downtown Edison' where we just went through the ugliest political campaign that I can remember, it's a tad bit sad that we now try to publicly vilify Mrs. Ward of the Board of Education before her opportunity to explain and defend herself.

Hard to understand why anyone would jump to judgment based upon a newspaper article without knowing what she actually wrote in her copious notes, what went on in her meeting with the Administration, Board President and Personnel and what the context was that she wrote it in. Since this is in some stage of litigation, I take it that this will be resolved in a court of law where it should be.

Now, I'm not much of a fan of this Board or of Mrs. Ward's contributions to this Board's actions but I do believe in being fair.

So, I for one, will not pretend to be holier than thou and ask her to resign or seek to have her removed over her choice of selected words to describe something without knowing what she wrote and understanding the full context that she wrote it in.

Here's last night's Board meeting :



Anyhoo, let's not perpetuate the ugliness that went on in this last election. We, all the People of Edison, are better than that in our diversity.

Farewell Message from Dr. Frank - you didn't have to agree with him to know he was Always a Class Act!

Let's hope the Board finally gets around to dealing with the overcrowding in a responsible manner, considers all available options and is inclusive of all the stakeholders in the planning and decision-making process.



Anyhoo, a Big Thank You Dr. Frank for your time on the Board. Merry Christmas, Buon Natale, Feliz Navidad to you Sir!

PS: if you call to lobby Deputy-dog Charlie 'I Abstain' Tomaro, don't forget to thank him for all those County tax increases - year after year, after year, after year, after year!

Edison Board of Mythomania - Staffing Salaries - 2017-18 & other Thingies!

Just received the current staffing salary file for the 2017-18 school year. It has a staffing level of 2,009 with total dollars of $135,059,981. Recognize that these files are a snapshot in time and the staffing levels are fluid, as they should be, and are always changing.

All the more reason why the Board needs to start reporting monthly the changes in heads and dollars against their budget. It's not good enough just to report the additions, deletions, etc every month with no comparison to what was budgeted. That's how they avoid showing the Staffing 'Shell Game' that goes on over there on Mythomania Lane. You know, that's when they add non-budgeted heads during the year but they don't disclose it and you don't see it in their budgets.

For the ga-zillionth time, the Board needs to start reporting their monthly changes in staffing levels in dollars and heads against the budget.

Be that as it may, here's a summary of the staffing file mentioned above. The file is by name, location, department, title and salary. I just put it in a table format that you can sort to see the data by any of those  categories. Also, put together some summaries so you can get a perspective on the data provided.

Here's a summary of the salary ranges:

Here's a summary by Department with the amounts broken down by mean, median, high & low salaries:

Here's the Top 25 Salaries from a sortable table:

Here's a pivot table that can also be sorted to see the data at any level you wish to see:

These tables are are in Excel format and if anyone wants to have them, just drop me a note and you're welcome to them.

Moving on - the Board of Mythomania Goals for 2017-18 and, hence, Super Dr. Richard 'Looking for the Exit Ramp' O'Malley's Performance Merit Goals.

Here's the Board Goals for the 2017-18 School Year:

Never been much of a fan of these Board Goals since they always seem to be less than meaningful and somewhat sophomoric considering the issues facing the school district. For example, look at the above 3 goals for 2017-18. There's only one quantitative goal and that's arguably not the most pressing academic issue facing the school district. And, look at the other two goals, which are qualitative and with no way to really measure them - they can pretty much do anything and make those goals.

And seriously, 'to actively address the overcrowding?' Geez, that's been a major problem for years and and they're now just getting around to addressing it? Maybe Señor O'Malley can call on the architects and engineers and put together a plan and get a bonus for it to boot! Hey, don't laugh, he got a bonus for his purchasing acumen by $pending some $4 million on laptops.

Seriously, it's long-overdue - a practical, cost-efficient, cogent and meaningful plan that addresses the entire district's overcrowding needs to be put together and needs to include all the stakeholders in the development and bond referendum process.

Finally, 'to improve communications and understanding with the Edison Public School Community'..blah..blah..blah - ever notice these feel good surveys only include parents, students and staff (the captive audience) and never include the stakeholder that pays all the bills, the taxpayers?

As for Señor O'Malley's Merit Bonus for the 2017-18 School Year. Looks like based on his current contract, his Max bonus will be around $25,421 or 12% of his current salary of $212,344. Not quite sure how they'll break down that $25,421 into %'s for the above 3 Merit Goals but hey, does it matter? They might just as well cut him a check now with these Performance Merit Goals!

Anyhoo, let's hope the 2017-18 School Year is the year that we finally deal with the overcrowding in the school district. We really need to get our priorities in order over there on Mythomania Lane and stop shortchanging the kids.