Edison Board of Education Reorganization Meeting - January 4, 2017

Congratulations to Ms. Ward on her reelection and Ms. Peng and Mr. Brescher on their election to the Edison Board of Education.

Also, congratulations to Dr. Frank on being reelected to President of the Board and Ms. Moloney on Vice-President.



Anyhoo, let's hope it's a good year for all the stakeholders over there on Mythomania Lane.

Christmas in Downtown Edison 2016 - Jingle bells..jingle bells!

Christmas in Downtown Edison – 2016

Twas’ a month before Christmas and those sly little elves,

 Edison’s Mayor Lankey & Super O’Malley again labored to benefit themselves.

Now up to 13.7% and 17.8% in tax hikes during their reign,

one via Dem-Party Oligarchy and the other a Leadership wane.

One has a Council voting themselves 100% Pay Hikes,

and the other a Perfect 10% Merit Bonus for his purchasing likes.

Not remotely caring a wit what the people might think,

they again place their own agendas before the People in spite of the stink.

One has a campaign manager around his neck he constantly awards,

and the other $pends $5M to garner his rewards.

They say campaigns are about winning and elections about governing,

would be nice if either one recognized it is the People they are $mothering.

And putting his thumb to the tip of his nose and Sticking it to You and Me,

Lankey backs Karabinchak, the Biggest EDO Failure Ever, for Assembly.

And O’Malley wastes $1.5M of Your tax dollars on James Monroe,

because of a Leaderless Board that can’t get their ducks timely in a row.

They’re not concerned about disrespecting the public per se,

dubious transparency and misdirection is their Ruling way.

Lankey knows in this one-party town that you have no where else to go,

and O’Malley knows his Safe Haven contract allows him to freely flow.

So while we all scratch our heads and say What the Hey!,

lawsuit settlements are galore and lease vs. purchase agreements are the way.

And then it’s Charlie ‘I Abstain’ Tomaro trying to parachute in a Fav Council Dem,

now we see the Bd. of Ed elections have become the Bd. of EDems.

In this season of giving, Lankey & O’Malley will again be on the take,

Lankey without any checks and balances continues a big mistake.

And O’Malley with his 4,400 purchased Laptops du Mac,

left this Board of Mythomania so far behind, they’ve lost sight of his back.

If in this feeling I’m not alone,

take up your pen or pick up the phone.

Let Lankey & O’Malley know that true leaders pave the way,

not ignore and disrespect the People of Edison with the games that they play.

Elections do have consequences every year here in Downtown Edison,

so I hope You again enjoyed opening Your purse and taking Your medicine.

And I heard them exclaim with another year under hand,

Merry Christmas to Edison, and let all the People paying for it be Scammed!?!

Just an updated salary file for Edison Board of Education

Well, got an updated salary file after salary increases in October, 2016 took effect in November, 2016. Not exactly in the same format that the original file received was in so I'm waiting to see if I can can the updated file done in the same format for comparison purposes.

The original file had Name, Location, Title and Contract Salary and you can see the results of that in the Post dated September 19, 2016. This file only has Name, Guide and Total Salary columns.

Anyway, while I wait to get a file that I can compare to the original file and share the updated salaries by department, title and location - here's a quick look-up for the some 1,800 employees totaling $135.5 million on this current file.


Anyhoo, recognize that salary levels are fluid, constantly changing and are just a snapshot of a point in time. More the reason to have actual headcount change reporting against the budget coming out of Mythomania Lane on a monthly basis.

Edison Board/Super Merit Goals for 2016-17 - Deja vu all over again!?!

Well, here you go. Just received the Board of Mythomania's goals for 2016-17 along with their translation into quantitative and qualitative merit goals for Super Dr. Richard Dr. 'Looking for the Exit Ramp' O'Malley.

Barf!

Forget about the selection of these goals but the language in the qualitative ones they've selected is so vague and the quantitative goals so easy to achieve that they might just as well cut him the check now. Makes you wonder how they define 'expand' and really, captive audience meetings and pilot programs?

And how much is that check going to be for in the 2016-17 school year?

His current salary is $212,334 and under his Safe Haven Contract, he's entitled to a Max 10% Bonus or $21,233.40. He has two quantitative goals worth 50% of his Max 10% bonus and two qualitative goals worth the other 50%.

His Special Ed quantitative goal is worth 33% and the Before/After School quantitative goal is worth 17%. His Visual Programming qualitative goal is worth 25% and the Mental Health goal is worth the other 25%.



You can see the 2016-17 Goals here:



And finally, something that a district which $pends some $235 million a year, has some 15,000 students in 17 schools - that there's Not one academic achievement goal?!?

Anyhoo, what do I know? I still can't figure out why there's no academic achievement quantitative goals and especially any tied to those 4,400 Mac Laptops that they $pent some $4.1 million on.

Super Salary Cap to rise to $191.5k - Can we possibly get more money for Super O'Malley?!?

Well, just saw this piece here on NJ.Com and looks like the increase from the existing $175k will go into effect next year. Of course, in our situation over there on Mythomania Lane - the cap never came into play for us since the Board hired him before the cap went into law and renewed it by going for a waiver.

You remember that saga with Señor O'Malley. The Board of Mythomania brought him in on a cold night back in November 2010 to give him a contract at $210k. That contract ran from 2/7/11 to 7/1/15, with the caveat of 'or earlier' to the 2/7/11 start date. You all remember why 2/7/11 was an important date - it's the date the new Super Cap law went into effect. They beat the Cap. The cap law wouldn't take effect until his next contract.

And you remember how and when they renewed his contract in 2015. Seems it didn't matter that Super Dr. Richard 'Looking for the Exit Ramp' O'Malley was out publicly interviewing for another Super Gig in another state. Unfortunately, he didn't get it.

So, what does our Board do? They reward his loyalty with a Safe Haven contract renewal in 2015 and since he now falls under the new cap law, they went and got a waiver of the $175k for his new contract that runs from 4/1/15 to 6/30/19.

So, let's see how they treated Super O'Malley. Under his original contract, his $210k salary grew to $223k in 2015 when they went to renew his contract. Under the new cap law, with more than 10,000 students they went for a waiver of the $175k and got it. His new contract in 2015 had a salary of $209,000 but with bonuses ranging from 8% to 12% over the life of the contract.

Now remember, he was making $223k up until 4/1/15 of the 2014-15 school year and $209k for the remaining few months. However, he got an 8% bonus of $16.7k on top of the $209k so his new annual compensation was $225k. Just a shift from salary to bonus in real dollars (though bonuses don't enter into pension considerations). Then in 2015-16 they gave him another 10% bonus of $20.9k, apparently for his purchasing acumen.

His current salary is now sitting at $212k and he is eligible for another 10% bonus for this school year.

Don't want to bore you with anymore details so if you're interested - you can just type in 'O'Malley Contract' in the Search box and you'll see all the previous posts including his contracts.

So much for salary caps over there on Mythomania Lane:

Moral of this story - if there's any way that this Board can turn this increase in the Super Cap Max into more money for their favorite Super, they will certainly try. After all, who knows how much more it will cost us if he goes out for another Super Gig and doesn't get it!

Anyhoo, still waiting on the 2016-17 Merit Bonus criteria but given how these things are written - safe bet with this Board is to chalk up another $21k in the bonus column for Señor O'Malley.

Edison Unofficial Election Results by District - November 8, 2016

Well, just received the unofficial results from the Edison Clerk's office for the November 8, 2016 election. Please recognize that this breakdown by district received does not include mail-in votes.

With respect to the Unofficial BoE results - Ward, Peng & Brescher won the 3 open spots with votes of 11,154, 10,519 and 10,210, respectively. With write-in votes, the total votes for Ward, Peng, Brescher and Araujo were closer to 13,128, 11,988, 11,819 and 11,680, respectively.

Here's a pic of an Excel file with a dropdown box which will show the Votes by District along with the %'s:

And for those who wish to see all the Votes for all candidates by District, here's what was received from the Clerk's Office:




Anyhoo, anyone who wants the BoE Excel file by District, just drop me a note and you're welcome to it.

Edison BoE Election Results - November 8, 2016

Just saw the unofficial results of the above election here in the SL. The People of Downtown Edison have spoken and in a very close race, Incumbent Theresa Ward, Shannon Peng and Richard Brescher have won the 3 open spots.

Congratulations to all.

Photo credit to the candidates websites - Shannon Peng for Edison BoE and Building Futures for Edison BoE:

Anyhoo, let's wish them all the best of luck in their new roles.