Earlier this week, the Board of Education voted (seven in favor, two opposed) to hire Frank Romano as our district's new superintendent. The board has offered Romano a salary of $190,000, with 3.5% annual pay increases. Those raises are guaranteed, not performance-related. Romano's salary would exceed that of Jack Raslowsky, our last full-time superintendent.

Romano was a rather underwhelming candidate, to put it mildly. He certainly didn't merit such a lucrative contract. In our view, the Board of Education has really let taxpayers down. That said, we commend board members Maureen Sullivan and Carrie Gilliard for their dissenting votes.

During that same meeting, the board voted (five in favor, three opposed) to send member Frances Rhodes Kearns on a $2,300 junket to a convention in Chicago. On that particular vote, Theresa Minutillo joined Sullivan and Gilliard in standing up for the taxpayer.