With Hearing and Vote Tomorrow, Proposed Epps Contract is Finally Made Public
By Jon Whiten • Aug 10th, 2010 • Category: Blog, News, Politics
With a public hearing and vote on superintendent Charles Epps’ controversial new contract set for tomorrow evening at 6 pm, the Jersey City Board of Education (BOE) finally made the proposed agreement public today. The release of the contract comes just a few hours after BOE member Sterling Waterman called on the vote to be postponed since he hadn’t yet seen the document.
The agreement would make null Epps’ previous contract, which doesn’t end until next summer, and instead issue a new three-year deal for the superintendent that begins, retroactively, on July 1 of this year and ends June 30, 2013.
The contract calls for no salary increases for Epps during the entire three-year term, and it does not increase his current base salary of $268,200. According to public records, Epps is currently the fourth-highest paid superintendent in New Jersey.
Although Epps’ contract isn’t specifically facing the cap proposed on superintendent salaries by Gov. Chris Christie last month, the separate rules being devised by the state Department of Education for leaders of districts with more than 10,000 students may still end up calling for a salary lower than the one Epps currently makes. However, the proposals seem to apply only to new contracts, not existing ones, so the state would not likely be able to force Epps to take a lower salary until 2013.
The contract, if approved by the BOE tomorrow night, is subject to approval from county superintendent of schools Timothy Brennan.
The meeting on the contract is scheduled for Wednesday, August 11 at 6 pm, at the BOE’s headquarters in the 6th floor conference room; 346 Claremont Ave.
Photo: Steve Gold
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Jon Whiten is the founding editor of the Jersey City Independent; he now works for a public-policy nonprofit in Trenton.
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