Hackensack BOE just hired this same group. http://www.northjersey.com/news/142022943_District_appoints_new_law_firm_to_handle_negotiations_.html

How can we find out what the previous firm charged?

Did we ever find out if it is illegal to hire a PR firm, as alleged by a former BOE member?

I again reiterate.....How does the hiring of a PR firm enhance the education of our children? I don't think it does one iota. The hiring of this PR firm was done for the benefit of the Trustees and the Administration. They cut the school supplies line item significantly but find the money to hire a PR firm. I also predict that this PR firm will be rehired in June. The only way you will know about it, is if you read it on the agenda or go to the meeting to actually see them vote on it!

Another big payday for an outside vendor. The B of E sure knows how to spnd our tax dollars. Why is it that the Board thinks it needs to retain a legal firm? I'll bet that the $325M is just a drop in the bucket & they will be biled on an hourly basis. I can't wait to move out of what was once a great place to raise a family. I have no beef with the teachers of Wayne & I'm sure we have a good group of dedicatedteachers who do a great job. I just think that the benefit cost should be more in line with the business community & the guaranteeed job for life has to go. Each teacher should be evaluated on a yearly basis like corporations & small companies do with their employees.

BillyK.....Our BOE had a full time communications/PR person on staff. He was a retired individual with a lot of experience in communications. He was being paid $20,000/YR WITH NO BENEFITS. When Bob Ceberio started grumbling about this position and cost, the gentleman who had this position then voluntarily took a pay cut and did the job for $1/yr. ( with no benefits) Bob Ceberio decided to eliminate the position because he said he could do a better job. Well we all saw the job Bob Ceberio did during the football fiasco. The former PR person was well liked and was doing a very good job. ( for $1/yr) The man was cut due to political motives, and we are now paying a firm $2500/month.

Why hire a PR firm? Our Superintendent should be the face and mouthpiece for our school system. Isn't that part of his job? I certainly don't want some slick PR firm telling him what to say or putting words into his mouth.

@ Susan-yes you may be correct in having a legal firm represent the B of E since we are such a litigious lawsuit happy society and we need to be protected.Maybe they should just hire a full time attorney on staff and I'll bet it would be less than the retainer that will be paying out. I doubt that its less then paid out last year-nothing with the B of E is less.

Looked up the new law firm, whose website is still under construction...that will probably be charged back to the taxpayers of Wayne. We need to review the itemized monthly bills of this new firm and also vet out the relationships. So far, it appears that they do quite a bit of appeal work which is great "fee-building". No surprise here. Let's see who they hire as auditors/accountants...Jimenez' bookkeeping firm, which is (funny) in Bergen County..no surprise there either.

To be honest, with a district our size, I would have expected a lot more than $325K per year for outside counsel (which is the cap if the article is correct). $150 and hour for an attorney is ridiculously low in the Northern NJ/NYC area. It sounds like a good deal, but makes me question the quality of the firm.

The outgoing law firm, Schwartz Simon, is known in NJ legal circles as the specialist firm in "education law" in the state. Don't know if they are the best of the best, but they certainly have the niche carved out better than anyone else. Education law runs the gamut from premises liability to student lawsuits over education, etc. or anything in between. Basically, the law firm handles any legal issues coming through the BOE or school system. It's a notoriously low-paying area of law and pretty mind-numbing subject matter. I don't know what Schwartz Simon charges, but they are the top dog in the field in NJ.

Gee, Hackensack just hired this firm. Didn't Gonzalez just come from that school district? Maybe he just brought in some more friends to feed at the troff. How about the 5-9% raises that were brought up at the meeting by a concerned parent while programs are slashed. Believe me there is a connected friend at the PR Firm also.

yep. Councilman James Jimenez' bookkeeping firm is next.

Pad you nailed it. Watch who is at the troff.

I'm not an elitist, an internet troll hellbent on making snarky put-downs or a member of the Grammar & Spelling Squad ... but T-R-O-F-F ? ? ?
Yikes.
You gotta try harder than that.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think it is spelled T-R-O-U-G-H.

Do you mean a pig's trough? A BOE trough? Regardless, the point has been understood and agreed.

The BOE needs to be investigated on its expenditures, contracts and all of its fianancial assets by an independant goverment agency. The new Superintendant has already hired a friend for a six figure job and the new law firm was just hired in Hackensack also where he just left his prior position. There is alot that goes on at Nellis Drive that is kept from the taxpayers of Wayne. It also is shady that when there is an opening on the Town Council the person often comes from the BOE. The Town Council is made up almost entirely by former members of the BOE. Something is just not right with this picture.

We need the name of their independent auditors and then hold them accountable, even suing them. That would be funny, let the new law firm defend the lawsuit from the taxpayers of wayne and then the e and o carrier for the accountants since they obviously may have missed some steps...ooops, Jimenez proclaims to be a CPA...he may be sued also, especially since he comes from the boe. he should put his e and o carrier on notice....

@Rob, did you mention that it was Jimenez who wanted to take a woman out to the parking lot? If I did not misunderstand you, them he should be sued for conduct unbecoming an officer (the position he holds on the BOE or Council)

Pad.....Rob Burke coined it quite accurately. The Wayne BOE is an incubator for the Town Council. Look at past history starting with Vergano and Schweigart, Mary O'Rourke, Jimenez and Mazzei. I'm sure there are others that I'm not aware of. I'm sure if you look farther back you'll probably find several others who started out on the BOE and joind the Town Council later on. The common thread here is that they are all part of the Wayne Regular Republican party. They control everything here in this town. It certainly is a one horse town. Even though I am a Republican, I don't think this one party rule and the amount of control they have on both the Town Council and BOE, is very healthy for our town. They simply have too much control. Hopefully, with the emergence of the Democratic party here in town, as they have an outstanding party leader in Ray Egatz, there might be some change down the road.