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| Jamie E. Ciofalo, formerly of Lodi |
Is it a conflict of interest that Jamie E. Ciofalo was given the job of the man he investigated in the supposed DMHS Student Transcript situation? His findings did not agree with that of the state, yet he was given the job of Director of Guidance after supposedly finding 11 people and the then Director of Guidance guilty of something. The tenure charge case has dragged on for over a year. The Englewood taxpayer has been paying the salary and benefits for 2 groups of people plus litigation which has reached more than $400,00.00 to date.
Millions.....The suspended personnel did not get "due process", yet another set of charges were filed after the state informed the Superintendent and the Board of Education of this fact. We are also paying the replacement staff a higher salary amount than was paid the original employees. While 25 or more employees were let go for reasons of economy, these persons got raises.
Jamie E. Ciofalo was hired by Robert Kravitz and the EPSD to investigate Student Transcript Problems. These problems were brought to the attention of Mr. Kravitz by 2 Guidance Counselors who are now suspended and facing tenure charges. After Mr. Ciofalo supposedly found enough wrong doing to take down 11 employees, he was given the job of one of the persons charged. Jamie Ciofalo needed this job since he had to leave Lodi, because of numerous Ethics charges that he could not beat. Mr. Ciofalo's Pitt Bull Report got him the 2nd highest paid position in the Englewood Public School District.
Millions.....The suspended personnel did not get "due process", yet another set of charges were filed after the state informed the Superintendent and the Board of Education of this fact. We are also paying the replacement staff a higher salary amount than was paid the original employees. While 25 or more employees were let go for reasons of economy, these persons got raises.
Jamie E. Ciofalo was hired by Robert Kravitz and the EPSD to investigate Student Transcript Problems. These problems were brought to the attention of Mr. Kravitz by 2 Guidance Counselors who are now suspended and facing tenure charges. After Mr. Ciofalo supposedly found enough wrong doing to take down 11 employees, he was given the job of one of the persons charged. Jamie Ciofalo needed this job since he had to leave Lodi, because of numerous Ethics charges that he could not beat. Mr. Ciofalo's Pitt Bull Report got him the 2nd highest paid position in the Englewood Public School District.
The drama was played up in the newspapers, while children cried and stressed over college
admission and their futures. This Drama affected all students from the Alternative School to the highly lauded Academy@Englewood. The Alternative School was eliminated and those students returned to the high school. High Achievers in the Academy were forced to attend Saturday school and take courses during lunch to garner the credits necessary to fulfill the state mandated graduation requirement. A few of the School Choice students who did not return to their "home districts" when the story first broke were trapped and lamented that they did not leave with their friends. I was told, by students, that they worked on the computer during their lunch period and completed course credits that would not be accepted back home in their own districts. They said that EPSD gave them grades for this work, but did not give them credit. High achieving sophomores were stuck here in the middle of a stressful controversy, because they would be reduced to freshman in their "home districts".
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| October 13, 2017 was a school day in the EPSD. What kind of day did Jamie E. Ciofalo take to enable him to conduct this presentation at the Immaculate Conception High School? |
Mr. Jamie E. Ciofalo and Robert L. Kravitz changed the schedule at the high school in a way that caused pandemonium in an already beleaguered high school. Robert L. Kravitz got a Merit bonus for this Master Schedule change. Mr. Ciofalo has not attended another school board meeting since the change.
(As of today's date, July 20, 2018, it has been noted that the Master Schedule must be changed again. Will we get our money back? I asked that question at the July 2, 2018 meeting in which Robert Kravitz's Merit Goals for 2017- 2018 were the only item on the agenda. I was not the only one concerned. At present, we do not have a Master Schedule for the high school and parents from all 5 schools are wondering when they will know the names of their children's teachers. Others are worried that the overly expensive supply lists for each teacher have also NOT been generated.
Some of us have some choice questions for Jamie E. Ciofalo. The public would like to question him
about the rumors emanating from our high school. Students, parents and others have expressed concern that the schedule has unraveled an already explosive situation involving School Culture and Climate. Students complained about fights every day. This past year, Teachers whispered that they were afraid to go to work. How many teachers have resigned? Mr. Ciofalo is supposed to be an expert in School Climate & Culture, yet reports from inside suggested that the school was falling apart. There were even rumors of near riot conditions. Many sources attributed the turmoil to the new schedule and the lunch period. It seems that the team of Ciofalo, Kravitz and Bowie attempted to feed far too many children in too small a time period.
(As of today's date, July 20, 2018, it has been noted that the Master Schedule must be changed again. Will we get our money back? I asked that question at the July 2, 2018 meeting in which Robert Kravitz's Merit Goals for 2017- 2018 were the only item on the agenda. I was not the only one concerned. At present, we do not have a Master Schedule for the high school and parents from all 5 schools are wondering when they will know the names of their children's teachers. Others are worried that the overly expensive supply lists for each teacher have also NOT been generated.
Some of us have some choice questions for Jamie E. Ciofalo. The public would like to question him
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| Robert L. Kravitz and Jamie E. Ciofalo worked together in Fort Lee, NJ. |
When Pitt Bull Secure Technologies was hired to investigate the Transcript problem, few people, other that R. Kravitz and Nora Peck, knew that Mr. Jamie E. Ciofalo was the auditor for this company. Few people knew that the School District was already using Mr. Ciofalo's bullying nonprofit to train the Harassment & Bullying Coordinators. The February 16, 2017 (page 20 of 227) resolution suggests that the state (possibly Nora Peck) told him (the superintendent) to hire Pitt Bull Secure Technologies to conduct an investigation into the student transcript irregularities. Did the state also tell Robert Kravitz to hire the Pitt Bull Auditor to replace the man that his alleged findings condemned to tenure charges?
Popular Headlines
February 16, 2017 10 Suspended Following Audit into Englewood School Transcripts
February 17, 2017 Grading Controversy Rocks High School in Englewood
February 17, 2017 10 school officials reportedly suspended after 3K grade irregularities found
February 22, 2017 Englewoood Students get details on Transcript Shortfalls
Letter From Robert Kravitz exclaining to Parents not dated:
Not so popular Headlines
July 27, 2017 The State Investigation finds that the School Board & District are the guilty parties.
August 31, 2017 State report: Englewood school district broke New Jersey law
August 31, 2017 Englewood School District Reportedly Broke The Law Regarding Graduation Requirements
September 17, 2017 The School District filed Tenure charges against 8 Teaching Staff Members
November 8, 2017 Commissioner of Education Dismissed Tenure charges
"...If petitioner chooses to again file tenure charges based upon any of the allegations in the within matter – against any or all of the individuals named in the within matter – it must comply with each of the statutory and regulatory requirements for certifying tenure charges...." http://www.state.nj.us/education/legal/commissioner/2017/nov/330-17.pdf
"...In essence, what petitioner has done by filing in the manner it has is to usurp
the function of the Commissioner or an assigned arbitrator to issue a decision on consolidation.
Severance is also not an option since the charges as written deprive respondents
of their fundamental due process rights to a clear statement describing the precise nature of the charges against him or her, and a description of the evidence which allegedly supports the charges. .."
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| Jamie E. Ciofalo Auditor for Pitt Bull Secure Technologies Now Director of Guidance Director of Special Education Author of the Tenure charge debacle |
Everyday that the suspended personnel is not back on the job, we are paying salaries and benefits for 2 sets of employees. How many millions of dollars has Pitt Bull Secure Technologies and Jamie E. Ciofalo cost the Taxpayers of Englewood? R. Kravitz has put him in charge of our most vulnerable students. The case is still not settled. Suspended Personnel are not being paid directly as some residents think. They have been stripped of their benefits and their salaries are being deposited into escrow accounts pending the ruling of the Commissioner of Education of the State of New Jersey. Suspended employees do not have medical coverage during this time.
A recent OPRA Request places the amount spent on litigation well over $400,000.00. Add that to the amount to pay for salaries and benefits for 2 sets of employees and we have passed the $2,000.000.00 mark.
The Superintendent and the Board have proceeded, once again as if the Commissioner of Education for the state of NJ has decreed that these employees are guilty and should be stripped of their tenure. Guidance Counselors have been put back in the classroom. A tenured Vice Principal has been stripped of tenure and assigned to teach Math. The very title of Assistant Principal/Vice Principal has been abolished in order to make it impossible for persons to return to their tenured positions. Joseph Armental's salary has been reduced to $63.080 from his former VP salary. (Tab 1 - May 3, 2018 agenda. Page 9 of 22.) The job of the Commissioner of Education has been usurped by Robert Kravitz and the Englewood Board of Education. Why?
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| Robert L. Kravitz |
At times like this, one of integrity puts pride aside, cuts the Drama, and accepts the fact that one is not perfect. It is far past time that one admitted that one made a mistake. What was the mistake? The mistake was in NOT consulting, or simply ignoring the State Department of Education's Summary of Legal Requirements for Teacher Evaluation and Tenure Charges. What was the rush? Why not be a real example to the students in the District and follow directions?
Not one of the people suspended had the power to change anything other than a grade. It is not inconceivable that in a failing school of over 1,000 students, there could be 3,000 plus grade changes. If students make up work, the grade changes. The problems that plague the high school have been an issue since practices were put in place designed to attract students from around the County into the School Choice Program at Dwight Morrow High School.
Did any of the Pitt Bull or EPSD reports reveal that only Academy students did not have the required seat hours in Physical Education Health & Safety? Did any of the reports reveal the fact that A@E students were on a 4 day schedule. They had free periods. When the story first broke, School Choice students were only complaining about losing their free periods and not having toilet paper in the bathrooms. Why were they losing these free periods? They were losing the free periods, because the HS Administration was trying to fix the problem of "inadequate seat hours" in the Academy. Meanwhile, Englewood students were complaining in a totally different way.
Did any of the Pitt Bull or EPSD reports reveal that only Academy students did not have the required seat hours in Physical Education Health & Safety? Did any of the reports reveal the fact that A@E students were on a 4 day schedule. They had free periods. When the story first broke, School Choice students were only complaining about losing their free periods and not having toilet paper in the bathrooms. Why were they losing these free periods? They were losing the free periods, because the HS Administration was trying to fix the problem of "inadequate seat hours" in the Academy. Meanwhile, Englewood students were complaining in a totally different way.
School Choice students have been enticed into the Academy@Englewood Program with this incentive since 2002. In April of 2014, Academy Parents accused the Board of Education of breaking a contract with them which promised that their children, of superior intelligence, did not have to come in contact with students in the North building (the comprehensive high school). A@E students since 2002 have been shorted seat hours in much more than gym. This situation was not created by any of the suspended employees. The situation has been in play for 16 years.
Jamie E. Ciofalo is truly a Jack of all trades, but Master of none. Did he have access to Genesis before he was officially on the payroll of the EPSD?
Jamie E. Ciofalo - seems to be a one man outsource monster who negotiated his own salary. Stole money from the Lodi School system by taking days off that were not charged to his employee account. Is he doing the same here?
Ciofalo is the highest paid employee next to the Superintendent
Ciofalo is the highest paid employee next to the Superintendent
Ciofalo's Nonprofit businesses - (Official financial disclosures)
- 'Pitt Bull Secure Technologies - Ciofalo is the auditor for this Company. This is the Company that supposedly found 3000+ grade changes at EPSD. Ciofalo is the one who originated the botched tenure charges that is costing the taxpayer millions of dollars. 'He found problems that got him the previous employee's job. How dependable is that information? Ciofalo needed a job since he was being chased out of Lodi Public Schools where his wife also works. Did he participate in creating problems so he could get in the Englewood Public School District and solve them? I wonder. Remember, he was already supplying our District with his bullying expertise. Members of the EPSD Staff had already attended the training Ciofalo offers at the Lodi Boy's & Girl's Club. This Fact is corroborated by his own Financial Disclosure Statement.
- Duracio Films
- ZenDeliver
- EdJobSpot
- Power Capital Consultants
- YoPay
- Duracio Technologies
- HIBsterVention
- Haley House Publishing
- HIBster PD
- Power Educational Consultants
- Team HIBster
- YoGetMe
- Duracio Designs
- President of Board of Directors Lodi, Hackensack, Teaneck Boys & Girls Clubs
When does this man have time to do the job for which we pay him? This arrangement is costing us more money....Mo' Money....Mo'Money.....
Was Jamie E. Ciofalo doing a great job in Lodi where he was hired by friends and his HS football coach? He was forced to leave his hometown dream job, because he was participating in some unwholesome practices with the then School Board President, Joseph Licata. A Lodi blogger, now Lodi school board member, launched a campaign against Ciofalo's unethical practices in Lodi. Joseph Licata, Ciofalo's benefactor and protector resigned from the Lodi School Board. I want to know if these 2 get to skip out on the chaos and illegal activity in Lodi simply by resigning and leaving town. Licata and Ciofalo still work together on Boys and Girls Club ventures. How did we end up with this train wreck?
Ciofalo was hired here with 4 times the duties he had in Lodi. In addition to all of this responsibility, he runs at least 11 non profits and is Executive Director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Lodi, Hackensack and Teaneck. He is also on the Board at the Immaculate Conception High School.
Does Jamie E. Ciofalo wear a cape and tights to work everyday? Did we hire Superman or the Joker?
Ciofalo was hired here with 4 times the duties he had in Lodi. In addition to all of this responsibility, he runs at least 11 non profits and is Executive Director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Lodi, Hackensack and Teaneck. He is also on the Board at the Immaculate Conception High School.
Does Jamie E. Ciofalo wear a cape and tights to work everyday? Did we hire Superman or the Joker?
Why is this man still employed along with Robert Kravitz who is accountable for this
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