Feb. 26, 2018 Board of Education Meeting

WEST ORANGE, Nj — On Feb. 26, 2018 the West Orange School District held a Board of Education meeting at 8 pm in the West Orange High School Auditorium. The agenda included what most people attended for, the vote for renewing the Superitendent, Jeffrey Rutzky’s, contract.

A West Orange Schools’ employee stated,”Yes, I think that it should renewed. He has an open door policy.  He is looking out for the greater good of the student body and those alike.  He is trying to fix what was left by the previous superintendent.”  

While there were a decent number in attendance against the contract renewal there were also many in attendance who were for it. Most of those who wished to comment were in support of Rutzky, but many attendees declined to comment.

“We are here to support the rehiring of the superintendent,” 2 West Orange residence explained, “As a primary source, our experience is that our children had a good experience in education. The sports arena for them was really well, (sic) and being that the combination of academics and sports allowed them to go to their schools of choice.”

After Rutzky gave his presentation about the honors classes for middle school students,  comments and questions were up to the public about anything on the meeting’s agenda. The one topic and part of the agenda that everyone seemed to be commenting on was the renewal of Mr. Rutzky’s contract.

Of the people who spoke during the portion of the meeting, the commentators were evenly split and seemed to be different for each person. The line for the public to speak was reaching the end of the auditorium.

The board eventually voted on Mr. Rutzky’s contract renewal, the vote was 3-1 with Irving Schwarzbaum being the only vote against the contract renewal. Superintendent Rutzky’s contract was renewed until 2021.