Schools

Middletown BOE Votes Against Appointment of Temporary Assistant Principal at South

The temporary position would have been an eight-week appointment.

Middletown High School South will start the school year without a temporary replacement for longtime Assistant Principal Stephen Baglivio, who retired at the end of August. 

With a final vote of two abstentions, two nays and four yays, the Board of Education did not have enough votes to carry the motion approving Nicholas Pizzulli as interim assistant principal at their Sept. 3 action meeting.

Pizzulli would have served for eight weeks for $475 per day, effective from Sept. 4 through Oct. 21 while the district searched for a full-time replacement. He was nominated for the position by a committee of three district administrators, according to Superintendent William George.

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“He has performed in his administrative duties here in Middletown well,” George said.

Board President Christopher Aveta, who abstained from the vote, expressed concern about Pizzulli being out of the classroom since 2006.

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“I’m not fully convinced this is the best candidate we can have as an assistant principal in our high school,” he said.

Board Member James Cody, who voted for Pizzulli’s appointment, emphasized the need for stability in the high school.

“This is only for an interim position,” he said. “Don’t you think its better to have someone there that has experience than no one?”

In the same vote, the Board also denied the approval of Elizabeth Mullee as a kindergarten teacher at Nutswamp Elementary School for an annual salary of $68,085.

The next meeting of the Board of Education is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 18.


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