The Record has a little blurb today about Ridgefield Public Schools, which just hired a new superintendent, Robert Fazio, for a salary of $210,000. Totally unremarkable: most superintendents work their butts off; the pay is exactly what the Board paid their last superintendent; the contract will coast through the Executive County Superintendent office; Bergen County, Ridgefield’s locale, has a relatively high cost of living. Just one thing: Ridgefield is composed of 3 schools, including one school for preschoolers, with a total of 2,100 kids.
School districts in New Jersey pay their superintendents anywhere from, say, $150,000 to $250,000 anually (we’re leaving out outliers like Newark, where the super makes $300K.) But that salary range, with Mr. Fazio smack in the middle, doesn’t distinguish between school districts with 200 kids, 2000 kids, or 10,000 kids. Aha! A benefit of consolidation! If Ridgefield consolidated with nearby districts to raise the student population, tax payers would save money! (Sorry, we just can’t help ourselves.)
