Suspended Super Demands Principal Post

Here’s a good one. Antonio Lewis is a former Superintendent of Asbury Park School District whose compensation package included a salary of $188K. Before he was appointed Superintendent in 1999, he was a tenured middle school principal in this Abbott district. The School Board suspended him after a chaotic and dysfunctional term but under the terms of the suspension paid him his full salary for 3 years. Now, reports the Asbury Park Press, Lewis has petitioned Commissioner of Education Lucille Davy to return to Asbury Park District as a principal because, even though superintendents in N.J. don’t have tenure, principals do and he claims his former service there grants him tenure and seniority rights. You know what? He’ll probably win his petition and bump a principal out of Asbury Park. Competent or not, there’s no messing with tenure.