I got a kick out of reading the recent flyer from the Piarulli-Fumero team running for the Garwood Board of Education. Here’s why: Governmental bodies – whether they are Borough Councils or Boards of Education (BOE) – act only with full votes. Thus, when one member spouts about he/she being responsible for a specific change, I know enough to recognize that, ‘no,’ a full board made that decision, not a single board member. Thus it is with Mr. Piarulli. He states that he ‘secured $150,000 in Pilot Funds trough collaboration with town officials before the new apartments made any impact’. Truthfully, he knows that thefullBOEandCouncilreachedagreement on how much and how PILOT money was distributed and spent by the BOE. Mr. Piarulli was just one of 12 votes. He did not obtain BOE PILOT funding by himself.
Most importantly, Mr. Piarulli failed to state that he filed a tort claim notice on the BOE as a sitting member because the BOE removed him from his position as its Sending District Representative to the Clark BOE. His notice cited the BOE for $10 million in damages. He further sought to be reimbursed $22,874.60 as well for interest and additional costs.These costs would have been paid by Garwood taxpayers and BOE insurance. The Administrative Law Judge determined that the ’petitioner’s tort claim advanced a cause of action for his own monetary benefit, which was in conflict with his duties as a board member,’ and that Mr. Piarulli was not entitled to be indemnified for his costs. The judge dismissed Mr. Piarulli’s suit.
Mr. Piarulli also does not say that in his current term of office, he left four BOE meetings before they adjourned, and did not attend three other meetings. He voted against numerous curriculum guides for the 2023-24 school year, and against the five-year cycle for revision of the curriculum guides. Breaking my heart,hevotedagainsttheUnionCounty Improvement Authority program for renewable energy projects. He voted against the negotiated agreement between theBOEandthe(GEA)Garwood Education Associations (Garwood’s teachers). He voted against the 202223, and 2024-25 school budgets. (He did not vote on the 2023-24 budget because he did not attend the BOE meeting.) He speaks about being financially prudent, yet voted against a measure which provided for a maximum dollar amount being paid for professional services. He voted against paying Clark for an increase in tuition payments due to our actual student population. (How long will Clark welcome Garwood high school students if we do not pay our bills?) He voted against hiring the NJ School Boards Association for a superintendent search, after the BOE could not find an acceptable one through its own search. During that time, he voted against a stipend for our principal to serve as Acting Superintendent. He even voted against the Clark Soccer Club’s once a week, threemonth use of the school gym! How many Clark facilities does Clark allow Garwood students to use?
In closing, Mr. Piarulli is far from providing the whole truth, and will not receive my vote in November.
Bill Nierstedt Garwood
