A [May 13 newspaper] story reported that Lakewood Superintendent of Schools Ernest Cannava may sue the Board of Education. It appears the embattled superintendent is finally on the ropes, having lost the support of the Lakewood VAAD, Lakewood Education Association (LEA) and the school board where the importance of support is strictly ordered as stated.
School board Vice President Norman Bellinger made a very inappropriate statement to [a newspaper] last month regarding what "we" (the board) want in a superintendent. The statement was at least ill advised and at most will open the school district to a lawsuit.
Dr. Cannava does not deserve to have his contract renewed because of the manner and methods that he used to manage the Lakewood school district. His reign is marked by incompetence, inefficiency and scandal. He has demonstrated that he is untrustworthy in negotiations with the Township Committee wherein he attempted to trick the committee members into examining a prior budget when he knew that an amended budget had been adopted by the school board and presented to the public. Several months ago he also attempted to fool the committee over the funding of non-mandated courtesy busing.
The board is also a major problem. They are a house divided by incompetence and special influence by the VAAD. Five members of the board are members of the Orthodox community, whose children do not attend public schools. The reason they serve on the board is to control the money and ensure that the needs of the 62 private schools are taken care of.
People from other communities make statements such as "Vote the bums out." That means they do not understand it is impossible to do so. No one can get elected in Lakewood without the recommendation of the VAAD. Nearly the entire Ortho-dox community votes in accordance with (its) recommendation.
Lakewood is a community in crisis and there are few options to remedy the problems. You cannot vote the bums out, you cannot obtain fairness from the governing bodies and you cannot gain consensus among the disenfranchised to fight as a cohesive unit. It is truly the time call on state and federal agencies to examine the workings of Lakewood.
I also believe the township needs to be divided, separating the borough from the township with two separate governing bodies. The other option is to support deannexation from Lakewood and seek annexation to Dover Town-ship.
William Hobday
Lakewood