By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Concerns about the special education supervisory positions of the school district were raised during the Lawrence Township Board of Education meeting on Thursday, July 26.
Amanda Tulumalo, Andrea Pennington and Melissa Hitzel were three residents and parents of special needs children who voiced concerns about the special education staffing. Their comments were based on an agenda item appointing Pearl Charatz as interim supervisor of special education, preschool through sixth grade.
The residents seemed to want Michael Donnelly, a child psychologist and member of the special education staff, to be appointed as the supervisor. They had problems with the district’s decision to appoint interim supervisors rather than more permanent staff.
”Make a commitment,” Ms. Tulumalo said to the board. “Interview somebody that’s capable of the job that can serve our students and hire them. Why are you wasting my tax dollars on temporary people who don’t know my child?”
Ms. Tulumalo also urged the board not to hire Ms. Charatz and to interview other people and discuss the issue further.
”It has been voiced on multiple occasions that the way the district works is that we hire from within and we try to bring people up through the ranks,” Ms. Pennington said. “That, I think, makes for a very good school district.”
Ms. Hitzel said she also has an issue with strangers being hired temporarily because they don’t know the kids or the district, and they do not have a vested interest in the district.
”Stop making excuses and start making decisions, hopefully before the rest of the respected employees jump this sinking ship,” she said to the board.
The residents also complained that the board does not have a job posting for a special education supervisor for grades 7-12 and were concerned the position would not be filled.
Board members said they have been looking very hard to fill the supervisory positions, but it has been a difficult process.
”I understand that you are upset and that interims make people nervous and it projects instability. However, we have been looking really hard to fill the supervisory positions,” said Laura Waters, board president.
School Superintendent Crystal Lovell added that the budget for the district went down, which has caused problems for the schools.
She also said the district is definitely looking for excellent supervisors and teachers, and in June the district hosted an interview extravaganza where they interviewed as many candidates as they could for various school positions.
She said many of the best candidates are often scooped up by other districts, and it gets more difficult to find quality candidates as time goes on.
”The best candidates come up in March and April,” said Ms. Waters.
Ms. Lovell said they interviewed 15 people for the special education supervisor position, so the district is putting in effort to find the best staff possible.
”All of us share your sentiment,” she said. “We all want the best quality people for our kids and it’s very disturbing for all of us when we have unfilled positions.”
The board also mentioned legal issues revolving around tenure law that helped account for the appointment of interims.
According to Ms. Waters, about two and a half years ago, the former director of special services left, so the position was offered to Erin Servillo.
Ms. Servillo left the position where she had tenure, so legally the position had to stay open for her, which is why so many interims were appointed.
Ms. Waters said it might look like the district is filling the position with several interims to the public, but it was necessary because of tenure law.
Ms. Waters added that special education positions are the most difficult to fill, and the district has dealt with problems regarding special education for a while.
Despite the objections, the board did appoint Ms. Charatz to the interim supervisor position.

