SCHOOL BOARD APPROVES NEW MMS ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL, BUT HE CAN'T START FOR TWO MONTHS

The Board of Education on Thursday night approved the hiring of a new assistant principal for Maplewood Middle School, Dion Patterson, but he is apparently unable to start work for two months.

That prompted the board to hire an interim assistant principal, former CHS administrator Mike Healy, to serve through Nov. 30, 2016, when Patterson will become available.

Patterson replaces departing assistant principal Marc Gold who left for another position in another district. Patterson will be paid $104,142, more than $10,000 above Gold's salary of $93,702.

In addition, the board approved paying Healy $400 per day during his interim time.

In a related move, the board approved promoting South Orange Middle School English teacher Melissa Butler to the post of interim supervisor of English Language through the end of the school year.

That means her classes at SOMS will be affected and will have to get a new teacher after less than a month.