August 6, 2014 • www.theobserver.com • Vol CXXVII, No. 11
COVERING: BELLEVILLE • BLOOMFIELD
5 seek 3 seats on BOE
• EAST NEWARK • HARRISON • KEARNY • LYNDHURST • NORTH ARLINGTON • NUTLEY
Mounds keep growing By Ron Leir Observer Correspondent
By Ron Leir Observer Correspondent KEARNY – Five candidates, including two incumbents, are seeking three seats on the Kearny Board of Education in the Nov. 4 election. The filing deadline for the election was July 28 and five people submitted nominating petitions to run for threeyear terms, according to the Hudson County Clerk’s Office, which has the statutory authority to register candidates. Incumbents John Plaugic, a detective in the Kearny Police Department, and retiree Sebastian “Zibbie” Viscuso are seeking re-election to their seats while incumbent John Leadbeater, slated to go to trial in December for his alleged role in a $13 million federal mortgage fraud case, opted not to run. He has asserted his innocence in the matter. Two challengers – Mercedes Davidson and James Hill – will be running as a “team” with Viscuso, according to Davidson. Neither Viscuso nor Hill, who sits on the Kearny Zoning Board of Adjustment, could be reached last week. The other newcomer is Oscar Omar Fernandez. He, too, couldn’t be contacted last week. School board members consee CANDIDATES page
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KEARNY –
T
Photo by Ron Leir
hose piles of trash being dumped in the Keegan landfill in Kearny keep growing and the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission just approved a proposal to allow those mounds to ascend even more. On July 23, the NJMC agreed to amend its solid waste management plan “to increase the final elevation of the site from 60 feet to 100 feet, providing additional capacity from an original projected closure of June 2016 to a projected capacity date of December 2019.” A public hearing the NJMC held on the proposal July 10 drew no opposition so the commission anticipates moving ahead with its plan. Not so fast, says Kearny Mayor Alberto Santos, who
Bergen Ave. entrance to Keegan landfill.
see KEEGAN page
School brass roster shifting By Ron Leir Observer Correspondent
KEARNY – Looking ahead to the September schools opening, the Kearny Board of Education has undertaken a reshuffling of top-level district personnel, implementing an administra-
tive reorganization recommended by Acting Superintendent Patricia Blood with an eye to cutting costs. As part of that reorganization, the school board eliminated the position of assistant superintendent of schools. Debra Sheard had served in the post last year.
Sheard was appointed director of personnel and evaluation in the Perth Amboy school district at an annual salary of $120,000 on July 24, according to the Perth Amboy Board of Education website. Back in Kearny, at its July 29 meeting, the Kearny Board of Education voted to install
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three employees in three key slots: • Meghan Avitable, a 13year educator whose most recent post was high school supervisor of student review assessment and basic skills instruction, will now be district supervisor of testing and data. see APPOINTEES page
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