Cliffside Park board approves consent agenda that includes personnel appointments and retirements

The Cliffside Park Board of Education approved its Jan. 22 consent agenda, which included multiple personnel resolutions and two announced retirements, in an 8-0 roll-call vote.

Superintendent Dr. Hayes told the board the personnel slate included “the vast majority” of routine items and highlighted four personnel resolutions for the public. He recommended appointing Diana Vasquez as high school vice principal, saying she would replace “Mr. Schmidt,” and recommended Stephanie Brennan to fill Vasquez’s prior role, noting Brennan had been “filling in for Mrs. Vasquez since the summer” and describing her work as “a fabulous job.”

The consent agenda also included two retirements the superintendent called to the board’s attention: middle school ESL teacher Sun Hae Park and high school staff member Dr. Edward Meyer, whose retirement is effective April 4, 2025. Board members read or summarized Dr. Meyer’s written remarks, which thanked the district and reflected on his decades in local education. In a portion of Dr. Meyer’s letter read aloud, he wrote that serving students “for many decades has been one of the greatest gifts of my life” and that after 42 years at Cliffside Park High School and 46 years in education “it’s time for me to begin my next journey.”

Board President Capano and other board members thanked Dr. Meyer and discussed arranging a recognition before the April meeting. The superintendent and board said the personnel items and retirements were included in the consent agenda approved later in the meeting; the roll call recorded affirmative votes from Missus Debreu, Mister Capano, Missus Freda, Mister Garcia, Mister Nedru, Doctor Pantoliano, Mister Russo and Mister Ivan.

The superintendent emphasized that most personnel resolutions on the consent agenda were routine — professional development, leaves of absence, substitutes and aides — while calling particular attention to the four substantive personnel recommendations he had summarized. The board did not discuss individual personnel resolutions in detail during the public meeting. The superintendent also thanked committee members who interviewed candidates and made recommendations to him.

The board president called for the consent-agenda vote later in the meeting; the motion passed on roll call with all present voting yes. No separate recorded votes on individual personnel items were taken in open session beyond the consent-agenda approval.

Less-critical routine items remaining on the consent agenda were not described individually on the public record at the meeting.