South Plainfield board approves personnel items, confirms assistant superintendent appointment

The South Plainfield Board of Education approved personnel items A and B on Jan. 7, moving forward with several staff changes and confirming the appointment of Pat Cerullo as assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction.

After an executive-session review of personnel matters and a period of clarifying discussion about effective dates and conflicts of interest, the board returned to public session and recorded an affirmative roll-call vote on personnel item A (the agenda listed this as the resignation of "Mary Melissa," with an effective date that had been under discussion). The chair called for the vote and members answered in sequence; the board then voted on personnel item B and announced approval.

Dr. Lisak, introduced as a panelist during the meeting, praised Cerullo and described his long service in the district: "I wanted to say, congratulations to mister Cerullo who has now been approved as our assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction... He is dedicated to this community." The board's public record shows some members had earlier noted conflicts or abstentions during the roll call, and those conflicts were addressed during the executive-session discussion before the final votes.

The meeting transcript lists the personnel items generically as items A and B on the agenda; the board did not provide additional written motion text in the public record beyond the roll-call approval. Movers and seconders for the final votes were not specified on the public transcript.