Created Controversy

BERNARDSVILLE – The woman hired to serve as the Somerset Regional School District’s new full-time assistant business administrator apparently decided not to take the controversial job before her official starting date.

The Board of Education officially and unanimously rescinded the appointment of the woman, Susan Schaffner at its meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 5.

Schaffner, who is business administrator of the Frenchtown School District and a part-time business administrator for the Milford School District, was to have started work here on Oct. 1.

But Superintendent of School Peter Miller, responding to an e-mailed question from this newspaper, said Schaffner informed the district of her decision to not take the job “two to three weeks ago. I am not sure of the exact date.”

He said her entire resignation read, “’I wish to tender my resignation as Assistant Business Administrator effective Sept. 28, 2005.”

A phone call placed to Schaffner by this newspaper on Monday was not returned.

Miller said he was “disappointed” by Schaffner’s decision but declined to go into detail as to what prompted it.

“We lost an outstanding employee that will be very difficult to replace,” he said.

He said Schaffner had “spent several days in the district, prior to her official start date, at her expense, to assist the office and to insure a smooth transition.”

Officials have already begun seeking a replacement. Miller said last Wednesday that the district had re-advertised for the newly created full-time position.

The creation of the assistant business administrator position caused an uproar among some board members and residents at the board’s Aug. 24 meeting, when school officials voted 5-3 to hire Schaffner at an annual salary of $78,000.

The position was originally budgeted as a part-time job that paid $27,030 a year.

At the Aug. 24 meeting, several residents criticized the board for expanding the position while forcing parents to pay for courtesy busing and ice hockey fees to save money.

But Business Administrator Raymond Krov, who serves as part-time treasurer with Schaffner in the Milford School District, said the position was needed due to increased financial responsibilities in the district such as accounting work for the district’s $51 million construction project.

In a letter to this newspaper, he explained that the district had “grown considerably’’ over the past 15 years. During that time, he said, every district department had seen increases in staffing except for the business office which, compared to other districts, he claimed is under staffed.

The new job was created as part of a restructuring of the business office, he said.

He said the decision to create the full-time job was unanimously approved by the board at its May 25 meeting.

Krov did not comment this week on Schaffner’s decision to step down.

©Recorder Newspapers 2005