Superintendent Bids Adieu

This evening, at a regular meeting of the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education, Dr. Michael Schilder, longtime superintendent of this school district appeared before the BR-BOE to be honored one final time, before heading out to another phase of his life.

Dr. Michael Schilder waves goodbye
on the occasion of his last evening
at the Wade Building.

He is retiring from this school district, but may not necessarily go into full retirement.   Previous to announcing his decision to retire effective August 1, 2013, Dr. Schilder had applied to the Easton (PA) Area School District.

There, he became one of only two finalists being considered for the position of school superintendent, according to reports published in The Times Express, a Pennsylvania newspaper.

At about the same timeframe that The Times Express ran its story, Dr. Schilder withdrew his name from consideration for the Easton area job, and made public his decision to retire from the Bridgewater-Raritan School District.

In New Jersey, a school superintendent is not allowed to retire from one school job and to take another in a different New Jersey school district, e.g., no double dipping within the state.  However, it’s perfectly legal to retire from a Jersey job and to take another in a different state. 

No one asked him – at least not for public consumption, because tonight was a festive occasion but, should Dr. Schilder desire, he could still pick up another school position out-of-state.

At the time that Dr. Schilder was considering the Pennsylvania job, the local press of the Easton area ran stories of layoffs and financial difficulties plaguing the school district to which Schilder had applied.

Dr. Michael Schilder opens one of several gifts
presented to him by the Board of Education on
the evening of July 23.

Mike Schilder was held in high esteem by the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education.  He seemed to work very well with the Board as a whole and was a strong administrator.

Several years ago, the BR-BOE renegotiated his salary just before the New Jersey Legislature passed a law that imposed a cap on school superintendents’ salaries.

Dr. Schilder was earning above that cap and would have had to take a significant pay cut if his salary had not been renegotiated just before the cutoff date for the new law to take effect. 

Had he remained in his current position in the Bridgewater-Raritan School District until the expiration of his renegotiated salary, his new state-capped pay would have dropped to around $175,000.

Although I did not verify his precise outgoing salary, it’s in the $210,000 range without the inclusion of fringe benefits associated with that position.

The Board will miss him.

Thanks for reading.  Enjoy the summer, as it gets shorter each day.