Most of the time in the private business world
pay raises come after an evaluation of a worker's
performance and consideration as to his or her value
to the enterprise. What does one make of a job
evaluation that notes that the employee is at times
absent or late? Can the average person in the real
world work force expect to last long if the employer
believes the employee's effectiveness has eroded or
that he or she has lost credibility?
Jersey City Board of Education members made some
of the same observations of Superintendent of
Schools Charles T. Epps. Jersey City is a state
takeover district, and board members must complete
anonymous written evaluations that is combined and
sent to the state Department of Education as a
single report.
The Jersey Journal reviewed these evaluations.
While there were some comments like those of one
trustee who wrote, "The superintendent is a
confident leader. He has devised a district vision
and established goals," there were several similar
views to those of another panel member who wrote,
"Dr. Epps' ability to lead has eroded greatly." Some
of the division over Epps' performance stems from
his decision to run last year for the state
Assembly, a seat he won with the backing of the
Hudson County Democratic Organization. Two years
ago, Epps was evaluated by board members who praised
his efforts. Now, trustees are upset - and rightly
so - that that he splits his attention between
Trenton and the city's schoolchildren.
Of interest is the upcoming decision by Acting
Commissioner of Education Lucille E. Davy, who is
expected to complete the review process that helps
determine whether Epps receives a salary increase.
Epps now earns $220,000 a year as superintendent -
plus a $1,000-per-month housing allowance. He is due
a pay hike of between $9,400 and $37,700, depending
on the review. He earns $49,000 as an assemblyman.
A reason given by the state for taking over the
school district was the influence of politics. For
some time, this newspaper has been of the opinion
that Epps has brought the district back to political
influence. Epps made things worse when he donated a
$750 check in May from his campaign war chest to
school board member and county Freeholder Jeff
Dublin. As a trustee, Dublin evaluates Epps' job
performance.
Epps should resign one of his jobs. But whatever
he decides, the state should appoint a new
superintendent in Jersey City.
Jersey City School Superintendent Charles T. Epps
Jr.'s questionable campaign contribution to a school
board member, and the continuing controversy over
his dual role as a state assemblyman, has drawn the
attention of Republicans.
"I am not surprised that a man who used taxpayer
dollars to travel to London, ride in a limousine and
eat expensive dinners would find nothing wrong with
writing a campaign check to someone who evaluates
his job performance," said Assemblywoman Alison
Littell McHose, R-Morris County.
"Assemblyman Epps should have never been
permitted to continue serving as both superintendent
in a state-run school district and legislator at the
same time," she said in a press release labeling
Epps as the poster child for the Republican argument
against dual office-holding.
In the light of Republican complaints, some
Democrats - including Union City Mayor and
Assemblyman Brian Stack - are advising him to give
up his Assembly seat.
"I think Charlie Epps, who I like a lot, would
serve the children of Jersey City better if he just
dedicated his energy to the school district,
especially with the problems," Stack said.
Assemblywoman Joan Quigley said she supports Epps
continuing to serve in both roles as "long as he
does both effectively."
Assemblyman Lou Manzo said: "It's been a strain
on (Epps) considering the type of job he has and
it's a school district that needs a lot of
attention. It's a decision that Charlie needs to
make in the next couple months."
State Sens. Joseph Doria, Bernard Kenny and Nick
Sacco would not comment on the issue, and
Assemblyman Albio Sires could not be reached for
comment.
The comments come on the heels of a Jersey
Journal article that detailed a $750 contribution
Epps made from his legislative war chest to Jeff
Dublin's campaign fund in May. Epps has refused to
comment on the donation - or on any matter - but
Dublin said it did not affect his objectivity in
evaluating Epps.
Dublin and other board members must submit
evaluations of Epps on an annual basis and forward
them to the state commissioner of Education, who
uses them to help determine whether or not Epps has
met certain benchmarks and to set the level of his
salary increase.
The state Department of Education called the
donation "inappropriate," but said there is no law
barring it. A spokesman for the acting state
Education Commissioner, Lucille Davy, said it would
be inappropriate for her to comment about Epps's
performance as the appointed superintendent of the
state-run district.
The state Department of Education is considering
new restrictions on hiring and campaign
contributions in Abbott Districts, but the Education
Law Center, which spearheaded the Abbott legal
battle, wants the state to go further and add
restrictions on "high-level" administrators from
holding elected office.
"The fundamental reason is to ensure that these
school districts, given the mandates that they are
upon to run effectively, efficiently and to improve
school achievement, it's important that they
dedicate 100 percent of their attention to education
and are not distracted in any way by holding other
positions," said David Sciarra of the Education Law
Center.
Lumping Jersey City's state-appointed schools
chief, Charles T. Epps Jr., with Newark's
free-spending ex-mayor, Sharpe James, Assemblyman
Richard Merkt, R-Randolph, called this week for
"someone" to hold them accountable.
Citing Monday's Jersey Journal story that
revealed Epps, also an assemblyman, has placed four
school district employees on his Assembly payroll,
Merkt stated in a press release:
"Clearly this raises questions about what jobs
these individuals are doing and on whose time they
are doing these jobs.
"There is legitimate concern that these employees
are getting paid to do legislative work on school
district time or vice versa," Merkt added.
Two separate investigations - one state, one
federal - has been launched into James' use of two
city-issued credit cards, which he used to rack up
nearly $160,000 worth of expenses over the past four
years, including trips to the Bahamas, Puerto Rico,
the Dominican Republic and Brazil.
"New Jersey citizens are fed up with government
officials using tax dollars as their own personal
expense accounts and double dipping on the taxpayer
dime," Merkt said.
Epps hires four school employees as
legislative aides
Monday, August 21, 2006
By EARL MORGAN and KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITERS
Jersey City's schools chief Charles T. Epps Jr., who doubles as a
state assemblyman for Jersey City and Bayonne, has hired four school
district employees to part-time jobs on his state assembly staff -
further blurring the lines between his two public roles.
Ellen Zadroga, Epps' $129,508-a-year executive assistant and
Charles Trefurt, a $129,508-a-year special assistant to the
superintendent, have both been hired as $12,000-a-year legislative
aides, according to state records obtained by The Jersey Journal.
Epps has also hired Linda Zupko, an analyst with the board, and
part-time Board of Education security guard Robert Marshall as
legislative aides. Zupko is paid $67,000 annually for her day job
and earns another $5,000 a year for her Assembly work.
Marshall, who works roughly 28 hours a week for the Board of
Education, earns $14.40 per hour for his security guard duties and
is paid $2,750 a year as a part-time legislative aide, according to
school officials and state documents.
The four hires represent one-third of Epps' 12-member legislative
staff.
There's nothing illegal about Epps hiring school district
employees to work on his Assembly payroll. But for some, it's
further evidence that Epps has muddied the waters between his two
public positions.
Terrence Curran, who resigned as a member of the Board of
Education in June due to a move, said he stopped supporting Epps
after he saw him "co-mingling" his staff.
"I think it is difficult for (Epps) to keep the two positions
separate," Curran said. "It puts the district in a bad position."
Former Jersey City School Board Trustee Sonia Araujo, who held a
seat on the board from 1998 to 2001, questioned the focus of school
employees who are splitting their time between the educational
matters and legislative work.
"It is a little mind-boggling to me," Araujo said. "I think
everyone in the school district should concentrate on making Jersey
City public schools a place that operates effectively.
"I think everything is going back to the way it was," Araujo
added, alluding to conditions 17 years ago when the state took over
the school district. "I guess the state did a takeover because of
the politics. It looks like things have gone full circle."
Epps did not return several phone calls seeking comment on this
article but briefly spoke about the subject after a school board
meeting in June.
Epps insisted none of his school board employees worked beyond 5
p.m. during the week and, like him, were quite capable of holding
down two jobs.
The Assembly workers answer phones at his legislative office,
open his mail, conduct research, and meet with constituents, Epps
said.
Asked why none were present when The Jersey Journal visited seven
times over a period of a few months earlier this summer, Epps
replied, "I can't answer that."
He did say he saw no conflict in his hiring decisions.
Epps' school aides earn $129K, work
for him in Assembly job, too
Monday, August 21, 2006
By EARL MORGAN
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
KEN THORBOURNE
Ellen Zadroga, Jersey City's Superintendent of Schools Charles T.
Epps' executive assistant, is set to retire next month after 31
years working for the school district.
Since January, Zadroga - who underwent a life-saving kidney
operation a few years ago - has been holding down two jobs.
Zadroga, 63, one of four school board employees on Epps' Assembly
payroll, said she's been doing her part-time Assembly work at night
and on weekends, which consists of opening mail and formulating
responses to constituents.
Zadroga, a $500 donor to Epps' Assembly campaign, received a pay
hike from $121,730 to $129,508 on June 30. Never, she said, does she
discuss Assembly business with him on school time.
"He (Epps) lives close by and is just a phone call away," she
said.
Charles Trefurt, a special assistant to Epps by day, is also an
Assembly worker by night.
Like Zadroga, he too says he opens mail, does research, and meets
with constituent groups.
Trefurt said he couldn't remember any community groups he's met
with since he was hired in January.
"There are too many to recall," he said.
Trefurt contributed $1,125 to Epps' campaign, and received a
roughly $6,000 pay boost on June 30, bringing his salary to
$129,508, according to school records.
Linda Zupko, an analyst with the Board of Education,, said she
too answers phones at the Assembly office at night.
But neither she, nor Zadroga, nor Trefurt, were in when The
Jersey Journal visited the Kennedy Boulevard office seven times at
night and on Saturdays over the past few months.
Robert Marshall, a part-time security guard with the board, who
also works as an Assembly aide, didn't return phone calls to
comment.
The only reliable presence to be found in Epps' Kennedy Boulevard
office was Kathleen Washington, who works on weekdays from 1 to 5
p.m.
She said she also "answers the phones and opens mail."
Jersey City's $220,000-a-year schools chief, state Assemblyman
Charles T. Epps Jr., is due a pay hike - somewhere between $9,400 to
$37,700.
According the terms of his latest three-year contract with the
state, Epps became eligible for a pay increase ranging from 4.5 to
16.5 percent on July 1.
State Commissioner of Education Lucille Davy is still awaiting
data to determine how much of a raise Epps will receive, said
Richard Vespucci, a spokesman for the department.
Some of the data relates to test score information, which will be
finalized at the end of the month, and the number of special
education students in the district now taking classes with the
general student population, Vespucci said.
The 4.5 percent pay hike ($9,473) is based on "satisfactory
performance as determined by the commissioner of education,"
according to the contract.
Another 12 percent ($25,262) would be tacked on if the district
meets three performance markers - each worth a 4 percent pay bump.
The first incentive bonus sets as a goal increasing the number of
special-ed students in general-ed classrooms by 10 percent.
The second bonus clause aims to reduce the number of special-ed
students who spend less than 40 percent of their time in general-ed
classes by 5 percent.
The third incentive bonus targets a 10 percent hike in the
passing rates of students in the 3rd-, 4th, 8th-, and 11th grades on
the standardized language test.
In addition to his salary, Epps, who lives in Society Hill, also
receives a $1,000-a-month housing allowance.
The nine members of Jersey City's advisory school board recently
completed an evaluation of Epps' performance as superintendent. They
refused to make the report public, saying it is a personnel matter.
But some board members did discuss their views of the six-year
superintendent.
Board member Angel Valentin said his opinion of Epps' job
performance became "mixed" once Epps took on the second job of
assemblyman for Jersey City and Bayonne in January.
"He has to spend two days (a week) in Trenton," Valentin said.
"We need a senior staff that is going to be on the same page five
days of the week, not three."
Former Jersey City Mayor and Board member Anthony Cucci gave Epps
a "positive evaluation."
Cucci chalked up a much-publicized trip Epps and an associate
took to England two years ago that cost taxpayers nearly $21,000 as
a "mistake." Epps and the associate eventually paid back roughly
half the money.
"It was wrong," Cucci said. "But he (Epps) handled it in a proper
manner by admitting it and making reimbursement, and saying it
wouldn't happen again."
27 of 33 Jersey City
schools fail to meet federal standards
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Journal staff writer
NEWARK - Dozens of schools in Hudson County, most
notably Jersey City, again failed to meet education
standards in the past year, the state Department of
Education reported yesterday.
Overall, 643 schools statewide, or 26.5 percent,
did not meet standards in 2006, compared to 822, or
34 percent, last year, the department said. Some
schools have closed or merged over the years.
In Jersey City - the state's second-largest
school district - 27 out of 33 schools failed to
pass muster, according to the department's
preliminary results from the standardized tests
administered in May, officials said.
Six schools - Schools 1, 20, 29, 31, 42 and
Academy 2 - were considered "no status," meaning
their students, including special-ed and students
still learning English, passed the tests in
sufficient numbers to make what the federal No Child
Left Behind law considers "adequate yearly
progress."
Students at Schools 14, 15 Middle, and 41 have
failed to pass to the tests in sufficient numbers
for six consecutive years, so they are being
restructured along with Schools 29 and 15, two
schools in the same neighborhood, school officials
said.
Four of the district's six high schools -
Dickinson, Snyder, Ferris and Lincoln - haven't made
adequate passing grades for four consecutive years,
officials said.
"We are putting together a comprehensive program,
including reading and writing specialists in the
high school," said Jenaro Rivas, an associate
superintendent. "The subject teachers, like science
and math, will be trained to incorporate reading and
writing in all their teaching."
Aide got even more $$$ back than Epps after London trip
Friday, May 26, 2006
By JARRETT RENSHAW
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
That London trip had Epps sleeping in king-sized beds
The final tally is in: $20,995.49.
That's how much taxpayers shelled out for Jersey City Schools
Superintendent Charles T. Epps Jr.'s trip
to England in 2004. The
school board had approved spending the "all inclusive rate" of
$8,195.
Meanwhile, a Republican member of the Assembly's budget committee
is calling on the state Attorney General's Office to investigate
Epps for a possible "theft of state funds."
The final tally arrived at by The Jersey Journal, based on
receipts and other documents obtained through the Open Public
Records Act, includes airfare for Epps and Associate Superintendent
Adele Macula; tuition to attend the conference; and food, lodging
and transportation Epps and Macula paid for that was then reimbursed
by the district.
The Jersey Journal has previously detailed Epps' spending on the
trip, but additional receipts obtained yesterday show Macula
splurged even more than her boss: He was reimbursed $5,179.46, but
she got back $5,456.03.
Neither Epps or Macula could be reached for comment yesterday.
Epps has pledged to return the money; Macula hasn't said what she'll
do.
Macula, who was accompanied by her husband Joe Macula on the
trip, stayed at the same luxury hotels as Epps during the nine-day
trip, racking up $4,280.22 in hotel bills, according to the expense
report she submitted to the district.
District officials say Epps was alone on the trip, but receipts
from two hotels in London indicate Epps reserved a room for two,
with one king-sized bed.
Macula submitted $849.87 worth of meal receipts, but apparently
did not ask to be reimbursed for her husband's meals - though Epps
did when he picked up the tab.
Even though the top of the form indicates a $70 daily limit on
meals, Macula exceeded that amount on
four different days -
including $200.99 for dinner on their first night in London.
In addition to the $10,635.49 paid in reimbursements to Epps and
Macula, taxpayers also paid $2,385 apiece for two round-trip,
economy class airplane tickets on Virgin Atlantic airlines, leaving
from Newark and landing in London. The tuition for the convention
cost $2,795 each.
Meanwhile, a Republican assemblywoman who has helped shed a
spotlight on alleged abuses in education spending proved yesterday
that "Londongate" will continue to be a lightning rod for critics of
Abbott Districts.
"The DOE did the right thing in calling for this money to be
returned, but someone needs to determine whether there should be
additional sanctions against Assemblyman Epps," said Assemblywoman
Alison Littell McHose, R-Sussex, Morris, and Hunterdon. "The
attorney general should be looking into whether or not these
personal expenditures constituted a 'theft of state funds' and, if
so, taking appropriate action."
Feeling 'attacked,' Epps is iffy on 2nd
Assembly run
Friday, June 02, 2006
By JARRETT RENSHAW
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
Speaking to the media for the first time
since the "Londongate" controversy erupted last
month, Jersey City School Superintendent Charles
T. Epps Jr. says it should all be behind him now
that he's agreed to repay the money - though he
still insists he doesn't have to.
"I did nothing wrong. The trip was legitimate
and there just happened to be a lot of
confusion, but I never intended to do anything
wrong," Epps said after a meeting Wednesday at
Greenville's School 41.
"I don't understand. Why all of this
coverage?" Epps continued. "Why are you
attacking me? Don't you think it's overkill?"
Epps spent more than $5,000 on expensive
meals, chauffeured limousines and posh hotels
during a nine-day trip to England. The entire
trip cost the district nearly $21,000.
Epps, who also is the state assemblyman for
Bayonne and parts of Jersey City, has become a
lightning rod for Republicans critical of
spending in Abbott districts who claim too much
of the state aid is spent outside the classroom.
The school board's approval for the trip said
it was an education conference, but The Jersey
Journal learned Epps and Associate
Superintendent Adele Macula arrived four days
before the conference began and went to London.
"The four days were a scheduling problem, and
I should have been more involved," Epps said.
"But like I said, if I had to do it over again,
that is something I would change."
Epps said he didn't
take any vacation days as part of the England
trip, despite the fact that the four days in
London had nothing to do with the education
conference at Oxford University.
(This is a good
example of how many principals & administrators
retire/leave and get HUGE checks for what they
call unused vacation & sick days. With a
private employer, his vacation time bank would
have been charged for the 4 days but that's
private industry....) webmaster's
note
"It was a work trip, so I was on work time,"
Epps said. "No, I did not take any vacation
days."
Meanwhile, the political firestorm has Epps
questioning whether he'll run for re-election
next year.
"I came to the Assembly with a very
idealistic point of view about the integration
of education and legislation, but I can't say I
feel that same way now," he said.
He said his decision about running for
re-election may be made for him by the Hudson
County Democratic Organization. He said he
doesn't think he'll get the party's support next
time.
The trip has drawn fire from state
Republicans, and even some Democrats urged Epps
to repay the money, which he agreed to do last
week, two weeks after the Journal first reported
about the trip.
Epps said he waited for days to respond to
the newspaper reports because he thought he was
being "attacked," but he says that may have been
a mistake.
Sighs of relief from Democrats and another blast from
GOP
Thursday, May 25, 2006
By JARRETT RENSHAW
JERSEY JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
An unapologetic Jersey City School Superintendent Charles
T. Epps Jr. announced yesterday he will return the money he
received as reimbursement for expenses for his lavish trip
to Merry Olde England.
"As rewarding and beneficial as this experience might
have been, I certainly understand how it could be perceived
as excessive, however legitimate," Epps said in a written
statement released yesterday. "Therefore, I am returning to
the district all expenses reimbursed to me relative to the
trip to England."
Epps, who makes $225,038 a year as the state-appointed
superintendent, refused to answer
any questions regarding
the statement or his trip, referring a reporter to his
staff.
Since The Jersey Journal began reporting on Epps' trip on
May 12, a number of local and state political leaders have
called on him to return the $5,179 he received in
reimbursements for his expenses on the trip, which he
attended with Associate District Superintendent Adele Macula
and her husband, Joe Macula, who is a vice president of
United Water of Jersey City.
Assemblyman Louis Manzo, D-Jersey City - the first of the
county's political leaders to criticize Epps for the trip -
yesterday said "reimbursing the district was always the
right thing to do."
But Manzo, who ran with Epps for the Assembly last year,
wouldn't commit to running with him again
next time.
"I will have to see how this process works out," Manzo
said, referring to what he hopes will be a
discussion
between Epps and the school district in the weeks ahead.
State Sen. Bernard Kenny, who heads the Hudson County
Democratic Organization, has refused to comment about Epps'
trip for two weeks - but reportedly was working behind the
scenes helping him
deal with the political fallout.
"I am happy with the outcome, and I hope it goes a long
way to restore people's trust," Kenny said.
However, yesterday's announcement did little to soothe
state Republicans who see Epps - who also serves as an
Assemblyman - as the poster child for fiscal
irresponsibility in Abbott districts.
Tom Wilson, chairman of the state Republican Party, said
Epps returning the money doesn't mean the scandal's over.
"Last time I checked, if you rob a bank, all is not well
if you simply give the money back," he said.
Epps had school board approval to attend the education
conference at Oxford University in England in 2004, but The
Jersey Journal learned he actually arrived four days before
the conference began and went
to London, staying at a
$481-a-night hotel and eating at two of the city's poshest
restaurants.
He later submitted receipts for food, lodging and
transportation from the London trip, and received $5,179 in
reimbursement.
The lavish spending didn't end when the conference began.
Even though room and board was included in the price of
attending, Epps instead spent more than $200 on one night's
dinner and stayed at the nearly $300-a-night Old Parsonage
Hotel.
Ellen Zadroga, Epps' executive assistant, said Epps and
the Maculas didn't stay on campus because "they did not feel
it was appropriate for their needs at the time."
"But like Epps has said in the past, if he could do this
over again, he would do things differently," she said.
JARRETT RENSHAW can be reached at jrenshaw@jjournal.com.
After weeks of keeping mum, Associate
Superintendent Adele Macula has - without comment -
sent a check to taxpayers this week for the $5,456
in expenses she tallied during a controversial trip
to England in 2004, according the district's
business office.
Macula follows in the footsteps of Jersey City
School Superintendent Charles T. Epps Jr., who
already sent a check to the city's school district
for the $5,179 in expenses he submitted for the same
trip.
Macula did not return phone calls seeking comment
yesterday.
The two checks sent by Epps and Macula represent
more than half of the total cost of the trip, which
included a four-day "mini-vacation" in London before
they trekked to Oxford University to attend a
five-day convention called the Oxford Round Table.
Total cost of the trip was $20,995, including
$2,795 each in tuition fees and $2,385 apiece for
round-trip airfare on Virgin Atlantic Airlines,
according to documents obtained by The Jersey
Journal under the state's Open Public Records Act.
Epps and Macula, once back in the States,
submitted expense receipts for lavish meals that
included $80 ribs of beef and $25 asparagus soups,
as well as overnight stays in some of England's
finest hotels, receipts show.
State Republicans and a host of local officials
called on Epps, who is also a state assemblyman, to
return the money.
The state Department of Education released a
statement yesterday putting pressure on Macula to do
the same.
"We fully expect that all personnel involved with
the trips to Oxford will reimburse all costs," wrote
Rich Vespucci, a spokesman for the state Department
of Education.
JARRETT RENSHAW can be reached at jrenshaw@jjournal.com.
Text of the statement issued yesterday by
state-appointed Jersey City Superintendent of
Schools Charles T. Epps Jr.:
The children of Jersey City are, have always
been, and will continue to be my top priority.
When I received the invitation to participate in
the Oxford University Roundtable, I looked upon
it as an opportunity to share Jersey City's
story with highly respected educators from
around the world - many of them American
Superintendents, and to learn about best
practices that might be replicated for the
benefit of the children in Jersey City. The trip
to the Oxford University Roundtable was a
worthwhile and legitimate staff development
activity.
But, as rewarding and beneficial as this
experience might have been, I certainly
understand how it could be perceived as
excessive, however legitimate.
Therefore, I am returning to the district all
expenses reimbursed to me relative to the trip
to England. It is time now for the focus to be
placed back on the tremendous achievements of
the Jersey City Public School District's staff
and students.
An associate superintendent and her husband
joined Jersey City Schools Superintendent Charles T.
Epps Jr. on his expensive trip to England that has
become a lightning rod for critics of spending in
the state's Abbott districts.
Adele Macula, who heads up the district's
curriculum and instruction, and her husband
Joe
Macula, a vice president with United Water
in Jersey
City, wined and dined with Epps at two of London's
finest restaurants during the 2004 trip.
They went across the pond, at the district's
expense, to attend a five-day education conference
at prestigious Oxford University.
But Epps and his companions arrived in London
four days before the conference began, according to
receipts and other documents obtained by The Jersey
Journal through state Republicans and interviews
with conference organizers, and they spent hundreds
of dollars eating $80 entrees and $25 soups and
staying at a $481-a-night hotel before trekking the
50 miles to Oxford.
Once at the conference, Epps and the Maculas
apparently turned down the campus lodging - included
in the cost of attendance - and instead stayed at
the nearly $300-a-night Old Parsonage Hotel.
A school board member who has seen receipts
submitted by Adele Macula says that she did not
charge taxpayers for her husband's meals, though he
did stay with his wife in the hotels.
Epps, on the other hand, was apparently
reimbursed by taxpayers for Joe Macula's expensive
meals when he picked up the tab, despite the fact
that the United Water veep was not a district
employee.
"The taxpayers did not pay for me," said Joe
Macula when reached at his work yesterday. "I did
not hand in those receipts."
He would not comment any further on the trip
yesterday.
Epps also refused to comment about the trip, but
officials said a statement from him is expected
today.
Taxpayers eventually reimbursed Epps $5,179 for
the wining and dining expenses, which does not
include air fare and the "all-inclusive" $8,195
tuition paid by the district. Though it's unclear
how much Macula submitted as expenses, it was in the
thousands of dollars, according to a school board
member.
The revelation about who joined Epps on the trip
has caused at least one local political leader to
demand that Epps speak publicly about the trip.
"It raises even more questions and now he has to
respond so that public trust in government can begin
to be restored," said Assemblyman Lou Manzo,
D-Jersey City.
Manzo, who ran on the same ticket with Epps, was
the first of the county's political leaders to
criticize Epps. He was later joined by Assemblyman
and Union City Mayor Brian Stack and Assemblyman and
West New York Mayor Albio Sires, who also said Epps
should give the taxpayers their money back.
Yesterday, state Sen. and Bayonne Mayor Joseph V.
Doria Jr. joined the others in calling for Epps to
return the money.
The State Department of Education "recommended"
Monday that the district seek reimbursement for the
money.
State Sen. Bernard Kenny, who heads the county's
Democratic organization and is reportedly working
behind the scenes to defuse the politically charged
issue, offered "no comment" on the issue, as did
state Sen. and North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco.
The state Department of Education wants Jersey City
Superintendent of Schools and Assemblyman
Charles T. Epps
Jr. to give back the money he charged taxpayers for his
ritzy trip to England in 2004.
"We are going to be recommending that the district seek
reimbursement for all charges that were outside
the trip,
specifically the four days he was not attending the
convention and the days he spent at the hotel
instead of at
the university lodging," said Kathryn Forsyth, director of
public information for the DOE.
Epps, a Democrat who was appointed to the superintendent
post before being elected to the Assembly
last year, has not
responded to phone calls seeking comment since "Londongate"
broke two weeks
ago and threatened to become a symbol of
wasteful Abbott District spending.
Several lawmakers and the chairman of the city's Board of
Education also joined calls yesterday for
Epps to give the
money back.
These demands came on the day a Jersey Journal article
detailed how Epps arrived in England four
days before the
Oxford University convention that he and his staff attended
on July 19, 2004.
Epps and his traveling companions spent those four days
racking up a nearly $500 tab at two of the
London's finest
restaurants and another $1,500 bill for rooms at a posh
hotel, according to documents
obtained by The Jersey
Journal.
In addition, Epps paid more than $300 to be chauffeured
to London's hot spots in limousines and taxis,
according to
district documents.
Epps then traveled 50 miles to attend the five-day Oxford
Round Table on Superintendency and
School Leadership, where
he turned down university lodging so he and another
companion could stay
at the nearly $300-a-night Old
Parsonage Hotel.
Taxpayers eventually reimbursed Epps $5,179 for his
dining and lodging expenses, which does not
include the "all
inclusive" tuition of $8,195 paid by the school district.
After initially staying silent on the issue, state
Assemblymen Brian Stack, the mayor of Union City, and
Albio
Sires, the mayor of West New York, joined fellow Assemblyman
Lou Manzo, D-Jersey City, in
criticizing Epps for the trip.
"If I were Epps, I would give the money back," said
Stack.
A spokeswoman for Sires, Julie Roginsky, said: "Mr. Epps
should reimburse the school district for
personal expenses
he incurred while in England."
Stack said that the circumstances surrounding the trip
present a "problem," even if Epps returns the
money, and
urged the Assembly Education Committee to review the
situation.
Jersey City School Board Chairman William DeRosa called
the details in The Jersey Journal article
"very troubling."
"Because we are a state-run school district, the board
does not have a lot of say, but that does not
mean we don't
have a voice or we can't express our opinion to the state
commissioner of education,"
said DeRosa. "He should give the
money back, it's not like he doesn't have it."
School board member Jeffrey Dublin said he supports Epps
"100 percent" and said he wants to
talk to the
superintendent before he comments.
A spokesman for Gov. Jon Corzine, Brendan Gilfillan,
released a statement last night that read:
"The Governor's
Office, working with local districts, has put in place a
number of measures designed
to increase accountability in
Abbott districts, including financial audits and
programmatic reviews."
Many political leaders remained silent on the issue once
again yesterday.
State Sen. Bernard Kenny, D-Hoboken, the head of the
Hudson County Democratic Organization and
the Senate
majority leader, said: "I refuse to comment on the issue."
Neither state Sen. Nicholas Sacco, D-North Bergen, nor
Joseph V. Doria Jr., D-Bayonne, both mayors
of their
municipalities, would comment, either.
Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy has not responded to
phone calls regarding the issue.
This silence has prompted state Republicans to cast the
group as hypocrites afraid to criticize one
of their own.
"They can't on one hand decry political corruption and
overspending, then ignore it when it happens in
their own
backyard," said state Republican Chairman Tom Wilson.
