KEARNY –
Dan Esteves, who has failed to attend close to 60% of the meetings held by the Kearny Board of Education since he became a member, did not miss the most recent one.
But that meeting, held June 1, turned out to be his last as his eight colleagues voted to oust him from his seat – effective immediately – for having missed five consecutive meetings (Feb. 19 and 23, March 16, April 20 and 30) without good cause.
Under board policy – as revised in December 2014 – any board member who misses three meetings in a row may be removed from the board by a majority vote of those attending.
In what was likely his last official act, Esteves – who came to the meeting wearing his Kearny police uniform – voted against the resolution, offered by board member Samantha Paris, saying that he never received official 72-hour notice of the special meeting but the board’s attorney Ken Lindenfelser said he had sent that notice by certified letter, regular mail and email on May 26.
Board member Barbara Cifelli-Sherry said that while a board member’s “career should take precedence – and from all reports, [Esteves] is a good police officer.” But at the same time, she said the board “can’t set a precedent” by waiving its policy in this case “just because [Esteves] is a police officer.”
“This is not a vendetta or political,” Cifelli-Sherry said. “It’s a matter of not being in two places at the same time.”
Board members Cecilia Lindenfelser and Mercedes Davidson each said they “concurred” with Cifelli- Sherry’s assessment and the 8-0 vote to remove Esteves followed.
Afterwards, Esteves told The Observer that he had previously made known to the board attorney on several occasions that he was using vacation days from his police job to attend board meetings when he could. The problem he faced, Esteves said, was the vagary of his work schedule, which often included double shifts and court appearances that stretched out a typical work week to “60 to 70 hours.”
For that reason, Esteves said, he had to “decline committee assignments” but did offer to make himself available during morning hours. He said he got no takers.
Esteves said he “pleaded behind closed doors” with board members “to let me finish my term,” which runs through year’s end, and, at the time, those discussions seemed to “end on a good note,” he said.
But in the end, it all came to naught.
Asked if he intended to fight his ouster, Esteves said he saw no point to it.
“They say it’s ‘not political’, ’’ Esteves said. “It’s political.”
Asked why, Esteves said that during the last board election, “I put out a flier on [candidate] Bernadette [McDonald, a former board president] on [prior board actions that he viewed as] waste of taxpayer money.”
Since that election, he said, a newly formed board majority has resisted proposals he’s made that he says would have improved the board’s efficiency.
“I don’t want to work with people who don’t want to work with me,” Esteves said. “So why fight?”
Still, he said he was “disappointed that they would take this to the extreme they did, especially with only six months left in my term.”
Board attorney Lindenfelser said under the board’s bylaws, the vacant seat can be filled by a majority vote of the remaining eight board members. If the board fails to act within 65 days of the vacancy, however, the executive county superintendent will name someone to the seat.
As provided by the bylaws, the board “will give public notice of the vacancy and invite any qualified person to submit a written request for consideration of his/her candidacy for the vacancy.” Lindenfelser said the board has arranged to place such a notice in the newspaper. Candidates’ resumes are welcome but not required, he said. Submissions must be received by the board by June 12, he added. Candidates must be U.S. citizens, be Kearny residents and be able to read and write, he said.
Lindenfelser said that the board may act on an appointment as early as it
