Nepotism 101, Fort Lee Board of Education Policy or PR?!

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In the coming days, it is highly probable that information will be released to the press potentially indicting a certain Board of Education member and a Fort Lee BOE employee for misconduct in performance of their respective duties.   If the history of our current Board prevails, no actions will be taken, even though they are well aware of the circumstances surrounding these allegations.  Please stay tuned.

Follow this situation on Twitter:  www.pearlsofwisdm14

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The infestation of nepotism and cronyism in the Fort Lee school system has long been known.   While the Board of Education in 2013 published a revised policy on nepotism, it appears to be more PR than a bona fide attempt to rectify the situation.  Nepotism and cronyism permeate the entire school environment and create a situation where it becomes acceptable practice to hire someone’s relative or friend instead of hiring the best available candidate for each position.

In the past, community members have complained that an “outsider” was hired over a “local” for a given position. Why wasn’t the Fort Lee resident given priority?  There are two schools of thought on this issue, both with some validity.  First, it is a wonderful thing to support your community and hire individuals that live locally, that have friends and family in the community.  The obvious downside is that in order to have a quality school system, Fort Lee Borough needs the best available teachers, the most qualified, not the most popular.

When a teacher or BOE employee is local, it often opens the door to impropriety.  Personally knowing that individual may fester the belief that favors are available or favorable treatment is available for an individual child. And if that teacher or employee is reluctant to grant such “favors”, it may breed resentment and/or anger.   This can be a very divisive force in a school system.

We certainly would not want to exclude quality teachers from our school system who are Fort Lee residents, but we must remain cognizant that this is a slippery slope. And when one of the individuals involved in the hiring process is an individual whose judgment has been questioned in the past, negotiating that slope becomes even more treacherous.

Tammi Gil is listed on the Fort Lee Board of Education as “Human Resources Officer”.   In a private corporation, a human resources coordinator is directly involved in the hiring process.  As a general rule there is a screening process for résumés remitted for a position that is advertised.  It is very difficult to determine the exact nature of Ms. Gil’s role is in the hiring process, but we do know that new hirees must be approved by the BOE.  Over a year ago, I requested a meeting with Asst. Superintendent Dr. Sharon Amato and Business Administrator Cheryl Balletto to discuss numerous complaints that I had heard from teachers, principals, and community members regarding Tammi Gil. The complaints consisted primarily of accusations that Ms. Gil’s input into employee hiring included a “friends and family plan”, i.e. that there were various employees on the Fort Lee BOE payroll that had achieved their positions through Ms. Gil’s influence, and that Ms. Gil interacted poorly with certain district employees.  When I requested a list of employees related to Ms. Gil genetically or in her personal circle, I was unable to obtain one, i.e. I was informed that there was no tracking system in place.   I left the meeting believing that Ms. Gil was being protected by administration and that it would be very difficult to ever get to the bottom of this matter.

The issue was resurrected this past year when I was informed by a community member that the  Board Agenda of 6/26/2013, Item 38P,  included a particular item of interest.  It appears that Ms. Gil’s mother-in-law, Hilda Gil, age 73, was to be approved for a $ 1775.00 stipend for summer employment as an instructional aide.  The obvious question that has to be addressed is whether or not Hilda Gil was the most qualified candidate to apply for the position of school aide.  Hilda Gil is listed as receiving an annual salary as reported for 12/31/2012 of $ 23,894 plus benefits, employed since 2007, according to website:http://www.nj.com/news/bythenumbers/.  If this is not the epitome of impropriety, it is hard to imagine what would be. The Human Resources Officer, a key employee directly involved in the hiring process, who has access to every personnel file, convinces the powers-to-be to hire her mother-in-law.

It is critical to realize exactly how much power comes with the position of “Human Resources Officer”.   You have a mental (possibly physical?) record of every individual who has ever tried to influence a hiring over the years of your employment, i.e. every local politician; every BOE member; every administrative person; every teacher or other BOE employee.  Imagine the immense power that comes with that knowledge.  If tenure weren’t protection enough, you now become virtually invincible with that knowledge.

There is no hard evidence of exactly which employees in this district have been inappropriately hired, although one can be fairly certain that there have been some indiscretions.   It is also fairly safe to say that this type of insular existence occurs in every district.   However, it would be remiss for the entire community to turn a blind eye to an individual in this district with the brazen audacity to put her mother-in-law on the payroll and expect no uproar.

We may want to also take into consideration the incredible dearth of Ms. Gil’s own credentials for the position at the time of her hiring.  In the public sector, a masters degree in human resources (or a related field) might be required for this position.  According to information received, Ms. Gil had no college degree in human resources.  As a matter of fact, according to her résumé, Ms. Gil had no college degree at all.  So is it possible that perhaps Ms. Gil received some assistance in the hiring process through a third party?  If not outside influence, what inspired our BOE to engage an individual without the proper credentials? Note: according to the aforementioned website, Tammi Gil’s salary as of 12/31/12 was $ 71,834 plus benefits, plus additional stipends. 

I would suspect for the aforementioned reasons that Ms. Gil is untouchable. It is reasonable to assume that Ms. Gil has certain skills in managing state pension forms, which certainly would make her valuable to the district, but certainly not indispensable.  However, when one considers the numerous complaints that I have personally heard regarding Ms. Gil from reputable sources, one has to wonder if Ms. Gil is working in the best interests of the Fort Lee school system.

Tammi Gil is so deeply entrenched in this position that it would be virtually impossible to oust her. It would probably take an act of Congress.  Oops, sorry!  Congress isn’t doing much of anything these days, so that is definitely not the solution.  For better or worse, Tammi Gil is in charge of Human Resources.  But maybe our BOE can, at the very least, keep a closer eye on Ms. Gil’s recommendations, in order to add a sliver of credibility to the BOE and the administration in terms of the integrity of the hiring process.