Secaucus schools paid ex-superintendent $184K on leave; interim chief now earns $900 a day as school taxes jump 7.2%

Secaucus homeowners are paying 7.2% more in school taxes this year, and the school district is still run by a temporary superintendent paid $900 a day. That’s two and a half years after the Board of Education put its last permanent superintendent on paid leave and kept paying him. The district paid him $183,977 while he was out, Patch reported.

The district’s own interim superintendent has called its finances a “budget crisis.” State data show Secaucus spends more on administration per student than most similar districts. And the board hasn’t hired a firm to find a permanent superintendent yet. Hudson TV reviewed board agendas, the state’s budget and spending reports, meeting video and past news coverage.

Key facts

• $183,977 paid to former Superintendent Erick Alfonso during his paid leave, March 2024 to April 2025 (Patch).
• $900 a day for Interim Superintendent Mark Toback since Oct. 1, 2025. The state budget filing lists that as $234,000 a year.
• 7.2% increase in the school tax levy, from $41.6 million to $44.6 million. The district estimated about $170 a year more for the average home.
• $2,510 per student budgeted for administration in 2024-25. The median for similar New Jersey districts was $2,025.
• 88% score in fiscal management on the state’s latest district review. The district lost points for late paperwork.

Paying a superintendent who wasn’t working

The board voted March 11, 2024 to put Superintendent Erick Alfonso on paid leave, effective March 20, while it investigated allegations against him, Patch reported. The board has never said publicly what the allegations were. Alfonso kept collecting his salary until he resigned on April 21, 2025, more than a year before his contract was set to end on June 30, 2026. Patch reported the district’s total payment for that period at $183,977. The board also paid an outside lawyer up to $13,250 to investigate.

Athletic director and football coach Charlie Voorhees served as acting superintendent from April 2024 until Sept. 30, 2025. He withdrew from the search for a permanent superintendent, and the board then hired Dr. Mark Toback, a retired Wayne superintendent, as interim. His contract pays a per diem of $900 for up to five days a week and ran from Oct. 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026, Patch reported. The district’s 2026-27 state budget filing lists the same contract dates and a base annual salary of $234,000.

Toback was still serving as interim superintendent at the board’s Sept. 17, 2026 meeting. Hudson TV did not find a resolution extending his contract on the board agendas posted so far for the 2026-27 school year (July 16 through Oct. 1).

The search for a permanent superintendent: On Aug. 20, 2026, the board voted to seek proposals from superintendent search consultants (Resolution R4.18, listed as an “emergent item”). Proposals were due Sept. 10. At the Sept. 17 meeting, a resident asked for an update. The board said seven firms had applied, that it had picked three to present at its October meeting, and that it wanted candidates ready to interview by January, when newly elected board members take their seats. No search firm contract appears on board agendas through Oct. 1.

Mayor Michael Gonnelli has criticized the board over the turnover for years. “We’ve had six superintendent[s] in the past seven years and guess what, we are still paying all of them. All of them got paid and weren’t working,” Gonnelli told Patch in September 2024. That count is the mayor’s, and Hudson TV has not independently verified it.

“Budget crisis” and a 7.2% school tax hike

At a joint town-school board meeting on April 30, 2026, Toback said the district had a $2 million deficit and was in “a budget crisis,” Patch reported. Business Administrator Grace Yeo cited a 30% jump in staff health insurance premiums and a 32% jump in prescription costs. Toback’s three-year plan also calls for 4% increases in the school levy in 2027-28 and again in 2028-29.

The 2026-27 budget raises the school tax levy from $41,641,065 to $44,627,661, an increase of about 7.2%, according to the district’s User Friendly Budget filed with the state. Total spending across all funds is budgeted at $57.07 million. District officials estimated that the owner of an average home, assessed at $180,516, would pay about $170 more a year, Patch reported. Assistant Business Administrator Pasquale “Pat” Cocucci called the increase “not optional. It’s a necessity.”

Administrative costs above similar districts

The state Department of Education’s 2025 Taxpayers’ Guide to Education Spending compares districts with others of the same type and size. Secaucus is in the group of K-12 districts with 1,801 to 3,500 students. On “Total Administration” per student (Indicator 8):

• 2024-25 (budgeted): Secaucus spent $2,510 per student. The median for its peer group was $2,025, and the statewide median for all districts was $2,211. Secaucus ranked 60th of 72 districts in its group, where 1st is the lowest cost.
• 2023-24 (actual): Secaucus spent $2,355 per student. The peer group median was $1,946.

The district’s new 2026-27 state budget filing projects administrative costs of $2,975 per student. The state’s figures for other districts that year are not out yet.

State review: points lost for late paperwork

At the Sept. 17 meeting, Toback presented the results of the state’s district monitoring review (NJQSAC). He noted that the state rates Secaucus a “high performing” district, with 100% scores in governance, operations and personnel. The district scored 87% in instruction and program and 88% in fiscal management.

Toback said the district lost eight points because the monthly board secretary reports were not “completed and reconciled” in the required time. It lost more points because the corrective action plan that followed the annual audit “was one day late.” In all, he said, the district lost 12 points in fiscal management. (Meeting video, at about 26:15 to 27:50.)

Administrator contracts discussed behind closed doors

At the same Sept. 17 meeting, the board took up a 2026-27 employment agreement for Yeo, who is also the board secretary (Resolution R1.01). A board official said the only change was a 2% raise. The state budget filing lists Yeo’s 2025-26 base salary as $186,000, so a 2% raise would make it $189,720. During the public hearing on the contract, one resident argued that raises for administrators are not prudent given the district’s finances.

Two weeks later, on Oct. 1, the board held a special meeting with one item of business: a closed-door session on “the terms and conditions of employment” for four administrators. They were the business administrator/board secretary, the assistant business administrator/assistant board secretary, the supervisor of safety and security, and the supervisor of transportation, according to the agenda. No public votes were listed. The board’s minutes of that closed session are not yet public.

Phone system lease switched with no reason given

On July 16, the board approved a four-year lease and finance agreement with American Capital / US Bancorp for a new phone system, “not to exceed $230,000” (Resolution R4.06). The Sept. 17 agenda included a resolution rescinding that approval (R4.09) and another approving a four-year lease and finance agreement with Dexter Capital in its place, “not to exceed $230,583.92” (R4.10). Neither agenda gives a reason for the switch or says how the lessor was chosen.

Millridge School: no board vote found

On Sept. 22, the Town Council approved Resolution 2026-259, a lease-to-own deal for Millridge School. Under it, the Board of Education pays the town $200,000 a year, $1.8 million in total, and gets the building for $1 after 2030 (Hudson TV’s earlier story). The board’s notary page attached to the agreement says the board’s signing was “duly authorized by a proper resolution of the Secaucus Board of Education.” Hudson TV did not find that resolution on the board agendas posted from July 16 through Oct. 1, 2026. The only Millridge item on those agendas is a $12,700 contract to move the Millridge early learning center to Clarendon School (Aug. 20). The vote may have happened earlier or may not be posted online, and Hudson TV is asking the district.

What’s next

• The board’s next regular meeting is Thursday, Oct. 15, according to the district’s meeting calendar. As of Thursday, Oct. 8, the agenda had not been posted. The board has said it plans to hear from three search firms in October.
• Three seats on the nine-member board are up in the Nov. 3 school board election.
• Hudson TV filed an Open Public Records Act request with the Secaucus Board of Education on Oct. 8 for the superintendent separation agreements, the interim contract, the search-firm proposals, the phone lease records and any board vote on the Millridge School deal.

Sources: Secaucus Board of Education agendas for July 16, Aug. 20, Sept. 17 and Oct. 1, 2026 · Sept. 17, 2026 meeting video · NJ DOE 2026-27 User Friendly Budget, Secaucus · NJ DOE 2025 Taxpayers’ Guide to Education Spending · Patch: Sept. 23, 2025, Feb. 14, 2025, Sept. 13, 2024, April 30, 2026, May 12, 2026 · Town of Secaucus Sept. 22, 2026 final approved agenda (Res. 2026-259).

Hudson TV asks: Should the Secaucus school board cut administrative costs before asking taxpayers for more, or was the 7.2% school tax increase necessary?
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Featured photo: Huber Street School in Secaucus, by Jim.henderson via Wikimedia Commons, released into the public domain (CC0); cropped, with text added by Hudson TV.