Secaucus schools paid two superintendents to leave and re-upped a $900-a-day interim through 2027, records show

Hudson TV Exclusive

SECAUCUS — The Secaucus Board of Education reappointed its interim superintendent, Dr. Mark Toback, in April for another full school year at $900 a day. That follows two separation agreements that paid the district’s last two permanent superintendents to step down, according to records Hudson TV obtained under the Open Public Records Act.

The board approved Toback’s new contract on April 23, 2026. It runs from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027. The district’s cost statement puts the year at up to $234,000 in salary (260 days at $900) plus $500 for travel, for a total of $234,500. The Hudson County interim executive county superintendent approved the contract on March 23.

The district released 157 pages of records on Oct. 19 in response to Hudson TV’s Oct. 8 request. They also show:

• Jennifer Montesano (2022): In exchange for her resignation, the board gave her paid leave from March 24 through June 30, 2022, and a payment of $90,568. The agreement describes that payment as six months’ salary.
• Erick Alfonso (2025): In exchange for his resignation, the board gave him four months of paid leave, from Dec. 20, 2024, to April 21, 2025, worth $61,500, plus $19,869 for 28 unused vacation days. The board also agreed that his personnel record would say he “resigned for personal reasons.”
• Board attorney: The board paid its law firm, Fogarty, Hara, LaPira & Cherry, $190,339.17 in 72 payments, on checks dated January 2025 through June 2026.
• Business office: The board approved a revised 2026-27 contract that raised Business Administrator/Board Secretary Grace Yeo’s salary to $189,720, retroactive to July 1. The board’s Oct. 14 agenda then listed her retirement, effective Dec. 31.

Hudson TV emailed Toback and Yeo on Tuesday, Oct. 20, with detailed questions about these records and asked that they share the request with Board President Kelli D’Addetta. No response had been received by publication time Wednesday morning. Hudson TV will add any response.

The interim contract

Toback, who previously led the Wayne and Hoboken districts according to the district’s website, started as interim on Oct. 1, 2025. The board approved his first contract on Sept. 22, 2025, for Oct. 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026, also at $900 a day. That contract’s cost statement estimated 4.5 days a week for 34 weeks, or $137,700.

The board authorized sending a new contract to the county office on March 10, 2026, according to the cost statement. The county approved it March 23, and the board adopted the reappointment resolution, signed by D’Addetta, on April 23. The new contract keeps the $900 daily rate. It says Toback will work up to five days a week, and either side can end it on 14 days’ notice.

Both Toback contracts say he was hired to provide stability “while the Superintendent is on a leave of absence.” Alfonso’s resignation took effect April 21, 2025, according to his separation agreement.

Earlier this month, Hudson TV reported that it had not found a resolution extending Toback’s contract on the board agendas posted for the 2026-27 school year. The April 23 resolution, approved during the 2025-26 school year, was among the records the district released Oct. 19.

On Oct. 14, the board picked Comegno Education Institute to run its search for a permanent superintendent. The district says the executed resolution will follow by Oct. 30. The agenda for a special board meeting Wednesday morning, Oct. 21, listed a closed session on a Comegno contract.

Two separation agreements

Montesano. Montesano’s contract ran from Oct. 17, 2019, to June 30, 2024, and paid $177,064 in 2021-22. In September 2021, the board named an acting superintendent, Patch and NJ.com reported at the time. The board approved the separation agreement by resolution on March 24, 2022, under then-President Jack McStowe.

Under the agreement, the board approved paid personal leave from March 24, 2022, until her resignation took effect June 30, 2022. It also paid her $90,568, “six (6) months’ salary which represents three (3) months’ pay for every year remaining” on her contract. The agreement says that is the maximum allowed under state law and her contract. It was conditioned on approval by the state Commissioner of Education.

Alfonso. Alfonso’s contract ran from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2026. The board placed him on paid leave in March 2024, Patch reported. On Feb. 13, 2025, it adopted Resolution R1.20, which approved a separation agreement and his resignation effective April 21, 2025.

The agreement says the board would pay “his prorated annual salary for four (4) months from December 20, 2024 through April 21, 2025 in the amount of Sixty One Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($61,500).” It also says the board would pay $19,869 for 28 unused vacation days. Together, that comes to $81,369. In return, Alfonso released any claims against the board. The board agreed that his personnel record “shall reflect that the reason for his separation is that Alfonso resigned for personal reasons,” and that it would give that statement in response to outside inquiries. Both sides agreed not to make negative public comments about each other. Like Montesano’s, the agreement depended on the Commissioner of Education’s approval.

The $61,500 covers only the last four months of Alfonso’s leave. Patch reported in March 2025 that the district said it would pay Alfonso a total of $183,977 from March 20, 2024, through April 21, 2025.

$190,339 to the board attorney

The district’s check register lists 72 payments to Fogarty, Hara, LaPira & Cherry, coded “Legal Board Attorney.” They total $190,339.17 and were made on 19 checks dated Jan. 16, 2025, through June 29, 2026. Checks dated in 2025 total $118,993.91, and checks dated January through June 2026 total $71,345.26.

Some of the payments covered older bills. One line, for $9,445.75, is labeled “PMT. OUT INV 23-24.” The firm’s Vittorio S. LaPira is listed as board attorney on the county’s contract approval letters. The register produced to Hudson TV ends June 29, 2026.

Business office raises, then retirements

A board resolution re-appointing central office staff for 2026-27 lists Yeo at $186,000, the same as her 2025-26 base salary, according to the district’s cost sheets. The county approved that version June 5, 2026.

On Aug. 20, the board approved raises of about 3%, retroactive to July 1, for 13 central office employees. Those included Administrative Assistant Judith Preinfalk ($80,625 to $83,044) and Staff Accountant C. Michael Poindexter ($104,975 to $108,124).

The county approved a revised Yeo contract on July 22, and the board adopted it Sept. 17. It pays $189,720 “for the period retroactive to July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027,” a 2% raise of $3,720, according to the district’s cost sheet. At the Sept. 17 public hearing on the contract, a resident argued that raises for administrators were not prudent given the district’s finances, Hudson TV reported earlier this month.

Under the contract, Yeo can receive up to $15,000 for unused sick days when she retires, and payment for up to 44 unused vacation days when she leaves. The district’s cost sheet puts the vacation maximum at $32,106. Those figures are caps, not known payouts.

The agenda for the board’s Oct. 14 meeting listed Resolution R1.10, accepting “with regret” the retirements of Preinfalk, Yeo and Poindexter, all effective Dec. 31, 2026. On Oct. 16, the district posted an opening for a business administrator/board secretary for Jan. 1 to June 30, 2027, at $155,000 to $185,000 a year. Hudson TV asked the district when each employee gave notice of retirement.

What’s next

• The district says it will send more records by Oct. 30: the executed search-consultant resolution, assistant business administrator and transportation supervisor contracts, a phone-system lease, and Millridge School records.
• Three board seats are on the Nov. 3 ballot.

Hudson TV asks: Should Secaucus voters get a full public accounting of what superintendent turnover has cost the district? Share your take in the comments.

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