Warren Hills Regional Superintendent Peter Merluzzi gets 4 percent raise

WASHINGTON TWP. | Made the highest-paid schools superintendent in Warren County last December, Warren Hills Regional School District Superintendent Peter Merluzzi tacked on a 4 percent raise this week.

The raise, decided upon by the school board after a closed-door discussion, puts Merluzzi's salary for 2009-10 at $186,575, the superintendent confirmed Wednesday.

Merluzzi's five-year contract, valid through 2011, does not specify what Merluzzi's raise will be each year, leaving it up to the board to set his salary each year.

Merluzzi, of Forks Township, has been in the district since the mid-1990s and has been a superintendent in that district and others for about 30 years.

The school chief said his longevity and experience probably factor into his salary, though it is not something he likes to talk about publicly.

"It's a fact of doing business. It is what it is," he said.

When the school board last met to discuss Merluzzi's contract in December, it gave him a 3 percent raise, making his $179,440 salary the highest among school superintendents in Warren County. The county Department of Education could not confirm Wednesday whether he still makes the most among his colleagues.

That contract discussion occurred late in the year because the district was involved in teacher contract negotiations, Merluzzi said. The superintendent said he always makes his contract the last to be discussed.

According to a public notice printed late last month, the school board was meeting Tuesday to amend or modify the terms of Merluzzi's contract. The notice advised that residents could address the board with comments about the contract, but that the board would not respond to questions because it is a personnel issue.

No one in the audience -- which mostly consisted of other school officials -- commented.

School board President Theresa Iacobucci could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

As of January 2008 -- the most recent data available on administrators' contracts through the New Jersey Department of Education Web site -- Merluzzi was contracted for 260 days of work annually, allowing him 25 vacation days, 12 sick days and three personal days a year. He said those terms have not been altered.

The Warren Hills Regional School District includes a middle school and a high school and totals more than 2,000 students, according to 2007-08 enrollment data from the New Jersey Department of Education.

The district serves Washington and the townships of Franklin, Mansfield, Oxford and Washington.

District voters in September approved a $5.5 million referendum for new athletic facilities.