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New Jersey Reverses Course, Approves Parsippany Superintendent's Contract

PARSIPPANY, NJ (WCBS 880 / AP) - New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie singled out this superintendent's contract as a "poster boy" for greed, but now the state has approved it.

WCBS 880's Levon Putney: The Superintendent Makes Over $200,000 A Year

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The state quietly dropped its demand that the Parsippany-Troy Hills school board rescind Superintendent LeRoy Seitz's contract for exceeding Christie's salary cap.

Morris County executive superintendent Kathleen Serafino removed $2,462 from the nearly $129 million spending plan that will have no effect on taxes.

The amount is the difference between what Seitz has earned since December when his new five-year contract took effect and what he would have been paid under his old contract.

"The parties did act reasonably," says Frank Belluscio, III of the New Jersey School Boards Association.

He says the association sees no need for the cap on superintendents' salaries.

School board president Anthony Mancuso says the district will continue to pay Seitz $220,585.

Belluscio says that school boards don't want to pay high salaries, but "they do have a responsiblity to put the most highly qualified person in that position."

Parsippany still has a lawsuit to make the contract legitimate.

(TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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