WEST MILFORD The inner workings of the school district will go through two major changes in the coming year. Superintendent to retire in June 2008 Superintendent Glenn Kamp announced this week that he would retire in June of 2008, after being with the West Milford School District for 35 years. He was named superintendent of schools in April of 2005 when Robert Gilmartin retired mid-school year. “I promised [my wife] Cynthia that when I got this job I would only serve one term and then retire and travel with her,” Kamp said. Board President Midge Touw said it would be a long search to replace Kamp and was sad to see him leave. A victory for transparency The board unanimously decided to hold committee meetings during board meetings from now on. This is a big change because most of the research and discussion affecting the district is done by various committees. The committees met in private once a month on what they called Super Tuesdays so most of the time the public wasn’t privy as to how the board was arriving at its decisions. Touw suggested that they eliminate Super Tuesdays and that every board member serve on every committee, making it mandatory to conduct committee business in public. She said it would eliminate the confusion of some council members not knowing what was discussed and decided by each committee. It would also save time for board members by reducing meetings to two per month instead of three, she said. There will be no public input when they discuss items from each committee. Board Member Barbara Harlin said they have been criticized by the public about their closed meetings, and it would be good for the community to hear what is said. Timothy Foley, board member, questioned how to go about discussing personnel in regard to an activity or the discussion of contract terms. “If you are talking about an individual, then they have to be Riced (a reference to case law),” said Steven Cea, business administrator. “If it is something about a club that they are a part of, you can talk to them directly.” However, if there is a potential to talk about someone that wasn’t notified beforehand, then the board has to go into executive session, he said. Board members wanted to know whether every teacher who was on the agenda had to be sent a formal request to attend the meeting and would they be told the reason they were being discussed. Touw said she would speak with Board Attorney Vito Gagliardi about the legalities and how to proceed with topics that should be discussed in open versus executive sessions. She said the open meetings would not start until August, to allow time to resolve concerns. During the meeting on Tuesday, the board also acknowledged the work of Keith Plokhoy, student representative. “I would like to thank everyone to be here,” he said. “To sit through the battlefield I had no idea what went on here before I came. You were very nice to me. Thank you very much.”in district