Superintendent Frank Alvarez To Be Head Of Rye Schools

Dr. Frank Alvarez, the superintendent of schools in Montclair, will not retire, but will replace long-time district superintendent Edward Shine in the Rye City School District.

Shine, superintendent in Rye for 16 years, announced in July 2011 that he would retire at the end of the current school year in June 2012.

In February, Alvarez said he'd be stepping down as superintendent of the Montclair school district after nine years in the job.

Only a few years ago, the Montclair Board of Education announced that it had approved a new five-year contract for Alvarez that extended from July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2014.

That contract called for Alvarez to remain at a salary of $216,083 for two years.

Previously, Alvarez was superintendent of River Vale Schools and North Caldwell schools in New Jersey.

In a press release, Alvarez said that: "I'm honored to be given this opportunity. Rye is one of the nation's premier public school districts and I am committed to helping drive the district to even greater heights."

Alvarez is one of many New Jersey superintendents that have retired or are leaving the state, mostly as a result of salary caps imposed by the administration of Gov. Chris Christie.

The caps, imposed through regulation and without legislative approval, establish salaries for top school officials depending on the size of the district. The top scale for those in districts with between 5,000-10,000 students—such as Montclair—is $175,000, the governor’s salary, and the number goes down to as low as $135,000 for the smallest districts.