November 21, 2012 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 19 Park Windmill Have Breakfast with Santa The Midland Park Fire Department will host its Annual Pancake Breakfast with Santa on Saturday, Dec. 8. The event will be held at the firehouse on Witte Drive from 8 to 11 a.m. Breakfast will include pancakes, sausage, coffee, and juice. Children who attend will receive a souvenir photo and small gift from Santa. Tickets are $4 per adult, and $2 for children ages two through 12. Children under age two will be admitted free. Leaf collection schedule unchanged The December leaf collection schedule will remain as noted in the 2012 Annual Almanac. No branches will be collected during the December leaf collection. Residents with branches to dispose of may bring them to the recycling center on Greenwood Avenue. No branches over 5 inches in diameter will be accepted at the recycling center. Curbside pick up changes Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, paper and cardboard will be picked up at curbside for recycling on Saturday, Nov. 24. Trash will be picked up on Friday, Nov. 23. Auxiliary hosts Holiday Luncheon The Midland Park Valley Hospital Auxiliary will host its Holiday Luncheon on Dec. 5 at Café 37 in Ridgewood. The auxiliary’s participation in the “Adopt-aFamily” collection will be discussed at the luncheon. The program, chaired in Midland Park by member Carol Ferrara, raises funds to provide holiday gifts and needed items to assist a local family in need. To contribute, contact Ferrara at caf71@optonline.net. The auxiliary meets monthly the Faith Reformed Church located at 95 Prospect Street in Midland Park. Winter concert rescheduled The Midland Park Elementary School’s Winter Concert for children in grades three through six has been rescheduled to Wednesday, Dec. 19. The event will be held in the gym at Highland School, 31 Highland Avenue, at 7 p.m. Cookie Walk announced The Midland Park United Methodist Church’s Annual Cookie Walk will be held on Saturday, Dec. 15. The event will fea- ture homemade cookies and holiday treats that can be purchased by the pound. The sale will be held at the church located at 269 Godwin Avenue from 9 to 11:30 a.m. -- or as long as supplies last. For more information, call (201) 445-3787. Drama club to present ‘Peter Pan’ The Midland Park High School Drama Club will present the stage play “Peter Pan” on Friday, Nov. 30 at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, Dec. 1 at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Performances will be held in the auditorium at the high school located at 250 Prospect Street. Tickets are $10 and may be purchased by contacting Brian Ersalesi at bersalesi@mid landparkschools.k12.nj.us. Library trustees to meet The Midland Park Memorial Library Board of Trustees will meet on Wednesday, Nov. 21 at 7:30 p.m. The meeting will be held in the library located at 250 Godwin Avenue in Midland Park. Meetings are open to the public. Fall Boutique now under way The Community Thrift Shop, located in the Midland Park Shopping Center at 85 Godwin Avenue, is now presenting its Fall Boutique. Fall clothing in all sizes, toys, lamps, and bric-a-brac are for sale. The shop is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Donations are accepted from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Mondays and on the first Saturday each month. For more information, call (201) 652-76610. shows, overnight tours, and a wide array of course offerings for adults and youths. Residents of Midland Park and the surrounding communities are welcome to attend. New trips include day outings to the Papermill Playhouse to see “The Sound of Music” on Nov. 29; Manhattan’s Gourmet Markets, “Food Lovers Fantasy” on Dec. 2; and “From Miniatures to Mansions: A Holiday Treat” on Dec. 12, which will include stops at the New York Botanical Garden, Little Italy in the Bronx, and the Glenview Mansion in Yonkers. Overnight tours include a nine-day Alaska trip from May 24 to June 1, 2013; a trip to Niagara Falls and Toronto from June 3 through June 7, 2013; a tour of Chicago from Aug. 18 through 24, 2013; and a four-day trip to Washington, D.C. and Baltimore’s Inner Harbor Sept. 20 through 23, 2013. For details and fee information, call Midland Park Continuing Education at (201) 444-2030 or visit www.midlandparkschools.k12.nj.us. Ambulance corps seeks volunteers The Midland Park Volunteer Ambulance Corps is seeking EMT certified individuals. Members would be allowed to sign up for shifts that meet their personal schedules. The corps encourages trained residents to not let their certifications lapse. To join, call (201) 444-3838 or e-mail certmp@yahoo.com. Visit http://www. midlandparkambulance.com/and click “Join MPAC” on the left side of the home page. Principal seeks reinstatement (continued from page 10) sent to him by the grievance chair of the union, citing unprofessional conduct, was real. He said he now has reason to believe that it was not real. According to Rotante’s complaint, Romano then used the grievance as a pretext to threaten Rotante with legal action if he did not accept a severance package and resign his position. He said he felt he had no practical choice but to accept Romano’s offer. Rotante alleges in his complaint that the grievance was fraudulent because the union had not approved the grievance, the grievance committee of the union did not approve the grievance, and no meeting was conducted to discuss or deliberate on the grievance or to vote on it. Rotante claims the school board failed to comply with the terms of the separation agreement, and that Romano and certain board members have made statements defaming and slandering him and that Romano and the board violated the confidentiality and non-interference provisions of the separation agreement. In summation, Rotante alleges that Romano used deceptive and inappropriate means to engineer a grievance against him in order to fraudulently induce Rotante to execute the separation agreement and resign. He wants the court to declare the separation agreement void and order his reinstatement to his position as principal along with attorney’s fees, costs, and compensatory and other damages. Romano responded by emphasizing that Rotante and the school district signed a separation agreement and releases concerning his leave and resignation and that both sides had “upwards of a week” to review those documents and were well represented when those documents were signed. “The school district has a separation agreement and releases signed by both parties and both parties were well represented, and so I’m not sure exactly what this is all about,” Romano said. “You do not enter into those types of agreements lightly, and both parties were well represented and so I do not understand. Both parties had ample time to consider those documents, upwards of a week, and so I do not understand where Mr. Rotante is going at this point. The Franklin Lakes Public Schools, the Franklin Lakes Board of Education, the superintendent, and the school district’s administration have abided by the letter of those documents.” According to the separation agreement, both parties agreed it was in their mutual interest to conclude their employment relationship and that Rotante would be granted a leave of absence with pay until June 30, 2013 at his current $139,290 annual salary in order to tend to a personal family matter. It was further agreed that the school board would make all the appropriate pension contributions for that entire period, and that Rotante would continue to receive health insurance coverage consistent with the collective negations agreement in effect between the school board and the Franklin Lakes Administrators Association for the period ending on June 30, 2013. There is also a provision in the separation agreement that states that Rotante agreed never to return to any employment or service with the board as an employee or as an independent contractor or apply for any position with the board at any time after the execution of the separation agreement. Both parties also signed documents releasing each other of all claims against them, including all lawsuits, known obligations, grievances, appeals, suits, judgments, or causes of action of any kind. The school district began a search for a new principal in October, and Romano said that search is continuing “full speed ahead” and he has every intention of staying on course with that search. Helen Attenello, who recently retired as principal of the High Mountain Road School, agreed to be the acting principal of the Woodside Avenue School through July 31, 2013 to help with the transition to a new permanent principal. Continuing education We welcome press releases from our readoffers trips & tours ers. Items may be sent to editorial@villadom. Midland Park Continuing Education is com. Deadline is Wednesday at noon the offering a variety of day trips, Broadway week prior to publication.