With his criminal conviction last week, former Wall schools chief James Habel left one exclusive club, and joined another.
No longer a member of New Jersey’s elite superintendati, he now finds himself among a group of ex-school district bosses who left their privileged posts under dubious circumstances.
Each was gifted enough for their school boards to shower them with high salaries, luxury cars, generous expense accounts and other cushy perks. They were treated like corporate CEOs, educational Zen masters, and rainmakers of state aid. Habel himself was once hailed as a “visionary.”
Some of the officials even had buildings named after them. Now, their names are forever linked to a “me first” era of educational leadership.