Students Start 'Save Chief' After Facility Monitor's Ambiguous Departure

West Morris Central is about to see a changing of the guard – literally.

Rich Lansing, affectionately known as “Chief,” who served as a fulltime facility monitor at the campus since the late 1990s, is no longer working in the district.

But his separation from the school is not cut and dry.

Principal Steve Ryan told Patch Lansing has not been at the school for a couple of weeks, and because the situation is a personnel matter, he was not at liberty to discuss how or why the split happened.

“It’s a top priority of ours to keep the students and faculty safe,” Ryan said. “In the aftermath of Sandy Hook (Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut) we need to have protocols and procedures met for the safety of our school, and that’s our focus.”

Ryan said the position has been advertised and interviews will begin next week.

Superintendent of the district, Mackey Pendergrast, said the board of education will formally accept Lansing’s resignation at its next meeting, despite Lansing having never submitted a resignation letter.

“(Lansing’s separation) was mutually agreed upon with Principal Ryan,” Pendergrast said. “Mr. Lansing did a great job while he was here.”

Pendergrast echoed Ryan’s words regarding school safety, saying, “The safety and security of our school community is above all else; it’s our top priority. Without that number one goal, we can’t reach our other goals.”

The district will be looking for a new facility monitor who has experience with safety and security issues, Pendergrast said.

Students Show Support

Lansing, who by the nature of his job knew the majority of the student body, gained wide support from current and past pupils after a Facebook page was created called “Save Chief.”

The social media group has 154 members currently, and is prefaced with a post stating (sic):

Hey everyone from west morris central high school ... our old pal chief needs our help... the new principal out of no where fired him last Monday ... everyone is very upset about this .. parents teachers and students are all setting up a bored meeting ... he needs all of our help and support to get him back in West Morris at this board meeting ... please help him like he helped all of us through our years in that school ... once the date is set for the meeting I'll make another status ... I hope your all willing to support chief as much as he supported us ...

Another post says, “Save our favorite person in west morris central high school” with two photos of Lansing.

One status update implores readers to contact the board of education to reinstate Lansing and to “tell them how Chief helped you and why he needs to stay…”

Lansing’s job was to primarily monitor the outside of the building, keeping students from leaving the campus during school hours.

The school currently has one part-time facilities monitor who, by contract, may work up to four hours per school day. Lansing was earning $31,170 annually, and that is all the budget will allow for a replacement, according to district Business Administrator Doug Pechanec.