New Jersey school cancels football season amid criminal bullying probe

New Jersey school cancels football season amid criminal probe

Published October 07, 2014

FoxNews.com

SAYREVILLE, N.J. –  The football season at a storied New Jersey high school has been canceled amid "significant and serious" allegations of harassment, intimidation and bullying.
Sayreville Schools Superintendent Rich Labbe made the announcement late Monday during a meeting with the parents of football players. The development follows word of a criminal investigation by the county prosecutor, which Labbe said he could not discuss. Labbe says Prosecutor Andrew Carey told him there is credible evidence to indicate pervasive, wide-scale and generally accepted forms of harassment, intimidation and bullying within the program.
"We can set the standard right now for all kids, for all school districts in Middlesex County, in the state and in the nation that we are not going to stand around and allow kids to do this to one another," Labbe said. "We are going to start holding our students responsible for doing the right thing and reporting these kinds of behaviors."

"We are going to start holding our students responsible for doing the right thing and reporting these kinds of behaviors."- Schools Superintendent Rich Labbe

Sayreville's team has won three sectional titles over the past four years and is widely regarded as one of the state's top public school football programs. The Bombers string of 20 consecutive playoff appearances will now come to an end, The Home News Tribune reports.
The district canceled and forfeited a game that was scheduled last Friday. A criminal investigation is ongoing and details will not be released until its completed, authorities said.
Labbe said he could not discuss the future of the coaching staff, some of whom may face criminal charges. He announced last week that prosecutors were investigations allegations of a "significant and serious nature" within the program. The alleged victims and perpetrators have not been identified, he said.
"Right now our focus is on several things," Labbe said. "First and foremost, our focus is on the victims involved in this case. We want them and their parents to know that we are here for them and willing to do anything and everything to help so that they feel safe once again in our schools. Secondly, we do have to remember that this is a criminal investigation in which all parties are innocent until proven guilty. We also have to do everything in our power to cooperate with law enforcement, which primarily included staying out of their way."
Sayreville Athletics Director John Kohutanycz reportedly discussed the level of supervision school district officials provide for children before, during and after competitions and practices. Counselors have also been made available for any student who may have been impacted by the situation.
"We are standing up together as a Board of Education and as a district in saying no to bullying in Sayreville," Labbe said. "And we are inviting others to join us in our stance."
Also last week, an assistant football coach at the high school resigned amid allegations that he possessed steroids. Labbe said the allegations against the former defensive coordinator were the focus of a separate investigation and were not related to the cancellation of last week's game.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Fraud widespread among public employees in New Jersey free lunch program; some school board members also cheated

One unnamed school board member in Pleasantville, a city of nearly 21,000 people near the New Jersey shore, allegedly underreported her household income by about $59,000 each year. When confronted by Boxer's office, she said she didn't include her own salary because "she herself was not the person receiving the free student lunch," the report said. She also allegedly said that her income "is none of their damn business," according to the report.

Fraud widespread in New Jersey free lunch program: state official
Reuters
By Hilary Russ
Jan. 18, 2013

(Reuters) - New Jersey will refer 109 names to criminal investigators after a probe allegedly found pervasive fraud in the federal free and low-cost lunch program in the state's schools, a state official said on Wednesday.

The alleged fraudsters are all public employees, their spouses or members of their households, accused of lying about their income so that their children would qualify for federally subsidized reduced-price lunches, according to New Jersey Comptroller Matthew Boxer.

Six of the names, which were not released, are elected school board officials. The 109 people underreported their household income by more than $13 million altogether over the three years of records and 15 school districts that Boxer's office examined, according to his report.

If the state were to examine the more than 600 additional school districts in New Jersey, hundreds of additional cases could surface, the report said.

One unnamed school board member in Pleasantville, a city of nearly 21,000 people near the New Jersey shore, allegedly underreported her household income by about $59,000 each year. When confronted by Boxer's office, she said she didn't include her own salary because "she herself was not the person receiving the free student lunch," the report said.

She also allegedly said that her income "is none of damn business," according to the report.

The National School Lunch Program itself is partly to blame for the abuse, the report said. That's because the federal program only requires schools to verify 3 percent of the applications of people whose reported incomes are closest to eligibility limits.

School districts are not allowed to verify the remaining 97 percent of applications unless they suspect fraud, Boxer's report said.

New Jersey isn't the only state to find abuse of its school lunch program. A year ago, the inspector general of Chicago, Illinois' schools found 26 cases of current or former employees lying about their income to qualify.

The New Jersey investigation also found several instances of school districts failing to reject applicants who had submitted documents proving they were not eligible.

The U.S. government reimbursed New Jersey's schools for $212 million for the program during the 2011-2012 school year, while the state itself chipped in $5.5 million.

The federal program operates in more than 100,000 schools and residential child care institutions throughout the country. To qualify for free lunches, a family's income must be at 130 percent of the poverty level, or $29,965 for a family of four as of June 30. The program cost $11 billion in fiscal 2011.

(Reporting by Hilary Russ; Editing by Tiziana Barghini and Sofina Mirza-Reid)

3 New Jersey high school teachers, 2 administrators charged with student sex or cover-up

3 NJ high school teachers, 2 administrators charged with student sex or cover-up
By Associated Press
October 4, 2012

RUNNEMEDE, N.J. — A student at Triton High School went to Principal Catherine DePaul six months ago with a disturbing story: She believed another student was involved in a sexual relationship with a teacher, and she had seen explicit text messages the two exchanged.

At that moment, prosecutors say, a cover-up was put in motion that unraveled Thursday when DePaul, an assistant principal and three teachers were charged with offenses ranging from child endangerment to sexual assault and official misconduct.

The teachers — all men in their late 20s or early 30s — are accused of striking up relationships with female students during the 2011-2012 school year. Each of the five adults has been suspended from the school in the Philadelphia suburb of Runnemede, and each could face at least five years in prison if convicted.

Sexual relationships between teachers and students are not unheard of. Camden County prosecutor Warren Faulk noted that the media seem particularly fixated on the female teacher-male student cases that are reported around the country each year.

But what distinguished the allegations at Triton High was the inaction by administrators who ignored policies and safeguards that were in place and instead allowed a culture “where teachers thought they could get away with improper relationships with their students,” Faulk said.

Waiting outside the school Friday for her grandson, Donna Bresnock concurred.

“When these kids go a principal or vice principal, they’re the ones who they’re relying on,” she said. “Who do they turn to?”

The defendants either could not be reached or did not return messages left by The Associated Press. All five are due in court Thursday.

According to court documents, math teacher Dan Michielli, 27, of Blackwood, had intercourse with a student multiple times during the school year. He is charged with official misconduct, sexual assault, endangering the welfare of a child and criminal sexual conduct.

Gym teacher and boys’ soccer coach Nick Martinelli, 28, of Cherry Hill, is charged with official misconduct involving an 18-year-old. Prosecutors say he touched and kissed the girl when she was a student and had intercourse with her after she graduated in June.

Math teacher and girls’ track coach Jeff Logandro, 32, of Blackwood, is charged with official misconduct, criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a child. A court filing says he inappropriately touched a female student. A student who was not among the alleged victims, told a substitute teacher in April that teachers were “hooking up” with students, authorities say. The sub then told DePaul.

The principal met with the student, who told her she’d been to one of the teacher’s homes with a girl who was involved with him and had seen the explicit text messages, prosecutors say.

DePaul asked her to write an account of what she had heard, and Assistant Principal Jernee Kollock stayed with the student to help her write the statement, even helping her with her grammar — but also making it seem less serious, authorities allege.

Around the same time, Faulk said, DePaul learned one of the teachers had driven an alleged victim and another student to Ocean City in violation of district policy. But, he said, the teacher was merely reprimanded.

DePaul told her bosses about the teacher driving a student, but prosecutors say she never passed along the claims of sex. Instead, authorities say, she told at least one school employee to delete text-message exchanges with a student from his phone. It’s not clear from court documents who the employee was.

DePaul and Kollock were charged with official misconduct. DePaul later said she wished she had been more concerned for the students than the teachers, Faulk said.

The teachers were suspended last month by the Black Horse Regional School District; the administrators were suspended Thursday. Superintendent John Golden said in a statement that the district was cooperating with authorities, notifying families of students of the allegations and offering counseling.

“In addition, we have initiated a comprehensive review of our existing policies, protocols and training and education materials to prevent this from happening again at this or any district school,” the statement said.

[Maura Larkins comment: Most school districts seem to have a code of silence to protect politically-connected teachers and administrators. The culture has to change, or the policies are meaningless.]

Are the people in charge of your school corrupt? New movie about New Jersey schools: The Cartel.

New Movie Unveils Corrupt New Jersey Public Schools
From Joseph E. Moser on Friday, October 9, 2009

“Teachers punished for speaking out. Principals fired for trying to do the right thing. Union leaders defending the indefensible. Bureaucrats blocking new charter schools. Teens who can't read, parents desperate for change, and teachers struggling to launch stable alternative schools for inner city kids who want to learn.” This is New Jersey and its monopolistic public school system – a system that can spend nearly “$400,000 per classroom, and yet only 39 percent of the state’s eighth-graders are proficient or advanced readers, and only 40 percent of its eighth-graders are proficient or advanced in math.”

These are just some of the people and issues introduced to us in a new movie The Cartel.