Remember to Renew
July 19, 2010
It's time to renew your valuable membership in NJPSA, your professional association. At NJPSA we know the professionalism you bring to your role as school leader, and we know just how serious you are about serving your schools and your students. NJPSA membership confers many benefits, including legal "insurance,"
In case after case, NJPSA members have been protected, their careers saved, their names cleared, and their pay reinstated. In the latest case, after nearly a year on suspension, Fort Lee High School Principal Jay Berman was cleared of tenure charges.
The Value of NJPSA Membership
By Robert M. Schwartz, Esq.
Chief Counsel to NJPSA
There are many reasons to be a member of NJPSA. Certainly, the ability to network with your colleagues and the access to information pertinent to you as a New Jersey school administrator are among the benefits of membership in the state’s largest association of school administrators. But perhaps the most important value is the measure of legal insurance that comes with NJPSA membership. The NJPSA legal program provides members with quick responses to legal inquiries, as well as representation in employment related matters.
Defense Against Tenure Charges: Two Examples
Though there are many examples of the value of the legal coverage you get with the price of your NJPSA membership, two recent cases are particularly noteworthy. Both involve tenure charges brought against Trenton school principals, Dr. Priscilla Dawson, then principal of the Trenton Central H.S., and William Tracy, then principal of the Daylight/Twilight School. Both matters were hotly contested and both resulted in reinstatement.
In the Dawson matter, the Trenton Board of Education filed tenure charges alleging a whole series of violations, including altering transcripts, mistakenly assigning students to the wrong grade level, enrolling them in wrong programs, unilaterally altering the placement of special education students, and more generally failing to adequately and properly supervise both students and staff. The case took nearly two years to litigate. The hearing consisted of more than a dozen witnesses who testified over eleven hearing dates.
Principal Reinstated
Five months after the record closed in a 63-page detailed opinion, Administrative Law Judge Ana Viscomi dismissed all 28 charges and ordered the immediate reinstatement of Dr. Dawson and awarded her all back pay owed. Citing Principal Dawson’s success at reducing the student dropout rate, improving attendance, and increasing graduation rates, Judge Viscomi criticized the board for acting “imprudently” and without adequate proofs.
This decision follows yet another determination concerning a Trenton school principal, also resulting in the principal’s reinstatement. William Tracy had been principal of Trenton's "Daylight/Twilight" School since 1999, which since its inception had several campuses and at its peak had an enrollment of more than 2000 students. Created to address the district’s high failure and dropout rate, the school’s student population ranged from 17 years of age to 80.
Tenure Charges Based on Confusing Policies
The tenure charges brought against Principal Tracy alleged that he had allowed students to be promoted in violation of the district’s attendance policy. The district’s policy did not allow for more than fifteen unexcused absences annually. However, the policy failed to take into account the unique four distinct stand-alone ten week cycles on which the Daylight/Twilight School was based. Each cycle allowed for up to three unexcused absences. A student having more than three unexcused absences in a given cycle was required to repeat the cycle. But, unlike other schools in the district, because the Daylight/Twilight ten week cycles were independent of each other, absences in each of the cycles were not deemed cumulative. Therefore, if a student was found to have excessive absences in one cycle, the student was allowed to repeat the same courses in a subsequent cycle. If the student met the attendance requirement and successfully completed the course work, the student received full credit.
The Trenton Board of Education alleged that it was not aware of the school’s distinct attendance policy; this notwithstanding the fact that the former superintendent who had helped create the program said that the board had approved of the unique policy. Moreover, the board professed ignorance of the “Option 2” nature of the school’s alternative educational curriculum, though the former superintendent had said that he had informed the board that the very purpose of the school was to provide to students who had previously failed or who had completely dropped out of school an alternative education.
Another Reinstatement
Both the court and the commissioner ruled that while there should have been better communication with the board as to the attendance policy of the Daylight/Twilight School, the charges did not rise to the level justifying dismissal. Therefore, the court and the commissioner ordered the reinstatement of Mr. Tracy. With respect to the penalties that were sanctioned, an appeal has been filed to the Appellate Division of the Superior Court.
Unforeseen Charges Successfully Defended Against
In both cases, the individual principals faced circumstances not of their own making that resulted in the filing of tenure charges. With the assistance of NJPSA counsel, they both successfully defended the charges. Neither principal had to spend any personal funds for their defense. The entire cost was picked up by NJPSA.
NJPSA Legal Team – Here for Our Members
Both of these cases illustrate the value of NJPSA membership. It means that if you have a dispute with an employing board of education, you have the security of knowing that you are not alone; that NJPSA will be in your corner fighting to insure that you receive the full range of due process to which you are entitled. So, to get the full measure of protection you deserve, it is important to maintain your membership. For those colleagues who may not be members, for the sake of their security, encourage them to join NJPSA.
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