The complaint was filed against the board member by fellow members Jim Giannakis, Keith Both, Thomas Cassio, Pio Pennisi, Doug Chapman, and William Seesselberg. The allegations claimed that the member in question broke multiple divisions of the School Ethics Act. While some allegations were dismissed, others were upheld, leading to the censure.

The School Ethics Commission adopted the decision to dismiss certain violations, but denied the motion to dismiss the alleged violations of the New Jersey Statutes Annotated (NJSA) 18a 12-24.1 D and NJSA 18a 12-241e. The Commission, following an administrative law hearing, concluded that the respondent violated several sections of the NJSA. The penalty recommended for these violations was a censure.

The Commission’s decision was forwarded to the Commissioner of Education for final determination of the recommended penalty. The Commissioner agreed with the recommended sanction, noting the respondent’s action in bypassing the chain of command and criticizing and questioning district administrators. The decision to censure the board member was made public during the recent meeting of the South Plainfield School Board.

In addition to the ethics violation issue, the meeting covered several other topics, including an upcoming senior project on December 16th for a blood drive. The board urged the public to participate, stating that out of the 40 slots available, 30 have been filled, and additional donors are still needed. Board members also moved into an executive session to discuss confidential matters pertaining to personnel and attorney-client privilege. No actions were taken in this session.