Brick Residents Urge School Board To Reinstate Superintendent

BRICK, NJ — With charges dismissed and a notice of a potential lawsuit filed, a pair of Brick Township residents has urged the Brick Township Board of Education to take action to reinstate suspended Superintendent Walter J. Uszenski.

Vic Fanelli and George Scott, frequent critics of both the school board and the township government, both pressed the Board of Education for answers last week on when members might take action to reinstate Uszenski, who has been suspended since May 2015, when he was first arrested on charges of official misconduct. Uszenski's contract with the district expires June 30, 2018.

Uszenski's suspension initially was with pay, but in late September 2015 was changed to without pay after he was indicted, along with his daughter, Jacqueline Halsey, Andrew Morgan and Lorraine Morgan on charges the four conspired to provide what the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office charged was essentially taxpayer-funded daycare for Uszenski's grandson by providing him with special education services.

On Feb. 28, Ocean County Superior Court Judge Patricia B. Roe dismissed the charges against Uszenski and Halsey, saying key exculpatory evidence was omitted by executive assistant prosecutor Michel Paulus during presentation to the grand jury.

In April, Scott asked about Uszenski's status and was told the board was waiting to see what would happen for a 45-day window for the prosecutor's office to appeal the ruling to close. Last week, board Vice President Stephanie Wohlrab, who was conducting the meeting in the absence of board President John Lamela, said no decision has been made because the board is still waiting to see how the prosecutor's office proceeds.

"We don't believe it's in the best interests to disrupt the students or the staff" to reinstate Uszenski only to have to suspend him again if another indictment comes down, Wohlrab said.

Al Della Fave, spokesman for the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, said prosecutors are "evaluating what has been presented to date with regard to how we plan to proceed" in the case.

Fanelli and Scott, however, pressed the board to act, saying reinstating Uszenski could ease the potential impact of a lawsuit. Uszenski's attorney, Neil Mullins, filed the tort claim notice — a legal document that informs government entities that they may be subjects of a lawsuit — on April 25 on behalf of Uszenski, Halsey and Halsey's son against the Board of Education, the township, the prosecutor's office and several individuals.

The tort claim filing was not unexpected, officials said, noting there is a 90-day window for a claimant to alert a government entity of the intent to file suit. The tort claim, which also names Halsey and Uszenski's grandson as plaintiffs, says damages of $20 million are being sought for each one.

The tort claim filing names a host of people, including then-board members Sharon Cantillo, John Barton, Frank Pannucci Jr., Michael Conti, Susan Suter and Karyn Cusanelli; district business administrator James Edwards and former board attorney John C. Sahradnik; Mayor John G. Ducey and township business administrator Joanne Bergin; Prosecutor Joseph Coronato, Paulus and Detective Ryan Mahoney; and former school district employees Donna Stump, Susan Russell, both of whom were involved in special education services in the district, and Marcell Butterly, who a report says is a former bus driver for the district.

In the filing, Uszenski's attorney accuses Paulus of failing to present several pieces of evidence that would have exonerated the superintendent. The tort claim filing also accuses Ducey of lying to reporters in claiming he had no role in the investigation of Uszenski, then later admitting he had supplied information to the prosecutor's office that prompted the investigation.

Fanelli, who reminded the board that a legal battle with former board president Daniel Woska and Melindo Persi, a former interim superintendent who was dismissed in 2008 and contested the dismissal. Woska's appeals in the matter were only resolved earlier this year with a state Appellate Court ruling.

"I don't want to see this drag on for 5 or 6 years," Fanelli said. "The longer they (court cases) go on, the only one who makes money is the attorneys."

"We're just going meeting to meeting to meeting," Fanelli said.

Of the current board members, only Sharon Cantillo and John Barton were board members at the time of Uszenski's arrest. Barton was not able to participate in disciplinary decisions against Uszenski because he had to recuse himself due to the fact his wife works in the district. Cantillo similarly has had to recuse herself because her niece works in the district.

Wohlrab, Lamela and Victoria Pakala, who were elected to the board in November 2015 and took their seats in January 2016, were harshly critical of the previous board's decision to only suspend Uszenski instead of firing him. Pakala in particular was vocally critical at board meetings prior to the election, blasting the board for not immediately firing Uszenski over the hiring of Andrew Morgan, who had a 1990 conviction for drug dealing in his past.

Cantillo, who was board president at the time, and Sahradnik, the board attorney, repeatedly explained to members of the public, including Pakala, there were limits to the what the board could do without exposing it to legal liability.

During the reorganization meeting in January 2016, Pakala, Wohlrab and Lamela, along with George White who was finishing out the term of John Talty, voted to instruct board attorney Nicholas Montenegro to see if there was any way to fire Uszenski. But after that reorganization meeting, the matter has not been discussed since.

With the dismissal of charges against Uszenski, the board has been faced with the possibility of having to terminate its contract with interim Superintendent Thomas Gialanella and reinstate Uszenski. Gialanella, who is the retired superintendent of the Jackson Township School District and has served as an interim in other districts before being hired by the current board in late January 2016. As a retired superintendent, he is limited to serving a maximum of two years as interim in a district. His contract for 2017-18 was listed on the agenda for the May 11 executive session, but Wohlrab told Fanelli the matter was not discussed.

"Even his attorney sees another indictment coming down," Wohlrab said. "It's a difficult decision to make."

Photo by Karen Wall