School Psychologist Files Whistleblower Lawsuit Against Brick Schools, Officials: Report

BRICK, NJ -- A Brick Township school psychologist is suing the district, claiming she was subjected to retaliation for refusing to approve special services for a student who didn't qualify for them and then suspended after she spoke to detectives investigating the case of suspended superintendent Walter Uszenski, according to a report.

The Asbury Park Press reported Laurena Staub, 43, of Berkeley Township, is suing the Brick Board of Education, as well as Uszenski and other current and former district officials.

The Press reported the suit also names former school board member John Talty; Richard Caldes, who served as interim superintendent after Uszenski’s arrest in May 2015 until the end of January; Susan Jurewicz, the Brick school district’s director of special education; Donna Stump, former director of special services and currently a supervisor of special services; and Ann Marie Dayton, a supervisor of special services; as well as Andrew Morgan, 68, the school district’s former interim director of special services; Morgan’s business, Morgan Associates; and his wife, Lorraine Morgan, 58, the district’s former academic officer.

Uszenski, Andrew Morgan and Lorraine Morgan all were indicted, along with Uszenski's daughter, Jacqueline Halsey, in late September on charges stemming from what prosecutors say was a scheme to provide Halsey's son with educational services at public expense to which the child was not legally entitled. Prosecutor Joseph Coronato at the time said the scheme amounted to taxpayer-funded daycare for the boy, who is Uszenski's grandson.

Staub's lawsuit claims the retaliation began in 2013 and continued and escalated to her suspension in November, according to the Press report. It included a discontinuation of accommodations that she had previously been afforded because of physical disabilities resulting from a 2008 automobile accident, according to the report.

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