Hazlet Protest Planned Monday, 8 P.M. Curfew Put In Place

HAZLET, NJ — There will be a protest scheduled to take place in Hazlet Monday afternoon, June 8, officials say. And Scott Ridley, the superintendent of the Hazlet school district, found himself in hot water over the weekend after he released a statement saying "all lives matter."

The protest march is scheduled to start at about 1 p.m. at the Hazlet Township Swim and Tennis Club parking lot. From there marchers will travel up Middle Road to the Hazlet Police building and then return to the swim club parking lot.

This will be a "legal and peaceful assembly, organized by Hazlet residents," said Hazlet Mayor Mike Glackin. However, Glackin said he put an 8 p.m. curfew in place for the town of Hazlet.

Glackin said the Hazlet police department is "working with protesters." Middle Road, between Poole and Union Avenues, will be closed to traffic from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. on Monday.

"Peaceful assemblies are a Constitutional right, guaranteed to all citizens of the United States of America. We stand with the community in promoting this peaceful event," said Glackin.

"Recently, at a few other similar events, some individuals have unfortunately engaged in non-peaceful disturbances that have endangered the health and safety of those peacefully assembled, and of bystanders and residents," he continued. "This curfew is in place for all persons in Hazlet."

Last week, Hazlet schools superintendent Ridley sent a message home to all school parents containing the controversial expression “all lives matter."

"I made an error of vocabulary, not philosophy. I completely support this movement and understand both its relevance and timeliness," Ridley told Patch.

Here is his original letter sent home to parents Tuesday evening:

"All too often, events that occur so very far from us physically manage to strike us up-close emotionally, especially when they make no sense for having occurred in the first place. The tragic and unnecessary killing of George Floyd has resonated across this country these past few days and, as your superintendent of schools, I write to echo the sentiments that have been expressed by so many in the aftermath of this heinous act: Racism has no place in a civilized society and all lives matter."

"I am hopeful that our community will recognize the senselessness of this action and continue to respect and care for one another with both compassion and a willingness to understand that just because someone looks or acts differently than someone else, s/he still deserves every advantage, every opportunity and every privilege that all of us enjoy."

Some in the community said they found his sentiments offensive and Ridley released the following statement less than 24 hours later:

"I am writing now to clarify my original announcement. It was not at all my intention to offend though it appears I have done exactly that. My objective was to address this tragic event in an all-inclusive manner and underscore that "Racism has no place in a civilized society.

"Full disclosure — I was not aware (though I am now) that the phrase I used had political/racist undertones. That's on me. I wrote it simply because I believe — in a global sense — that all lives do indeed matter and I wanted to use this one heinous moment in our country's history to draw attention on a larger scale to all injustice.

But I missed the mark, having since learned, as one responder noted, 'All Lives Matter' is completely disrespectful, especially at this time. This is a phrase that is commonly used to discount the Black Lives Matter movement, and the intention of sending this note at this time can only be construed as a message to discount the movement during the current events.”

"Lesson learned. It was not at all my objective to support such a tainted ideology as anyone who truly knows me will readily share that I deplore unfairness of any kind and have worked more than 30 years in education to promote equality and opportunity for all people. I want to especially apologize to our students who understandably may have been upset by their superintendent’s message. How it was received is not remotely how it was intended. Again, that’s on me."

The curfew will be lifted at 5:00 a.m. on Tuesday.

Hazlet Mayor Glackin said he supports the protest:

"We are committed to building trust and mutual respect within our community. We support the interests of all residents and respect their rights to free speech and peaceful assembly. We denounce violence, and acts of police misconduct, and we do not condone the actions of the officers that lead to the tragic death of George Floyd," he said.

"Our hearts are with those who feel powerless in the face of racial discrimination. This is an important moment for all of us to reflect and listen to those who are hurting and grieving, and hear their voices."