Email Shows State Told Middletown Last July About Unlicensed Teacher

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — In March, Patch broke the story that the Middletown school district kept a teacher on staff for an additional four months after he lost his teaching license.

The teacher is Michael D'Alessio, who up until last October was a special-education teacher at High School South. He lost his license last June. On July 29, the state Department of Education sent the Middletown school district an email, notifying them D'Alessio lost his license and should no longer be working in the classroom.

However, both Middletown school superintendent Mary Ellen Walker and district lawyer Bruce Padula maintain that nobody in the district ever received that email. In fact, Padula and Walker previously said they would like to see proof of that email; Padula also said the state needs to "improve" how it notifies districts when a teacher loses their license.

"If you have a copy, please forward it to me," Walker previously said.

Now, Patch filed an OPRA (Open Public Records Act) request to confirm that the Dept. of Education did indeed notify Middletown last July about D'Alessio. The Department of Education complied and sent us a copy of the email.

The email was sent from Donna.Pesci@doe.nj.gov, a certification officer at the Monmouth County Dept. of Education, which is run by the state DOE. It was sent on July 29, 2022 to the following five Middletown school district employees:

Superintendent Walker; Pat Condon; business administrator Amy Doherty and Rosie Shopp and Susan Garofalo, who both work in human resources.

"Subject line: Time Sensitive - Updated Revocation/Suspension list from State Board of Examiners

Attachments: June 30,2022 Revocation Suspension Memo.pdf; Revocations and Suspension List For Distribution

Importance: High"

The email message reads: "Good Afternoon, Please share the attached revoked and suspended list with your LEAs lead and human resources. Thank you.
Attached files for distribution are:
•A cover memo; and
•The updated revoke/suspend list in Excel format.
Thanks so much
Have a wonderful weekend!"

At the most recent Middletown school board meeting, on April 25, Patch again asked Walker in person if she or anyone else in the district ever received that July 29 email.

"No," Walker said emphatically. "We never got it."

She repeated this several times.

Patch then asked if Walker is concerned there might be other very important information from the DOE that the Middletown school district is not receiving.

"We don't know," Walker replied.

School board lawyer Padula overheard the conversation and he repeated that nobody in the district ever got that email. Padula said he too filed an OPRA request to confirm that July 29 email was sent, and he also received a copy of it.

Padula previously said on March 3 "The district’s manager of information services has searched the district’s email servers ... and cannot locate any email dated July 29, 2022."

It was the State Board of Examiners that decided to permanently revoke D'Alessio's teaching license, after he entered a pre-trial intervention program for a 2015 drug arrest.

The Board of Examiners voted to take away his license on June 30, 2022 and they did so via this public decision. It is public information anytime any licensed professional in the state loses their license.

Because of the lapse, D'Alessio was kept on staff and taught Middletown summer school last summer, and in September and October — all without a license to teach. He also continued to be paid his salary of $102,163 from the Middletown school district.

Walker maintains it was not until mid-October 2022 that the district was given a spreadsheet from the state of 2,194 names and an HR employee had to scroll through it and "identify Mr. D’Alessio’s name within a list of 2,194 other revoked/suspended individuals."

Within 24 hours, D'Alessio was removed from the classroom, said Walker.

When Patch first broke this story, D'Alessio said he was represented by a lawyer from the teachers' union, the New Jersey Education Association, who told him he could keep working in the classroom while he appealed to get his license back. However, the Board of Examiners ordered D’Alessio to return his teaching certificates within 30 days of their June 30, 2022 decision.

D'Alessio has since said he is still appealing to get his license back.

Two months ago, he said he would not be answering any more questions from the media about this story. His attorney, JJ Uliano of West Long Branch law firm Chamlin, Uliano & Walsh, did not return our call.

Middletown Teacher Lost His License, Still Taught For 4 Months (March 1)

Middletown School District: No Idea We Had Unlicensed Teacher On Staff (March 10)