Middletown School District: No Idea We Had Unlicensed Teacher On Staff

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Both Middletown school superintendent Mary Ellen Walker and school district lawyer Bruce Padula say they would like to see proof the state Department of Education notified the district one month after a High School South teacher had his teaching certificate revoked by the state last June.

Padula maintains the district has no record of receiving such a notification last July.

"The district’s manager of information services has searched the district’s email servers — the Department of Education delivers such information via email — and cannot locate any email dated July 29, 2022," said Padula in a March 3 letter to Patch.

The teacher is former High School South special education teacher Michael D'Alessio, whose license was revoked by the state on June 30, 2022 due to a 2015 drug arrest, according to this public decision.

Now, Padula is calling on the Dept. of Education to "improve" its process of notifying districts when a teacher's credentials are permanently revoked.

"The only person in the district who knew Michael D’Alessio was teaching without a license was Michael D’Alessio," said Padula. "It is incumbent upon the Department of Education to improve its process of notifying districts when it commences proceedings to revoke staff members’ certificates and ensure that districts promptly receive notification that such certificates have been revoked."

The school district says that — because it was kept in the dark — D'Alessio was kept on staff at High School South all through summer school 2022, and through September and October, at a salary of $102,163.

In fact, Walker said it wasn't until mid-October when the school district was given a spreadsheet of 2,194 names and someone in the HR department had to scroll through it and "identify Mr. D’Alessio’s name within a list of 2,194 other revoked/suspended individuals."

DOE spokeswoman Laura Fredrick said last week the DOE notified the Middletown school district on July 29, 2022 that D'Alessio's license had been revoked. The state also says they notified the Monmouth County Superintendent of Schools on July 29 that D'Alessio lost his license.

When we called Monmouth County, we were told to call the DOE. When Patch asked the DOE for proof last week, we were told to file an OPRA request. That OPRA request has not been fulfilled, although the DOE has up to seven business days.

D'Alessio said last week he is appealing to get his license re-instated.

When contacted this week, he declined to speak any further on this topic. He also said he was directing his lawyer, JJ Uliano of West Long Branch law firm Chamlin, Uliano & Walsh, to not return our call.

Both Padula and Walker have said they would very much like to see what the DOE claims it sent the district on July 29, 2022.

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

Original Patch report: Middletown Teacher Lost His License, Still Taught For 4 Months (March 1)