Secaucus Board Of Ed. Brings Tenure Charges Against Dr. Berckes

SECAUCUS, NJ — The Secaucus Board of Education has now officially started the process of attempting to fire Dr. Robert Berckes, the popular former principal of Secaucus High School. But the plot has thickened: Berckes filed his own ethics complaint with the state, after a parent allegedly overheard the president of the Board of Ed., Jack McStowe, telling a teacher: "We got Dr. Bob. I didn't like him anyway."

"He (McStowe) never should have voted on this knowing that complaint was filed against him," said David Castellani, the lawyer retained by Berckes. "That was completely improper and unethical for him to vote, and we are confident these charges will be dismissed."

McStowe told Patch he never said that.

On Monday, Aug. 6, the Secaucus Board of Education held a private, closed-doors session to vote on whether or not to recommend Dr. Berckes to the state on tenure charges. Tenure charges are the most serious of charges that can be brought against a tenured public school employee, and they can result in one losing their job.

Because that vote is held in secret, it was not known until the publishing of this article how they voted. However, a spokesman for the state Dept. of Education confirmed to Patch on Tuesday that tenure charges have indeed been brought against Dr. Bob, as he's known in town. The Board voted in a 5-3 vote to recommend the tenure charges. Exactly how each board member voted is not known because it was done in a private session.

It was Secaucus superintendent Jennifer Montesano who asked the nine-member Board of Education to decide whether Dr. Bob's actions were serious enough to warrant him losing tenure. As has been reported, Montesano took issue back in April with the way Dr. Bob, assistant principal Jefferey Case and the high school resource officer handled a small marijuana and a pen knife found on a student at the high school. Dr. Bob alleges that Montesano told them to "get rid of it."

Berckes said he told Montesano he would give it to the police officer, who said it should be flushed down the toilet. Berckes has said publicly that he and the officer did that, and at the time Montesano had no objection.

But Montesano then suspended Dr. Bob and Case. Case since quit the district and found a new job. The Hudson County prosecutor was even called in, but apparently declined to investigate. In June, the Board of Education approved Montesano's request to move Dr. Bob from the high school to become the principal of Clarendon Elementary. But on Aug. 6, the Board took its most punitive action against Dr. Bob yet: To recommend he possibly be stripped of his tenure.

"The tenure charges have been filed with the DOE’s Office of Controversies and Disputes," said Michael Yaple, a DOE spokesman in Trenton. "The Office of Controversies and Disputes decides whether the matter will go before an arbitrator (i.e., they decide if the charges, if true, would warrant a loss of tenure). The Office of Controversies and Disputes has 10 days to determine whether the matter goes to an arbitrator. That is where the case is now: In the 10-day review period."

"If the matter goes before an arbitrator, the arbitrator would decide if there should be no penalty; if the person should lose tenure; or if there should be some monetary penalty (e.g., loss of pay for a certain number of months)," Yaple explained.

But Dr. Bob filed his own complaint with New Jersey's School Ethics Commission: Sometime in between the beginning of his April suspension and that Aug. 6 vote, a parent overheard McStowe allegedly saying to a teacher: "We got Dr. Bob. I didn't like him anyway," Dr. Bob's lawyer, Castellani, told Patch.

"For him to discuss with a non-board member a private personnel matter is completely improper," Castellani said. "I am confident that after all is said and done, these charges will be dismissed. They were brought in an improper way and they are tainted."

McStowe denied ever saying that.

"The allegations are false and have no merit to them," he told Patch. "I can't speak to her (referring to the parent who allegedly overheard him) ... Anybody can say what they want."

He has to now respond to the ethics complaint with an official affidavit of his side of the story, he said.

Montesano declined to comment on the matter at all when asked by Patch, citing that this is a personnel matter. The suspension and now attempted firing of Dr. Bob is a divisive political issue in Secaucus, with many in town supporting him and saying the matter has been overblown. Others support Montesano, saying she is doing a good job running the district.

Dr. Bob, a longtime Secaucus resident who also runs a chiropractic office on Flanagan Way, said he intends to file a $5 million wrongful termination lawsuit against Montesano and the Secaucus Board of Education.

Top photo of Dr. Bob from the Secaucus school district. All others taken by Carly Baldwin/Secaucus Patch