A Bergen County Superior Court judge has found the Teaneck Board of Education has ignored a deadline she set for correcting violations to the state’s Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA), but has extended the deadline by 50 days.
The Nov. 4 ruling by Judge Carol Novey Catuogno included an infraction at a December meeting during which it transferred High School Principal Pedro Valdes to “district-wide principal on assignment.” Valdes, who claimed the action “reeked of retaliation” is currently principal at Lowell Elementary School while awaiting the outcome of a complaint he filed with the New Jersey Public Employment Relations Commission.
Catuogno’s previous July 18 ruling had cast doubt on the 5-3 vote to transfer Valdes. She had originally given the board 70 days, until September 26, to hold a new vote or the action would be deemed invalid because it violates state law. Valdes has since been replaced by Whittier Elementary School Principal Piero LoGiudice.
The board gave as its reasoning low performance on senior math and English scores. However, Keith Kaplan, a former Teaneck council member who brought the legal proceeding, said issues with Valdes stemmed from a difference of opinion between him and Schools Superintendent Dr. Andre Spencer leading up to a walkout last November at the high school by pro-Palestinian students that was widely viewed in the Jewish community as being antisemitic.
Valdes had said any student who left during the school day would be docked for an absence and that the protestors chanting such statements as “from the river to the sea” on school grounds made other students feel unsafe.
That triggered a standoff between the two, which resulted in Valdes asserting his control over the high school and sending notice that any walkouts would be an unexcused absence, which Kaplan said seemed to be “a breaking point” between the two.
Kaplan said he is somewhat “bewildered” by the judge’s reasoning in granting the board extra time, but is heartened about other parts of the ruling. In her July ruling, Catuogno ordered the board to reimburse Kaplan $400 for expenses associated with the case within 30 days.
“They did not reimburse me within 30 days so I filed a motion to force them to pay me,” said Kaplan, who represented himself. “I’m not doing this as a charity. Right after that they sent me the $400 and said that now we expect you to withdraw from the case.”
However, Kaplan refused because the board never reimbursed him for the $50 filing fee, necessitating Catuogno to issue an order on Nov. 4 requiring it to do so within 30 days. In this latest ruling, the court declared that various meetings in 2023 and 2024 were affected by the 50-day deadline. Many of the violations had to do with failing to notice the meetings properly in accordance with state law.
The Dec. 21 special meeting where the board had voted to transfer Valdes was not listed on the board calendar prepared at the beginning of each year that lists monthly meetings, as well a reorganization meeting for the following January.
The meeting was held on Zoom, when other meetings had been in person, and the notice for it gave no indication why it was being held and stated only one word—“personnel.” Moreover, speakers were limited to two minutes each, rather than the usual three, ostensibly because there were 275 people on the Zoom and they wanted to give everyone a chance to be heard. Most of those on the Zoom spoke in favor of Valdes, who, Kaplan said, enjoys broad community support.
Under state law, public employees must be informed if their employment is to be discussed at a meeting and given the option of whether they would like the session to be closed or open to the public. After the notice was sent to Valdes, he requested a public hearing. Kaplan said Valdes was among those cut off at the two-minute mark.
Kaplan noted that although OPMA, better known as the Sunshine Law, requires notice to appear in two publications, it was only placed in the Bergen Record and without the required agenda.
He brought the matter to the attention of the board and district officials and asked them to revote the matter, making the request a second time at the regular Jan. 3 meeting, which also wasn’t properly noticed. He filed his complaint with the court the next day. The board revoted the matter on Jan. 17, but since the three newly elected Jewish members were not around for any previous discussions of the matter, they abstained and Valdes’ transfer was approved 6-0. That meeting was also noticed improperly and therefore could not cure the deficiencies from the prior meetings.
Kaplan has now also filed a complaint, along with four other residents with the state School Ethics Commission, which requires legal proof of wrongdoing before making a ruling.
“In October they (board members) were denying they had any injunctions issued against them,” said Kaplan. “In November the judge issues a 22-page opinion saying, ‘Yes, I did issue an injunction back in July. They’re just not following it.’”
What is also troubling to Kaplan is the money being spent by the board. He noted that for one notification alone the board published the entire agenda, costing $3,000, an action both he and the judge deemed unnecessary. In June, he got an accounting of the board’s legal bills up to that point, which had totaled $15,000.
“That is taxpayer money,” he said.
Debra Rubin has had a long career in journalism writing for secular weekly and daily newspapers and Jewish publications. She most recently served as Middlesex/Monmouth bureau chief for the New Jersey Jewish News. She also worked with the media at several nonprofits, including serving as assistant public relations director of HIAS and assistant director of media relations at Yeshiva University.
