MAPLEWOOD, NJ — The independent investigator hired by the South Orange-Maplewood School District to look into allegations of bullying against the Columbia High School baseball coaching staff submitted his final report during an executive session of the Board of Education at its special meeting July 7.
District spokeswoman Suzanne Turner confirmed to the News-Record that LeRoy Seitz’s investigation results were reviewed by Superintendent of Schools John Ramos Sr., who was expected to make his recommendations on actions to take regarding coaches Joe Fischetti, Matt Becht, Sam Maietta and Steve Campos in light of Seitz’s findings at the July board meeting on July 18 in an executive session. As executive sessions are not open to the public and no one from the district was able to comment by press time on July 19, the News-Record cannot with certainty state that Ramos did make his suggestions July 18. If he did not, he is expected to do so later in the month. Turner said the board will then follow through with those recommendations, if any, during its August meeting.
Regardless of what Seitz found, however, Turner reiterated that the public will not be able to see the report.
“The report is not subject to disclosure,” Turner said in a July 18 statement. “The report contains information and opinions that are considered advisory, consultative and deliberative and therefore is exempt from disclosure pursuant to (the Open Public Records Act).”
One of the few people who will have access to parts of the report is Randy Nathan, the anti-bullying expert who has long claimed his son Alex was repeatedly bullied by the coaches when he was on the CHS baseball team. Turner said Nathan will receive any information regarding his son after Ramos makes his recommendations to the board.
That should be good news to Nathan, who has been vocal in his opinion that the investigation took much longer than it should have. But even with the final report submitted, the former CHS parent remains frustrated. Speaking with the News-Record in a July 14 phone interview, he said the district has still not directly told him when he will be able to read the results.
“I don’t know how much angrier I could be in a situation,” Nathan said. “I’m numb to it. This is just the continuation of their efforts to hide the truth.”
If the district does not provide Nathan with the sections of the report dealing with his son, as Turner stated, Nathan said he hopes to get it as a piece of evidence through the discovery process in his petition against the Board of Education. He said that the petition — which requests that the board be held accountable for not properly following the New Jersey Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act’s mandated procedure for investigating Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying — was recently transferred from the Education Commissioner’s Office to the Office of Administrative Law. He said he is scheduled to speak with a judge Aug. 1, regarding the timeline for discovery and the eventual trial.
Nathan’s case is not a lawsuit, but a judge can rule that Nathan is entitled to relief if it is found that the board violated state law. Dismissing the four coaches, CHS Athletic Director Larry Busichio and CHS Principal Elizabeth Aaron are among the many actions Nathan requested take place if the judge rules in his favor.
Meanwhile board counsel and anti-bullying coordinator Phil Stern, another official whom Nathan has long accused of mishandling his son’s HIB case, has resigned from the district. The board approved his resignation during its July 18 meeting, though it will not be effective until Aug. 31. The resolution containing Stern’s resignation listed “personal reasons” for his departure.
“Phil Stern has been an important member of the district leadership team and SOMSD community,” Ramos said in a July 19 email. “His legal expertise and knowledge of public education have been key components in day-to-day operations as well as efforts to advance our enterprise.
“Phil has decided to return to the private sector,” Ramos continued. “We wish him continued success in his career.”
Stern is the latest in a slew of recent departures from the district, including business Administrator Cheryl Schneider and Maplewood Middle School Principal Jerrill Adams. Nathan said these resignations, along with the spate of bullying issues that have made headlines during the past few months, are an indication that the district is broken. And the first step toward fixing it should be to right the wrongs his son experienced as a baseball player, he said.
“It’s really a sad state of affairs,” Nathan said. “Someone has to step up and start being a leader. This is an opportunity to start doing the right thing, to let the message be known about where the school stands on bullying. And until they start doing the right thing, they’re going to continue to hurt.
“No amount of talk can help,” he continued. “They need to take action.”
Nathan’s outrage stems from what he described as the continuous bullying of his son, Alex, and his fellow teammate, David DeFranco, at the hands of Fischetti, Becht, Maietta and Campos. From August 2014 through August 2015, 10 HIB complaints were filed against the coaches alleging such behavior as the coaches creating a hostile environment for Alex Nathan by talking about him to other players and benching him while all others played; the Booster Club asking DeFranco and his family not to attend the end-of-year of banquet; and the coaches at one point cutting both boys from the team after Randy Nathan and DeFranco complained to the district about the coaches’ treatment of the team in general. Initially, Stern ruled that all but one of the cases were not HIB, the exception being an alleged incident in which the coaches locked DeFranco in a room and yelled at him for complaining to the district about them. But Ramos verified all 10 complaints upon entering the district in August 2015.
Nathan is also upset about the district’s lack of response when he first complained about the coaches at the end of the 2014 baseball season. In April 2015 he alerted the Essex County Office of Education, which ruled in August 2015 that the district had violated the state’s Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act by failing to follow the mandated procedure for investigating HIB. Specifically, it ruled the district failed to meet the 10-day timeline for investigating a complaint mandated by the state’s anti-bullying act, after Nathan first complained to the district at the end of the 2014 baseball season. It also found that Busichio initially had looked into Nathan’s complaints when Stern should have, as the district’s anti-bullying coordinator.
Nathan is now hoping for a similar result for his petition.
The SOMA school district is also still facing the lawsuit filed by DeFranco, alleging the coaching staff repeatedly bullied him. That litigation draws from many of the incidents in the 10 verified HIB complaints, such as the allegation that Fischetti, Becht, Maietta and Campos used “lewd, racist and vulgar” language and used expletives when making reference to DeFranco and his teammates. After being cut and then reinstated, DeFranco alleges he was often told he would be playing in games only to be benched, with the coaches later joking about how well he had played. He also alleges the coaches at one point did not remove an offensive sign about another player that had been posted.
Fischetti, the head baseball coach, previously told the News-Record he had been advised not to comment due to the pending litigation.
Nathan and DeFranco are not the only ones to speak out against the coaches. Several parents voiced their concerns about the coaching staff to the district and BOE during the past few years, with some speaking out at the board meetings, when it came time for the board to reappoint Fischetti, Becht, Maietta and Campos for the 2015 and 2016 baseball seasons. But many parents and players have also come to the coaches’ defense, denying the four had ever engaged in bullying and praising how they engage with students. Nearly all the returning players from the 2015 baseball team recently signed a petition supporting the coaches. Coaches, administrators and staff throughout the state and district have also written letters in favor of them.
Despite the allegations against them, the coaching staff once again led their players to a successful baseball season. According to Turner, the varsity team won the SEC Conference Title for the second straight year and finished with a record of 17-10. Fischetti will also soon offer his summer league to returning players, which is not run through the district.