Categorized | News, Schools

Statement from Lebreault, Gonzalez, Tejeda and Varela

PERTH AMBOY — Regrettably, Dr. Janine Caffrey continues her unending attack on the Perth Amboy Board of Education. This time, she has taken a preliminary legal process, turned it upside down, and continues to mislead the public in the hopes that she will create public sympathy for herself. Two weeks ago, an administrative law judge made an initial decision as to whether or not the Board of Education acted legally when on May 7, 2012, it suspended her. She presented many arguments to the administrative law judge in an attempt to misdirect the judge’s legal analysis of the case. The administrative law judge was not persuaded by Dr. Caffrey’s arguments. Thus, the judge ruled (on all counts) in favor of the Board of Education.

She has belittled that decision in another attempt to misdirect attention from her wrong-doings and incompetence and has instead mislead the public by stating that an important decision was yet to come; namely that the Ethics Commission would rule on the merits of allegations made by her. When Dr. Caffrey made this statement, she already knew that many of her ethics charges against several board members would be dismissed, while others would most likely continue onward to the next phase of the process. Thus, she attempted to dupe the public into thinking that the decision that went against her was meaningless. Dr. Caffrey wrongly and inaccurately used the Commission’s decisions as her vindication.

The Ethics Commission decisions plainly indicate the following: The preliminary determinations are not decisions on the merits. The Commission conducted an initial review to determine if probable cause existed, should the allegations be proven later. It is important to note that the Commission already dismissed many of Dr. Caffrey’s claims in their entirety. The allegations have yet to be proven by the facts and evidence that she must produce before an administrative law judge. We are certain Dr, Caffrey will not be able to prove her allegations in any court of law.

It should also be noted that in the various complaints, if no probable cause was found as to an act prohibited under the statute, or if no prohibited act was alleged (only ethic code violations), the Commission did not make any determination. Instead, the Commission transmitted the matter to the Office of Administrative Law for a plenary hearing; which has yet to take place. Thus, Dr. Caffrey has attempted to take advantage of our court system process by spinning a web of misdirection to conceal her unfortunate shortcomings.

The Perth Amboy Board of Education refrained from commenting on her attacks because it does not serve our community to litigate this matter in the court of public opinion. However, it was the majority of this Board that during her interviews felt that she should be given an opportunity to spearhead our continuing effort to turn the academic fortunes of the District around, and it is the majority of this Board that has for many months realized that she is not capable of handling the leadership role that we gave her. Therefore, the Perth Amboy Board of education board hired her, evaluated her, and found that she lacks many of the attributes necessary for such a lofty task.

These statements are not meant to represent the opinion of the Perth Amboy Board of Education. Rather, the above statements are made on behalf of Samuel Lebreault, Obdulia Gonzalez, Milady Tejeda and Israel Varela who are board members and implicated by Dr. Caffrey’s allegations.

Press Release

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