Link to article on nj.com:
From the article:
“One of Lyles’ advisers, meanwhile, filed a lawsuit in
Hudson County Superior Court Monday afternoon asking a judge to invalidate the
action the board took Sunday. Cathy Coyle, who worked with Lyles as a monitor
for state education officials, alleges in the lawsuit the board’s Sunday action
is void because it met without notifying the public first.
In a statement, Jersey City Board of Education President Sudhan Thomas said the board has acted properly when it comes to Lyles.
“The board’s actions were taken in accordance with applicable law and the terms of her employment agreement,” Thomas said.
The nine-member school board has been clashing with Lyles for years, accusing her of mismanaging the district, offering misleading data about student achievement and more. It voted on Thursday to relieve Lyles of her duties effectively immediately, the day after Lyles filed her four-count lawsuit.
Lyles’ contract requires the district to keep paying her $231,000 salary and benefits until her contract ends in June 2020.
On Friday, Melissa A. Pearce, the acting Hudson County superintendent, sent Thomas a letter saying the board’s action violated the law “and is, therefore, invalid and void.” Pearce cited a law requiring the state education commissioner’s prior approval for early terminations, a law also cited in Lyles’ contract.
Thomas statement says Pearce’s letter mischaracterizes
what the board did on Thursday. Her decision that the action is “invalid and
void” is itself “invalid and void” because Lyles was not terminated, just told
to “stay home,” Thomas said. He added on Monday that he believed the letter was
a “fake” at first.
On Sunday, Chris
Huber, an attorney with the state Department of Education, “stayed” Pearce’s
determination and gave the school board a chance to clarify their action,
according to Thomas. Thomas emailed board members at 5:06 p.m. that night
to say the board would meet for an emergency meeting 20 minutes later at the
board’s central office on Claremont Avenue. At that meeting, the board approved
a resolution saying Lyles was put on paid administrative leave and that she was
barred from school property.”
Reminder: The Lodi Board of Education violated multiple
state statutes with Mr. Quatrone’s renegotiated contract last April. Joseph Zarra told me by telephone multiple
times that he never reviewed the contract’s proposed sick day payout when he
signed it. Where is the accountability? Why does the Department of Education protect BOE’s
that violate state statutes? Why require
public notice and public hearings and then not care when BOE’s don’t comply?
