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Commissioner of Education orders removal of Neptune Township board member; board reads resolution
Summary
The Neptune Township Board of Education read a resolution adopted by the New Jersey Commissioner of Education ordering the removal of board member Jame Berry for failing to file required disclosure statements; the board was directed to post the resolution and provide the meeting minutes to the commission.
The Neptune Township Board of Education publicly read a resolution from the New Jersey Commissioner of Education ordering the removal of Jame Berry, a member of the Neptune Township Board of Education, for failing to file required personal and financial disclosure statements.
The board reading, delivered by a board representative, said the School Ethics Commission found that Jame Berry failed to file required disclosure statements under NJSA 18A:12-25 and NJSA 18A:12-26 and failed to comply with administrative rules at NJAC 6A:28-3.1. The School Ethics Commission recommended removal in a decision dated Nov. 26, 2024; because Berry did not file the disclosures after that decision, the Commissioner of Education concurred with the removal in a decision dated Jan. 10, 2025.
The reading recounted the Commission’s conditional alternative: if Berry had filed the required disclosures before the commissioner’s final action, the commissioner had recommended a 30-day suspension in lieu of removal. That condition was not met, the reading said.
Under NJAC 6A:28-9.11(d), the reading stated, a penalty of removal requires the board to read the commissioner’s resolution at its next regularly scheduled public meeting, post the resolution in the places it normally posts public notices for 30 days, and publish it on the district website for no less than 30 days. The reading also said the board must forward the minutes from the meeting at which the resolution was read to the commission.
The School Ethics Commission’s certificate in the reading was signed by Robert W. Bender, chairperson of the School Ethics Commission, and certified by the commission’s director. The board proceeded to the meeting’s regular business after the reading.
Why it matters: Removal of a locally elected or appointed school board member is a rare and significant sanction that stems from state ethics requirements for public-school officials. The required public reading, posting and filing procedures are part of the commission’s enforcement process and create a permanent public record of the sanction.
The board did not, during the public reading, take a separate recorded vote on the commissioner’s decision; the reading was presented to satisfy the posting and minute-memorialization requirements specified in state rules.
