Belleville Board of Education Meeting (Video) – August 25, 2014

 

Here is the video footage of last night’s Belleville Board of Education meeting at the high school. It’s almost 4 AM and I desperately need to get myself to bed, but I will post a separate article or two within the next few days about some of the things that were revealed in this meeting.

In particular, pay careful attention to Jeff Mattingly’s commentary, having to do with an astoundingly expensive CEPA (whistleblower) lawsuit involving the Athletics Department that we have uncovered, and the Board of Education seems to have deliberately hidden from us for the last four years. This includes but is not limited to omitting relevant information from previous OPRA requests, which is in fact illegal.

Also of tremendous concern is that we believe the Board did not notify the New Jersey School Board Association about the pending litigation in a timely manner. The consequences of this failure to follow protocol would mean the lawsuit would not be covered by the Board’s insurance. If that’s the case, guess who pays not only the skyrocketing legal fees, but also any ensuing award?

Yep, you guessed it….you will.

Gee, the Belleville taxpayer getting saddled with an absurdly large bill as the result of the Board’s gross negligence and reckless mismanagement. Now where have I heard THAT before?

Anyway, the acting board attorney Mr. Edelstein attempted to assure Mr. Mattingly that proper notification was given, and that the Board’s insurance “should” cover this lawsuit. We have good reason to believe that response is some fancy footwork, at best.

For one thing, after four years of litigation, you would know by now if the insurance provider is going to bear the escalating legal costs. It would not be in question at this late a stage. That is, unless it is currently in dispute over a failure to properly notify the provider.

And if it’s still a point of contention four years after the suit began, I’m guessing the NJSBA insurance provider has a strong legal argument to stand on, and therefore Mr. Edelstein cannot in good conscience make any assurances to us that we won’t be on the hook for it.

Therefore Mr. Edelstein, I’m going to challenge your assertion that the suit “has been handled appropriately”. If the suit had been handled appropriately, it would not be necessary for you to consider a legal battle with the insurer in court over who is going to cover the costs of this lawsuit. If you have to litigate over paying for other litigation, somebody screwed up.

Please don’t insult us by claiming otherwise. We already know what transpired.

And, if the Board has to go to court with the insurer over this mess, and loses, we get the added pleasure of paying for that lawsuit as well? Conceivably a million dollar lawsuit between a large law firm and a large insurance company? I hope your firm is planning on working that case pro bono, sir.

At any rate, if there was a lapse in following protocol, deliberate or otherwise, then who failed to provide notification to the insurer? Let’s just say we’ll be asking the Board that question until they decide to get their story straight, or we run out of patience.

For anyone following the various Nutley Watch issue campaigns, you probably know by now that we only ask questions politely once – maybe twice – before we put it in sixth gear and unleash hell.

Considering this lawsuit has reportedly cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $600,000 before it’s even stepped foot in a courtroom, this could be yet another outrageous bill that the Belleville taxpayer will be forced to pay. Count on it being well in excess of one million dollars before it’s over, and possibly much more depending on how it plays out.

And, just wait until you hear the details of the lawsuit. It won’t be any surprise why this litigation was kept hidden from us while we were asking pertinent questions during this last election.

We’re still in the process of obtaining the legal documents we’ve targeted, but I will provide further details about this lawsuit within the next few days.

Maybe at some point, the Belleville Board of Education will finally learn that full transparency, cooperation, and an open mutual dialogue would go a long way toward appeasing the community. If the Board won’t willingly provide information that the public is entitled to, you can bet we’re going to hunt it down, and hold them fully accountable for it. And chances are by that time, we won’t exactly have a sweet and cuddly disposition about it.

The power resides with the people. And in Belleville, it’s going to stay that way.

Stay tuned for our follow up in the next few days, and enjoy the video.

~ Griff

 

 

Part I

 

 

 

Part II

 

 

 

Update: NorthJersey.com has just posted their coverage of the meeting.

Belleville school board fills vacant seat 

 

 

 

 

About Griff 321 Articles
Lee "Griff" Dorry - Founder, watchdog, and public advocate. ♫ They've got strings, but you can see, there are no strings on me. ♫

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply