Former Schools Superintendent Steve Gallon will not be prosecuted by Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office according to a resolution reached in Middlesex Superior Court on January 31, 2011 in New Brunswick. Those who were following this saga and anxiously waiting for it to unfold in a court room need not wait any longer. The State will not seek to have the matter heard before a Grand Jury. As a result, the charges against him will be dismissed through a State Intervention option in which Gallon’s plea of not guilty to charges involving two children attending school while reportedly residing with him at his South Plainfield residence will still remain on the record according to Superior Court Judge James F. Mulvihill.
Tuition for the few months that the students attended the school was paid at least four months before charges were ever brought against the former superintendent and his co-defendants, Angela Kemp and Lalelia Kelly. Both Kemp and Kelly were two former high-ranking Plainfield district administrators who joined Gallon from Florida when he was appointed Superintendent of the 6,000 student school district in July 1, 2008.
Because of its Tuition Agreement with the two parents, the South Plainfield School district did not bring charges against Gallon, Kemp, and Kelly. The neighboring district, which had been virtually silent through the entire ordeal, never filed a complaint with the Commissioner of Education’s Office.
Most, if not all such cases are directed and handled for resolution through the New Jersey Department of Education. Cases that do not get resolved in the parent’s favor at the Commissioner’s level usually result in an assessment for the payment of tuition being levied against the parents for the cost of educating their child. Even if an allegation of fraud is proven in such matters, according to State law, school cases involving allegations of fraudulent student enrollment are considered Disorderly Persons Offense and are handled at the Municipal Court level.
Nothwithstanding the Tuition Agreement between the parents and South Plainfield, the arrests of the three accused in this case raised more questions than answers.
This information is not accurate. You should check via OPRA with the SP public schools. They were not paying tuition as you claim.
ReplyDeleteMichael 6:53,
ReplyDeleteYou check with OPRA and South Plainfield. They did pay tuition months prior to being charged. This is well known and documented.
I am with the Plainfield NAACP and we supported Gallon in what we thought was an injustice. Before we would support him we wanted to see all the FACTS and documents.
They spoke for themselves and there were written agreements for tuition with South Plainfield.
They got a raw deal plain and simple.
You check your facts.