The South Orange – Maplewood School District recently hired Dr. LeRoy Seitz, interim superintendent of the Parsippany-Troy Hills school district, to investigate continuing allegations regarding alleged bullying in its baseball program.
Dr. LeRoy Seitz (northjersey.com)
The hiring was confirmed by a SOMSD spokeswoman last week.
“We hired an outside investigator because the work involved to bring the various pending matters to closure is of a full-time nature – internally, we do not have the capacity to complete that work in the most efficient manner,” said a district spokeswoman. “Dr. Seitz is a long-time, seasoned superintendent who is more than qualified to complete this work.”
Seitz was hired on Feb. 26 to conduct the investigation at a rate of $125 per hour, not to exceed $5,000, according to a report on Maplewoodian.com.
At the February 22 Board of Education meeting, Supt. Dr. John Ramos said that his recommendation to reappoint the varsity boys’ baseball coaches for the 2016 season was “qualified by the fact that the investigation into HIB allegations is continuing” and that an investigator would “thoroughly pursue all open-ended cases and…file a report to the Superintendent of Schools within the next 2-4 weeks.”
Several board members mentioned the hiring as part of their decision to vote to approve the coaches’s hiring.
Read more about the allegations of bullying in the CHS baseball program here, here and here.
In 2009, Seitz was embroiled in a dispute with the Parsippany-Troy Hills district over the statewide superintendent salary cap, which led to Gov. Chris Christie declaring Seitz the “poster boy” for everything wrong with the public school system, Maplewoodian reported.
Meanwhile, with less than a week to go before Seitz’s report is due, neither parent Randy Nathan, whose son was involved in several of the HIB allegations against the district, nor the family of David DeFranco, who brought a lawsuit against the district, had been contacted by Seitz, according to Nathan.
The district spokeswoman said she did not know the specifics of whom Seitz will contact, or when. “He will conduct the investigation independently, referencing all pertinent history and legal materials. He will conduct interviews, as necessary.”
