District nepotism policy spurs heated debates

Board wrangles with ethical, legal concerns

BY JACQUELINE HLAVENKA Staff Writer

MATAWAN — Inside the Matawan- Aberdeen School District, the Board of Education’s anti-nepotism policies remain a hot topic.

Two issues regarding the district’s nepotism policy emerged at the Board of Education’smeeting on Aug. 24, spurring an ethical and legal discussion.

Lori Donaghue, spouse of board member Gerald Donaghue, was appointed to a fulltime promotion position under the board’s personnel agenda, effective Sept. 1.

Additionally, board member Marty Ruprecht presented a motion to amend the district’s nepotism policy regarding workstudy student employment, allowing students related to board members to be eligible for the positions. The motion was tabled pending a written policy.

Donaghue, a kindergarten instructional assistant, has been an employee in the district for more than 10 years.

However, several disagreed with the action.

“I just find that it skirts on doing something unethical,” said board member Jan Rubino. “I’m sorry, Gerry, but I do see when Mrs. Donaghue takes on a full-time position, it takes on family coverage; then a board member is directly benefiting from her position. That’s something we’ve talked about for a long time. I don’t think promoting a person who is a spouse of a board member looks good.”

According to Deputy Superintendent Joel Glastein, the position was posted in May and several interviews were conducted before Donaghue was considered. Once she was offered the position, Donaghue went through a due diligence process and Superintendent Richard O’Malley conferred with the board attorney and the county commissioner.

Board President Charles Kenny said he understood Rubino’s concerns, but considered the promotion acceptable.

“We’ve been talking a lot about the antinepotism policy here at the board, and we’ve had concerns in the past, but what we want and what our goal is, is to achieve transparency here,” Kenny said. “There needs to be a heightened concern and awareness because we are a public governmental body. I know I have discharged my obligation in doing the appropriate background check to ensure that this is indeed the superintendent’s recommendation and that he has sought council regarding its appropriateness.”

Board member Joseph Warren said though the hiring is legally sound, the board needs to remain cautious.

“Gerry Donaghue and his wife have fantastic reputations, so no reasonable person in town believes anything inappropriate was done,” Warren said. “My feeling is that we have to go that extra mile and we have to work to avoid all appearances of impropriety. Now you have the case where no one has done anything inappropriate. Like I said, we are coming off where certain board members have a reputation. Justified or not, that was the sense around town.”

Though the vote was split, the board approved the promotion. Rubino and Warren voted no, while Gerald Donaghue and Vice President Thomas Gambino abstained from the vote.

Later in the meeting, the board discussed work-study employment for children of board members. The policy, as explained by Kenny, only applies to paid positions, not volunteer work, internships or unpaid labor.

As defined in N.J.S.A. 26:8A-3, students who are the immediate family of board members, “or the individual’s or spouse’s parent, child, sibling, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, grandparent, grandchild, son-in-law, daughter in-law, stepparent, stepchild, stepbrother, stepsister, half brother or half sister, whether the relative is related to the individual or the individual’s spouse by blood, marriage or adoption,” are not eligible for jobs.

“It is very broadly defined,” said board President Charles Kenny.

“We’re also talking about nieces and nephews, step-half nieces,” Ruprecht said. “I mean, it gets pretty big.”

Ruprecht, who presented the motion to amend the policy, wants to narrow the focus so students related to board members can become eligible for work-study paid positions.

Several board members believe students should not be excluded from pursuing a work-study position as long as the selection process is democratic.

“I have no objection to the general principle of hiring people’s step-greatgrandchildren, but I want to see a process that is above reproach,” said board member Jeff Delaney. “I think if you have one individual, and we are all human, and we all have biases and favorites, I don’t like that. I would like to see some selection process that involves two adults, maybe three adults and a kid. I want to see if we can set that up.”

Glastein explained that the board administered a new employee selection process this year, including a revised application that asked potential candidates more information about themselves. Ten administrators were involved with the selection of students for 15 jobs in 2009.

Board member Lawrence O’Connell said he would like to amend the policy to create set of guidelines for student recruitment and guidance; however, Ruprecht said it would not fit within the nepotism policy motion.

“I think it would be great if the administration had this policy and had a criteria for us to be selecting students, but I don’t think we are in the legal use to specifically define nepotism if that policy would belong,” Ruprecht said.

According to the New Jersey Department of Education, the state’s anti-nepotism policy was enacted in September 2008. However, Warren explained, the state did not create an exception for work-study students.

“Each district can use their own discretion whether to make an exception for students or not,” Warren said. “I would keep the policy as is. I would not make any exceptions for any children of board members. I do not believe that there is any process that completely removes any taint of impropriety.”

The board will hold a goal-making session on Sept. 14 at 7 p.m. in Aberdeen.