Joseph M. Ferraina The Long Branch School District Board of Education is defending former superintendent of schools Joseph M. Ferraina, who was named in a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former district employee last week.
Ferraina retired from his position as Long Branch’s superintendent on April 1.
In a statement emailed by Long Branch School District Business Administrator Peter Genovese, the board said an investigation would be conducted into claims made by Adele Russo, who the lawsuit identifies as having been Ferraina’s secretary from 2003 to 2010.
“The Long Branch Board of Education has received a notice of a claim by Adele Russo … alleging sexual harassment by the former Superintendent of Schools Joseph M. Ferraina,” the statement reads. “The board takes all allegations of improper behavior very seriously and is conducting a thorough review of this matter.” Civil Division of state Superior Court on May 16 names Ferraina and the Long Branch Board of Education as defendants.
The board’s statement goes on to say that based on its initial findings, the board does not believe anything improper occurred.
“Based on the facts revealed to date, primarily from Ms. Russo’s own documents, it does not appear that Mr. Ferraina has engaged in any unlawful behavior toward Ms. Russo,” it states. “The board intends to fully defend itself against any false claims from Ms. Russo.”
The Long Branch Municipal Court and the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office said no criminal complaint has been made against Ferraina.
“Until that civil complaint was filed, we have never been contacted in any form or fashion relating to the allegations in that complaint,” Monmouth County First Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni said. “What we have done is made contact with the attorney who represents the complainant and we have offered to sit down and speak with her.”
Russo is being represented by Gary Fox, of Fox and Melofchik, Ocean Township.
Ferraina is being represented by Domenick Carmagnola, of Carmagnola & Ritardi, Morristown, while the school board is being represented by Mitchell Boyarsky, of Jackson Lewis, in Morristown.
Neither Boyarsky nor Carmagnola could be reached for comment.
Fox said Monday that his office has been “interacting” with attorneys representing the Board of Education and Ferraina since late 2010.
According to the complaint, Russo was hired as a secretary for Ferraina in 2003 and the alleged sexual harassment began in 2004.
The six counts alleged are: a hostile work environment; sexual harassment; constructive discharge; intentional infliction of emotional distress; assault; and retaliation.
According to the complaint, “Ferraina was able to force plaintiff to repeatedly engage in various and multiple sexual acts for over five years during working hours …”
The complaint, which seeks compensatory and punitive damages and a jury trial, claims that Russo had a nervous breakdown as a result of the defendants’ actions and left her position as Ferraina’s secretary on May 17, 2010.
That claim appears to be at odds with the board’s statement that Russo is a current employee of the school district.
Further, the complaint alleges that Ferraina told Russo “that she must continue to submit to his sexual demands or she would lose her job and that Ferraina would prevent her from getting another job.”
The complaint alleges that Ferraina would repeatedly remind Russo that “without him she would not have a job to financially support her children …”
Due to the “constant physical and mental abuse by the defendant,” Russo required medical attention, changed her residence, and was “forced to leave her job on May 17, 2010,” the complaint states.
The complaint claims Russo sought medical treatment as a result of “the psychological and emotional damage the sexual assaults were causing.” The alleged assaults led to “chronic mental illness, including major depressive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder,” before she ultimately suffered a nervous breakdown.
The complaint goes on to state that Russo “was unable to reach out for help” during the continued abuse “because of the dominance of [Ferraina’s] personality, her fear of him and the fact that he had close personal relationships with members of the defendant board, the police and ‘powerful politicians.’ ”
According to the complaint, Russo “complained to the defendant board since May 2010 and defendant and others have conspired to cover up the defendant’s misconduct and to misconstrue it as a ‘consensual relationship’ and have even gone to the extreme of ‘manufacturing’ false evidence …”
In the first count, the complaint alleges that the school board “failed to make reasonable, prudent or effective steps to cease and prevent” Ferraina’s conduct or to prevent injuries suffered by Russo.
In the third count, the complaint alleges the “defendants knowingly permitted conditions of plaintiff’s employment to exist that were so intolerable that plaintiff was forced to leave her job.” Despite “doing everything necessary to remain employed,” … the actions of the defendants created “a continuous pattern of harassment so egregious that she was forced to leave her job …”
The fifth count claims “the board of education is vicariously responsible for the improper actions of Ferraina.”
In the sixth count, the complaint alleges that the defendants “retaliated against plaintiff by terminating her medical benefits without any prior notice as required by (law).”
Ferraina began his career as a special police officer with the Long Branch Police Department. He then took a job as a Spanish teacher at the Long Branch Middle School, working his way through the system until he became superintendent in 1994.