EDISON — A state arbitrator’s decision resulted in one teacher being fired and two others being suspended for their alleged roles in an online group chat that district officials described as “graphically sexual in nature” and discriminatory to women, lesbians, elderly persons and students with special needs.
Schools Superintendent Richard O’Malley said he appreciated the decision, which certified the board’s charges of unbecoming conduct.
“Our families can be assured that this board will continue to do everything it can to prevent future acts of misconduct from the two teachers whom the arbitrator has returned to the classroom,” O’Malley said.
The public group chat took place over about two-and-a-half hours on Oct. 23 on a website being used as part of a voluntary Engrade Chromebook training program, according to the district’s charges. The online chat was reportedly accessible to board employees and students.
Staff members at the training session were able to review the commentary in the chat, which made for a hostile and unpleasant school environment, along with creating fear of harassment, discrimination and embarrassment, according to the district’s charges. A teacher who left the training session due to the alleged activity reported the conversation to a supervisor, and it was then reported to the superintendent.
The district’s Board of Education had voted in December 2014 to suspend the three teachers without pay for 120 days.
A fourth teacher, Jonathan Bauza, was named as participating in the chats; however, he resigned from the district before disciplinary actions were taken, according to O’Malley.
Tyler Van Pelt, who began working in the district in 2000 and was a teacher at Lincoln Elementary, faced the lion’s share of charges and was fired,
He was found guilty of masturbating on school property; bringing a beer to a high school graduation, and then having to be removed from school grounds by a police officer the following day; conducting union activities during instructional time; and having to be transferred to another district school after another teacher at Edison High School got a restraining order against him for an alleged domestic violence attempt, according to O’Malley.
“We defended each and every … charge in the proceedings against him,” Van Pelt’s attorney, Morristown-based William Koy, said, adding that his client had been commended as a teacher on several occasions throughout his career in the district.
Koy said he and Van Pelt are reviewing the 151-page decision, and may appeal it.
“We’re in the evaluation process at this particular point,” he said. “The bottom line is, [the decision] is disappointing after nearly 20 years as a stellar teacher.”
Maryellen Lechelt, also a teacher at Lincoln Elementary, who has been employed by the district since 2011, was suspended for 120 days and lost a pay raise, O’Malley said.
Maria Weber, who has been employed as a special education teacher since the 2000-01 school year and teaches at James Monroe Elementary School, was suspended for 90 days, he said.
The two women had no previous disciplinary issues with the district, according to the superintendent