By Matthew Sockol
Staff Writer
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP – Michael Falgares, the technology integration coordinator at the C. Richard Applegate School, has been placed on paid administrative leave for the remainder of the 2015-16 school year by the Freehold Township K-8 School District Board of Education.
Additionally, Superintendent of Schools Ross Kasun recommended that Falgares’ contract not be renewed for the 2016-17 school year. Falgares joined the district in 2013.
Falgares raised the issue of his job status during the public portion of the board’s May 10 meeting. He acknowledged that an item on the agenda that described an employee’s administrative leave was about him.
Resident Brian DeRoss spoke in support of Falgares. DeRoss said his son has epilepsy and he said Falgares created an application to keep track of the boy’s seizures.
Kasun recommended that Falgares be placed on paid administrative leave for the remainder of the current school year. While administrators acknowledged that Falgares had received positive evaluations during his time in the district, a recommendation was made that he not be renewed for the 2016-17 school year.
“This decision was made in the best interest of the district,” the superintendent said.
After the meeting, Falgares said he was informed that he violated the school district’s technology policy when he connected a personal Google Chromecast digital media player and an Apple TV to the district’s network in November 2015.
According to Falgares, he received permission from his principal to do so, but was subsequently reported to the superintendent by the Technology Department.