At their last meeting on June 15, in what is certainly the height of chutzpah, the Freehold Regional High School District Board of Education, that distinguished group of community-minded educators, narrowly passed a resolution to give a raise to Assistant Superintendent Donna Evangelista who, along with Superintendent of Schools H. James Wasser, obtained a phony doctorate degree from the discredited, unaccredited, online Breyer State University.
They were stripped of their bogus doctorate titles and the subsequent salary increases that they “innocently” acquired in their quest for further educational advancement.
Ms. Evangelista has never spoken or apologized about her role in what is called the Breyer State affair. Neither she nor Mr. Wasser has returned the money they received from the time they first acquired these phony degrees to the time they were stripped of their titles and raises last fall.
It is unbelievable that the majority of members on this board decided to ignore the blatant unethical nature of what she and Mr. Wasser did by not demanding they return that money and now have decided to vote her a raise.
The newest members, Barry Hochberg, Jennifer Sutera and Heshy Moses, were the only ones who voted against this charade. It is sad that the other new member, Bill Bruno from Howell, who has a wife and brother holding high-salary jobs in the district, voted with the majority.
The fact that there were three “no” votes caused a delay in the count because this board, unaccustomed to anyone voting against any Wasser supported proposal, could not correctly compute the fractionalized totals based on the weighted value of those votes.
How much more disgrace can this board heap upon itself? They refuse to look into the mirror of nepotism and other personal relationships that are tainting every vote they take and are cheating the taxpayers of any hope of fairness.
The citizens of the FRHSD municipalities have to take this into account as the communities in Manalapan, Marlboro and Freehold Borough did when they voted in the new members. That is the only way we can effect any change in this system.
Leon Sirulnick
Manalapan