State reprimands two Paterson charter school trustees for failing to receive timely training
By Jayed Rahman
Published: February 21, 2018
The New Jersey School Ethics Commission has issued reprimands against two members of the John P. Holland Charter School board of trustees for failing to timely undergo mandatory training, according to state records.
Board president Aiesha Betty and member Kecia Teller were reprimanded late last year. State law requires school board members and charter school trustees to receive annual training through the New Jersey School Boards Association.
Betty and Teller had to take an online program called “Governance II” by Jun. 30, 2017. However, both women failed to complete the program by early September.
The association sent seven emails to each urging them to complete the training program. It also sent notices to the school’s principal and the county office of education, according to state records.
Both were still “delinquent in completing [their] training” in October. The School Ethics Commission sent mailed letters and emails to both as a final warning to complete their mandated training.
Betty “received repeated notifications of her training requirement, and had ample opportunity to complete the mandated training in a timely fashion; nonetheless, she failed to complete training as required,” reads the ethics decision issued on Dec. 19, 2017.
Both women completed their training on Nov. 8, 2017 after being served with an “order to show cause” by the commission. However, neither responded to the order to show cause as to why they did not complete the training program by Jun. 30, 2017.
The two women sit on a seven-person board that oversees the school which has 200 students and an almost $5 million budget, according to government records for the 2016-17 school year.
Betty and Teller’s contact information was not available to reach them for comments for this report.
“They did it in August but it didn’t register as complete so they did it again in October after being told it wasn’t done. Lesson learned [is] to print out the ‘complete’ page,” said Christina Scano, principal of the John P. Holland Charter School, on Monday.
Teller is a police officer in the Paterson police force. She has been working for the city for the past 27 years, according to municipal payroll records.
Betty works for Verizon, according to her disclosure statement filed with the state.
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