Reprieve for N.J. school leaders over criminal check

The more than 180 New Jersey school board members and charter school trustees who were sent notices that they were being stripped of their posts for failing to comply with a new criminal background-check requirement were given a reprieve Friday.

Acting Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf "granted an extension to board members that received a letter of ineligibility earlier this week," said Justin Barra, a state Education Department spokesman. "Any board member that completes the fingerprinting requirement within two weeks - by Jan. 27 - will be eligible to remain on their board if they are cleared through the background check."

Earlier in the day, Assembly Speaker Pro Tem Jerry Green (D., Union), a prime sponsor of the law that required the checks, and Assembly Education Chairman Patrick J. Diegnan Jr. (D., Middlesex) had urged Cerf to extend the deadline, citing confusion on the part of some board members on the law's requirements. Some had appointments to be fingerprinted after the law's Dec. 31 compliance deadline.

"The purpose of the law is to protect our children from board of education members with a criminal history, not to remove dedicated members who did not comply in a timely manner," wrote Green and Diegnan in a letter sent to Cerf. The New Jersey School Boards Association put out a statement seconding their recommendation.

After the state released a list Thursday of the noncomplying board members and trustees who were to lose their seats, including 25 from Camden, Burlington and Gloucester Counties, quite a few of the people named objected. Some said they had resigned their posts before the deadline for unrelated reasons. One local board member was appointed to his post after the deadline had passed.

James Mueller, a board member from East Greenwich, said he was one of those who started the background check process and had an appointment for later this month to be fingerprinted.

"It's ridiculous that the state released their list before doing their due diligence," Mueller said.

The state had sent out multiple notices urging compliance, but some confusion persisted.

Even before Thursday's list was released, 13 board members and trustees were removed from their seats after their background checks revealed past criminal convictions - some decades old.

The state is still reviewing the status of potentially hundreds of other board members and trustees who may not have completed the process or done it correctly. That list has not been released.