Reader demands to know whether school district is paying teacher who got multiple DWI's

It’s time to expose the myth that is often stated by some of the members of the Sussex-Wantage Regional School Board, the administrators and the teachers: “It’s all about the students.” Back on or about 15 October 2007 a S-W Regional “teacher” apparently had to be physically removed from her classroom and taken to a hospital because she was intoxicated (drunk) in her classroom with students present. Oh, no one was supposed to know about this. But they continued to pay her salary and benefits even though they had to hire another teacher to replace her. Apparently they didn’t want to do anything to keep her from getting her permanent taxpayer paid pension and lifetime benefits. Heck, it’s only potentially millions of our tax dollars. But then on 09/19/08 this “teacher” was issued a summons by the NJ State Police for “DWI” in Lafayette Township. Ah come on, the case record shows that she only had a blood alcohol content of .24 percent. On 04/09/09, in the Frankford Joint Municipal Court, with her attorney present, this “teacher” pled guilty to her third DWI, which carried a mandatory 180-day jail sentence. She was apparently transported directly from the court to the Sussex County Jail. State Department of Education regulations require that the chief school administrator of a school district notify the State Board of Examiners if he becomes aware that a certificate holder has been convicted of a crime or criminal offense while in the school district’s employ. A S-W School Board member told me that Superintendent Izbicki was informed about this “teacher’s” third DWI conviction on 10 April 2009. The very next day. As of July 9, 2009 Superintendent Izbicki had apparently failed (refused?) to notify the State Board of Examiners about this “teacher’s” third conviction, as he is required to do by state regulations. But, didn’t Mr. Izbicki just get an $11,000 raise for supposedly doing such a great job? I guess that violating State Department of Education regulations doesn’t count. Heck, it’s only potentially millions of our tax dollars and he has to “protect” the “teachers,” doesn’t he? Not knowing the dates of her two previous convictions or who she was employed by at the time, I can only speculate that her two previous convictions might also have been failures by the Superintendent of the S-W Schools to comply with state regulations. Why are we paying a “teacher” her salary and benefits while she is apparently residing in jail just so that she can qualify for her permanent taxpayer paid pension and lifetime benefits, at the same time as we are being forced to pay the salary and benefits for a teacher who was hired to replace her? I don’t know about you, but I believe that we should get all of the wasted tax dollars back and no way should this “teacher” be qualified to receive a permanent taxpayer paid pension and lifetime benefits. If the members of the Sussex-Wantage Regional School Board, the administrators and the teachers want to start to be truthful they should state: “It’s all about the protecting the teachers, the administrators and the members of the School Board. The taxpayers and students be damned.” William H. Gettler Wantage Township Editor’s Note: The Advertiser-News North looked into the charge that Superintendent Izbicki has not notified the State about this situation. Here is the response we got: “While we are precluded by law from discussing personnel matters, we comply with all notification requirements and requests of the State Board of Examiners relative to our current and/or former employees and comply with any and all directives of the State Board of Examiners. Edward F. Izbicki, Sr., Ed.D. Superintendent Sussex-Wantage Regional Schools