the staff of The Ridgewood Blog
Ridgewood NJ, despite an alleged last-minute attempt by Ridgewood BOE President Michael Lembo to significantly downplay the public reading of a “Resolution of Censure” for BOE trustee Shelia Brogan, the following was read aloud by Mr. Lembo at the beginning of Monday evening’s BOE Public Meeting:
The State Ethics Commission found her in violation of ethics guidelines for attending an executive session discussing a lawsuit. The lawsuit involved her use of a personal email account for district business. After Lembo read the resolution, Brogan gave a lengthy statement, attempting to create confusion and insisted she had done nothing wrong.
Despite the School Ethics Comission’s decision, Brogan appealed at multiple levels, including the Commissioner’s office and various courts. The deliberations and investigations by the courts and the Commission took two years before reaching a verdict. Brogan remains defiant, similar to our own Senator Bob Menendez, asserting her innocence
Resolution of Censure
Whereas, the above-captioned matter arises from a Complaint that was filed with the School Ethics Commission (Commission) on October 30, 2020, by Laurie Weber (Complainant) alleging that Sheila Brogan (Respondent) violated multiple provisions of the School Ethics Act; and
Whereas, at its meeting on April 27, 2021, the Commission adopted a decision finding probable cause for the alleged violation of N.J.S.A. 18A:12-24(c) in Count 1 of the Complaint, and transmitting the above-captioned matter to the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) for a plenary hearing; and
Whereas, the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) issued an Initial Decision dated December 14, 2021; and
Whereas, at its special meeting on February 25, 2022, and after thoroughly reviewing and considering the full record, the Commission voted adopt the ALJ’s findings of fact, reject the legal conclusion that Respondent did not violate N.J.S.A. 18A:12-24(c) and recommended a penalty of censure; and
Whereas, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:12-29(c), the Commission’s decision was forwarded to the Commissioner of Education (Commissioner) for final determination on the recommended penalty; and
Whereas, on March 9, 2022, Respondent filed an appeal with the Appellate Division instead of filing an appeal with the Commission of Education as required; and
Whereas, the Commissioner of Education did not receive an appeal of the underlying violation from Respondent, and therefore, reviewed the Commission’s recommendation pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:12-29(c) and issued a final decision on April 14, 2022, concurring with the Commission’s recommended penalty of censure; and
Whereas, on June 21, 2023, the Appellate Division dismissed Respondent’s appeal for lack of jurisdiction; and
Whereas, on July 10, 2023, Respondent filed an appeal to the Commissioner of Education, challenging the underlying violation of the Act; and
Whereas, by decision dated October 18, 2023, the Commissioner of Education dismissed the appeal as untimely, and ordered that the Commissioner’s April 14, 2022, final decision concurring with “the penalty recommended by the Commission” in connection with Respondent’s “fail[ure] to recuse herself from executive session on May 7, 2020, despite her personal interest in a lawsuit slated to be discussed,” remains in full force and effect; and
Whereas, N.J.A.C. 6A:28-9.11(d) provides that for a penalty of censure, suspension or removal, a Resolution shall be adopted at the Commission’s next meeting following the Commissioner’s imposition of the sanction, and the Resolution shall be read at the Board’s next public meeting following adoption by the Commission, shall be posted in such places as the Board posts its public notices for no less than thirty (30) days, shall be published online on the District’s website, if available, for no less than thirty (30) days, and the reading of the resolution shall be memorialized in the Board’s meeting minutes, and once approved, a copy of the minutes shall be forwarded to the Commission; and
Now Therefore Be It Resolved, that the Commission adopts this Resolution stating that Respondent is hereby CENSURED as a penalty for having violated the Act as set forth herein; and
Be It Further Resolved, that the Board is ordered to read this Resolution at its next
regularly scheduled public meeting, to post it in such places as the Board posts its public
notices for a period of no less than thirty (30) days, and to publish it online on the District’s website, if available, for no less than thirty (30) days; and
Be It Further Resolved, that the Board shall provide the Commission with the minutes,
once adopted, from the meeting at which it reads the within Resolution
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How much did this fiasco cost Ridgewood taxpayers?
A lot.
Note to BOE: The public will not accept the appointment of a recent censure recipient as board president. Do not even nominate Ms. Brogan for this role come January. You will be the laughing stock of taxpayers.
Amen.
250,000
Oh my god…
Oh my god….
How much money was spent in all these appeals?
A lot.
So let me get this straight –
Mr. Lembo is said to have directed that an agenda be emailed to the public that did not include any notice about the censure reading. This same agenda was also sent to BOE members last week, and posted on the school’s website.
Then, less than 1 hour prior to the meeting, a new agenda was posted that included the censure notice. This replacement agenda was emailed to BOE members, but not to the public.
What a guy Mr. Lembo is.
I laughed when Dr. Schwarz, the superintendent, threw Mr. Lembo under the bus for orchestrating the whole deception scheme.
The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round.
We are stuck with Brogan for one more year. We are kicking Lembo to the curb in one more meeting. Things are looking up
Scarf Lady – shut up and take your medicine.
. Brogan has served this community well for a long time. Censure her for a lapse but relating her appeals of such to the appeals of corruption by Menedez is poor form.
What was compared was the denial. She is still denying any wrong doing with her interfering in a law suit that involved her use of personal email account for district business.
She should have just come clean and accepted that she is not above the law.
How much tax payer dollar was spent on these senseless appeals?
Liberals can never accept accountability
Brogan doesn’t accept the censure, that was the whole point of her tedious denial…so she’s not going to follow the rules, ethics don’t matter, she wants to do whatever she wants
It does not matter how well or how long she has served. This was an ETHICS VIOLATION. For her to read a denial is disgraceful. Admit your error. And apologize.
Thank God Kwak and Dani have a handle on the future
.progression.
NO F’ING WAY SHOULD BROGAN BE NOMINATED FOR BOE PRESIDENT ROLE!
Certain residents clearly want to take down this Superintendent just like they did the last 2 permanent ones. Last meeting it was about the Personnel Committee he requested, this time about the agenda for the meeting. Can we please stop eating our own? Why do some residents feel this compulsion to drive out our Superintendents?
Doesn’t sound like you are watching the right meetings. No one is trying to “take down” this superintendent.
You tried that argument already and it did not work!
Come up with a new one
The board like schwarz.
Wasn’t this argument was beaten to death already by the union, and they failed the convince the voting public? Come up with a new argument.
Brogan is out of touch. Her really long-winded, exhausting denial of the censure was defiant and sounded like so many other deniers — Menendez and George Santos etc etc. 27 years too long on the board
The time and money spent on Brogan’s case could have been used to help kids and schools. She has no shame.
I’ll ask for a 3rd time…..how much was spent..?
A lot.
Why doesn’t someone ask Brogan how much was spent? Go email or ask at next meeting. And if she says she doesn’t know, why…oh right, because it’s tax payer $$$ and she doesn’t care
Shouldn’t BROGAN have to ***repay*** this money to the taxpayers?
Why the hell are we on the hook for her legal bills?!?!?!?
If she screwed up, she pays… simple as that!
You can easily OPRA that information
yes!
Rules for thee but not for me. And Lembo the cop helps her keep censure off the agenda. Brogan’s denial is epic: tone-deaf and LONG, very Menendez.
Well I am glad the censure wasn’t for anything trivial like embezzlement or packing a 9mm at the BOE meetings. I am so glad we are rooting out the use of the tyrannical gmail scourge!
I just want to thank the f’ing morons who ran up the public tab on something so f’ing trivial.
With that said, Brogan is a disaster and needs to go.
Liberals did not care about Clinton using personal email, and they don’t care about Brogan using personal email for board business!
She also spent several thousand dollars of district money in OPRA lawsuit and then multiple ethics lawsuits, because she wants to continue to use personal email account and her desire to attend executive sessions where she should be recusing herself.
Please cut it out with “the liberals think this and that.” Ridiculous. This is how our country is getting split more and more. Just stick to the facts and your opinions.
Embezzlement is criminal, & packing a gun to BOE — are you hinting about Lembo? Brogan ran up the tab with her endless appeals. Read the censure. But wait, I forgot, only the board got the agenda with censure on it
Sheila Brogan is following George Santos’s advice to Bob Menendez: “You stand your ground… and don’t get bogged down by all the haters out there.”
Why did Lembo help Brogan bury censure and let her make her cringey denial? Is there a brogan-lembo ticket in 2024?
Denial was typical brogan— boring and smug. There should be time limits for BOE comments
Brogan’s statement was longer than censure. Honestly whatever sympathy I had for her disappeared once she started denying in excruciating detail. Has she learned nothing from Menendez??
I only get 4 minutes to talk about my kids but Brogan gets unlimited time to complain about how she was wronged by an ethics panel??
She has stayed too long at the dance.
Just read a totally tone deaf comment on Facebook from some uninformed resident (name withheld but you can check ITARV), who wrote: What a tremendous waste of time and money. These people are members of our community and, in the case of the school board members, are volunteers. Presumably they are all there to benefit the schools and our children. Whether we agree with each individual or not on every little thing, they are volunteering their time and efforts for us and our kids. The personal attacks are what are truly embarrassing. I have witnessed, on this and other boards, and in the meetings, attacks on 4 of 5 of the members. It’s mind blowing that anyone WANTS to run for these positions anymore. They get nothing but grief. Shame on everyone. Do better.
What she doesn’t understand is Sheila Brogan IS wasting taxpayer money with this nonsense. Unethical things that require censure are serious. What part of this do you not understand? Get educated before you make yourself look like a dummy who really doesn’t understand local government and how the BOE operates.
She is not that intelligent and it doesn’t matter how many years you are here if you are not paying attention. It was comical at best.
Brogan is THE WORST.
She is the most destructive member or the BOE and is responsible for much of the damage done to the Ridgewood school system.