Lakewood Asst. Principal Suspended Over COVID Outbreak: Report

LAKEWOOD, NJ — An assistant principal has been suspended in connection with a February outbreak of the coronavirus at Ella G. Clarke Elementary School in Lakewood, where eight staff members were sickened, four of them hospitalized, according to a report.

The suspension happened at the end of the March 17 Lakewood Board of Education meeting. The resolution, which was approved by a majority of the board during the public session, only identified a staff member by employee number.

The assistant principal was identified by job title in a report by NJ.com. Michael Inzelbuch, the attorney for the Lakewood School District, told NJ.com the assistant principal was suspended over a failure to turn over documentation related to contact tracing surrounding the outbreak, the report said.

The Lakewood Public Schools returned to five days a week of classes in September when schools opened, over the objections of the Lakewood Education Association, which represents teachers and staff.

Kimberlee Shaw, president of the Lakewood Education Association, two weeks ago criticized district administrators, saying they have been "cavalier" in their treatment of teachers during the pandemic.

"The Lakewood Education Association believes that Clarke should switch to virtual learning in order to enforce a quarantine and thorough disinfecting of the school," Shaw wrote in an email to Patch March 10. "Unfortunately, keeping schools open is more important to the district than the lives and health of its staff and students."

The teachers union objected to fully in-person classes at the start of the year over concerns about the potential spread of the coronavirus and the risks to staff. The objection led to an argument on the first day of school between Inzelbuch and Shaw that was captured on video by News 12 New Jersey.

In the months since, Inzelbuch had repeatedly touted how the 6,400-student district has held fully in-person classes since the start of the school year. While the district initially reported its coronavirus cases on its website, that practice stopped in September.

The district arranged for staff members to get COVID-19 vaccinations in partnership with CHEMED. Those vaccinations took place the week of March 15.

The district said two weeks ago that at least 131 staff members and teachers had been infected with COVID-19 between July 6 and Feb. 23. Read more: Lakewood's Ella G. Clarke Elementary Has 2 New COVID-19 Cases

Dawn Hiltner, associate director of communications for the New Jersey Education Association, said of the eight staff members who were sickened at Ella G. Clarke in the February outbreak, four were hospitalized. Three of those staff members have returned to work, but the fourth is on medical leave through the end of March. One is still on oxygen, Hiltner said.

Contact tracing performed by the district and the Ocean County Board of Health showed two sources of the spread, she said. One source was two of those sickened working in the same classroom for several hours a day. The other was unrelated to those two staff members, but it's not clear if the others were infected inside the school or outside, Hiltner said.

The school was not closed despite the outbreak, she said.

"It is a district decision as to whether or not a school closes for a quarantine period," Hiltner said. "We prefer to err on the side of safety by closing, but the district has made staying open its priority."

Emails to Inzelbuch seeking additional comment and to the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association seeking comment on the suspension were not immediately answered.

Hiltner criticized the decision to put the assistant principal on leave, saying it added stress to a school where staffing already was short and where the principal is out on medical leave.

"With one administrator already out from Clarke due to illness and staff shortages due to illness and quarantines, we need all hands on deck and cannot afford to lose anyone," Hiltner said. "Stability is more important than trying to discipline an administrator for allegedly not following protocols."

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