Oh, great! First Tony Cavanna's $228K/yr paid vacation (plus O'Neill's salary) and now this one @ %69.5K/yr. (plus the replacement teacher's salary).

A Pine Hill teacher has been suspended WITH PAY since May 2011 (1 year and 9 months paid vacation so far @ $60K/year).

He's just been indicted on 92 counts and who knows how long it will be until he takes a plea deal or goes to trial. According the NJEA contract, the Gloucester Twp taxpayers have been paying this teacher for nearly two years and will continue to do so for as long as he can drag out the trial.

Nice for him, not so nice for the taxpayers and students who could use that money to support the school system. Ka-CHING!!

bit.ly/Z677ci <-- Gloucester Twp Patch article.

I just want to know what actions are goin to take the school? My daughter was told that she needs to go to the batroom with another friends like two or three this is ridiculous the school should call for a meeting to give us an explanation and let us know about the security system that they have now in order to prevent that this is not gonna happen again with another child, I feel sorry for this child an I can't think that this can happen with any kid at the school.... Parents we have to speak in orde to save our kids..!

This is the second time in less than a year something like this occurred. While it is true that the suspension without is the strongest response the board of education legal has my thinking is that the school district is not doing what it has to do to prevent things like this from occurring in the first place. The supervision of the school staff for which the taxpayers pay a small fortune in administrative cost need a lot of improvement in this regard. The school administration has to account for this.

I would think that because in this country you are innocent until proven guilty, the WOBOE probably has to continue to pay his salary. Now, what I believe should happen is, if convicted, he should have to pay back the salary back to the day he was arrested!

They did the right thing by suspending him and following the case. As for the inconvenience of children having to go to the bathroom in pairs, quit complaining! It's for the safety of the kids. The school system is NOT God and doesn't know every single person who might be capable of sexually abusing our kids! They can only go by checking on the backgrounds. Unfortunately, there are many men and women in many employment positions who are capable of doing such things or continuing to do such things without ANYONE ever speaking up! This is where we MUST educate our children to not be afraid to speak up. Things like this don't get reported because of what the abuser usually says to the abusee.... "This is our little secret" " if you tell anyone you'll never...." "People will think....about you" etc, etc. they trap them emotionally anyway they can because of their own sickness. So instead of getting mad at society or systems let's educate our children and build up our children's confidence and self esteem.

If this guy is found guilty and convicted, may he get the toughest sentence possible! I despise people who take advantage of others, but ESPECIALLY our precious children.

They are lying on this man! This little girl is known to lie. This is such a small world. When parents teach their children to lie, they will grow up to be criminals. I hope that this parent will encourage her to speak the truth. I do not know the teacher personally, but he has a great reputation according to my children.

Family members of this little girl are claiming that she is known for lying. Small world everyone! Reserve your judgement.

@James this is exactly why WOBOE did the right thing. If it comes out that this man is innocent, I'm sure the results could end up being much more expensive on the district. This is another fact, people do lie and people do teach their children to lie. May the real truth be COMPLETELY exposed!

Anyone passing judgement before the facts are known should step back and let the investigation ensue. Finger pointing does no constitute guilt.

sorry I meant Washington. Since Friday I have been praying for him. I am confident the truth will be revealed.

I know of so many families who knew this teacher and he had an excellent reputation for being a dedicated teacher. I hope our system will work and find justice in this case. For now, let's not pass judgment. Let's hope truth prevails.

I stand by remarks. The BOE has to accountable for the actions of the people they hire. A captian is respnonsible for the ship and the sailors they comand. A business is responsbile for the actions of those they employ. Managers are responsible for the people they manage. Also this is the second occurance of this nature in less than a year. Thus the BOE has look internally so we don't have a thrid occurance. Protection of children is the responsibility of the leaders of our schools. Ultimately the BOE is responsible and the citizen have to hold them to account.

Everyone needs to realize that a child was involved in this regardless to how anyone feels about the teacher and "he said, she said and I heard"..think about what this child just went through..after investigations he was arrested for a reason, not on any lies that people on here are saying she said or her parents told her to say, if anyone knows the truth its the child and the teacher, not any of us, unless you were there on these several days that this little girl had to suffer at the hands of someone she trusted. To all the parents, what if it was your child, your family, your friends' child, what would you say? Would that child be lying then? Would he be such a great teacher when he gets convicted? How can you console this child or any other child he may have done this to, and they are to scared to speak up. Some of these negative comments are ridiculous, we are adults here talking about a child, who can't defend herself..KNOW THE FACTS BEFORE YOU SPEAK..THIS COULD HAPPEN TO YOUR CHILD OT FAMILY

@Baya you just said "if anyone knows the truth its the child and the teacher, not any of us" and then you talk about how the little girl had to "suffer at the hands of someone she trusted". How do you know she had to suffer? Then you say very clearly "KNOW THE FACTS BEFORE YOU SPEAK..THIS COULD HAPPEN TO YOUR CHILD OT FAMILY" You are contradicting yourself in the same sentence. This whole story is bull, and I know some facts, I know this teacher, and he knows my children. The family of this child should be ashamed of themselves, they are not the victim in this case, Mr. Yonitch is and when the truth comes out who is going to have lost, not the family who is behind all of the lies, but the child and the teacher.

@John, I am available should anyone wish to speak with me in regards to Mr. Yonitch, and you are correct my statement does not have relevancy to his guilt or innocence however I will defend what I feel is correct and what I feel is the truth. That being said I will continue to fight for Mr. Yonitch who has been wrongly accused, and again the truth will come out.

So John Anthony Prignano, if a good friend of yours was accused of a crime that they say they didn't committ, you wouldn't support your friend? You wouldn't stand by them? You would wait for the truth as determined by the court? Heather has every right to stand up and support a person she feels is innocent. She doesn't have to share infomation with you. How do you know what is relevant and what is not? Bays statement was completely contadictory. She has already chosen to be judge and jury and found the teacher guilty while saying no one yet knows the truth. And, if you really believe that someone can be accused of something like this, found innocent, and his life and career continue on as if nothing occurred, you are living in a fantasy world.

woresident, While I have your attention - do you know if there is more instructional time included in the latest West Orange teacher's contract? Dr. O'Neil comes from Chatham. Chatham High provides the hourly equivalent of 30 days more instructional time than West Orange High . Chatham spends a little over $15,000 per pupil, while West Orange spends over $21,000. Chatham's median family income is about $180,000. West Orange's median family income is about $100,000. Chatham spends the equivalent of about 8.3% of median family income on each pupil, while West Orange spends about 21%. AND Chatham has an all - volunteer fire department. Do you have any thoughts on the matter?

FaFaFooey! You blammo weasel!

Actually, John Prignano. I do have thoughts on the matter you posted above. I would enjoy engaging in a rational, logical discourse with an rational, logical, intelligent poster on those subjects. But, since I do not consider you to be rational, knowledge or logical on any matters pertaining to our schools, I will pass on fully responding to your posts. I should have continued to ignore you except it is hard to ignore someone who posts so many times in all school threads. I will be ignoring you again, like so many other regular posters on the patch seem to do..

I just found out about this...it is just a sad sad story....you can never foresee what goes on in the mind of a person...no one can predict the actions of anyone..but I hope this is not something he would have done in the midst of his mind being clouded with bad judgement......one mistake can be life changing,,,,as teachers we must be careful of caring,,,never be alone with a student always be on guard and aware of the potential outcomes, leave doors open, others are present, involve others like the school social worker, principal, VP, family, community, use the whole village to protect ourselves and our children so that we avoid circumstances like this.