Former PTA president of West Orange elementary school, Debbie Sanchez, who was accused of stealing more than $100K from the PTA, was admitted to pretrial intervention for one year, which if completed would erase her criminal record.
A West Orange woman who was charged with siphoning more than $100,000 from the Mt. Pleasant Parent-Teacher Association, was admitted into a special program for first time offenders Thursday to the disapproval of the school district and PTA. Debbie Sanchez, the former PTA President at Mt. Pleasant Elementary School, was admitted into the pretrial intervention program for one year in state Superior Court in Newark Thursday. The program allows first time offenders to reduce their charges, and if completed will erase her criminal record. As part of the program, Sanchez will have to repay $20,000 to the PTA and complete 100 hours of community service, Katherine Carter, a spokeswoman for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, said Thursday. …
If there are significant cuts the district will look closely at extracurricular programs, staffing, transportation or any new programs proposed for next year.
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Tuesday, February 26
West Orange school officials are under a deadline to submit the 2013-2014 school budget to the county next week with uncertainty whether $85 billion in federal "sequestration" spending cuts will be stopped by Congress before Friday. The West Orange School district will learn its state aid figures on Thursday after Gov. Chris Christie delivered his fiscal year 2014 budget address Tuesday afternoon. "As always with cuts to education aid, we will try to find ways that impact students in the classroom the least,' Interim Superintendent of Schools James O'Neill said. The release of the state aid figures triggers a sequence of events related to the budget process, including the West Orange Board of Education approving the proposed school budget…
West Orange Interim Superintendent Jim O'Neill says the county's plea bargain with a high school English teacher for her sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student is too light.
The interim superintendent of the West Orange School District said Tuesday he was “personally disappointed” and felt the parents and students in the district “have been poorly served by the justice system in Essex County” after high school English teacher Erica DePalo pleaded guilty to charges of endangering the welfare of child and received no jail time. District Interim Superintendent Jim O'Neill complained the county treated the incident too lightly, citing a decision by a judge in a nearby county recommending seven years in jail in a similar case. Erica DePalo, 33, of Montclair, was accused of having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student. Those charges were dropped after she accepted a plea bargain in a Newark Superior …
Tom
1:08 pm on Thursday, April 18, 2013
If she stole from the PTA, they should bring a civil suit to recover the $80K the DA chose to ignore... more ›