Evesham Township resident Sue Wilder used the public comment portion of the Sept. 18 Evesham Township Board of Education meeting to once again call for the resignation of board member Kevin Stone.
Wilder’s first call for Stone’s resignation was at the board’s Aug. 21 meeting where she alleged that Stone sent confidential school board information to her, in multiple instances, most recently by placing a letter in her mailbox a week prior to the Aug. 21 meeting, with the request that she disseminate the information to the news media.
At the board’s next and most recent meeting on Sept. 18, Wilder used the public comment portion of the meeting to continue her allegations against Stone, and told the board members she found it “disgusting” that some of them “preach you are here for the children.”
Wilder then made her newest public allegation against Stone, alleging that he sent her an email containing teacher workshop pay and public report card analysis on Feb. 24, the night before the board held a special meeting to discuss whether to offer Superintendent John Scavelli a new five-year-contract.
“I found it appalling to be given information on teacher workshop pay and public report card analysis,” Wilder said. “I have a copy of the email with me for all of you to see, and at this time I am demanding Kevin Stone to resign.”
At the Sept. 18 meeting Wilder also said since becoming involved with the district as a key communicator in 2001, some board members have become her “closest dearest friends” and some “acted like her friends for their own agendas.”
The morning after the Sept. 18 meeting, Wilder clarified that statement and why she believed Stone chose to send information to her specifically, citing her perceived friendship with Stone and his wife Nichole, who is also a member of the board.
“I was….what I thought….a good friend of Kevin and Nichole….I helped both get elected on the BOE when they ran for election,” Wilder said. “That’s why I stated in my statement last night some acted like my friends with their own agenda.”
Both Kevin Stone and Nichole Stone abstained from the vote on Scavelli’s contract at the Feb. 25 meeting.
When she was done speaking, Wilder submitted copies of the email to the board secretary.
A copy of the email forwarded to The Sun from Wilder shows the email as from “Kevin Stone,” with the subject line “can you leek (sic) this” with the email sent from the domain of “thejughandleinn.com.” Stone is owner of the Jug Handle Inn bar and restaurant in Cinnaminson.
Evesham Township Education Association president Janet Kimenhour commented on the situation after Wilder, and expressed personal disappointment and disappointment from teachers regarding the board’s response to the situation.
“It makes me really sad, and when my members, my members do not trust you, have no faith in you as a whole, it makes me sad,” Kimenhour said. ‘It makes me angry. I find it incredibly alarming.”
Board Solicitor William Donio said it was his legal advice that the board not comment on the allegations, suggesting that members not engage in the “back and forth dialogue” with “regard to certain requests.”
Several other teachers and residents used their time during public comment to question Stone’s motives, his ties to the Evesham Republican Club and what the board was doing in response to the allegations.
Donio went on the explain that school boards do not have the power to remove a member of their boards, and if an individual feels a board member has acted inappropriately, that individual must file an ethics complaint with the School Ethics Commission under the state Department of Education.
“A board of education, as a body, cannot file ethics charges against an individual,” Donio said. “A board of education, as a body, cannot remove or expel a member, except if they miss three meetings in a row.”
Wilder, who later confirmed that she does plan to file ethics charges against Stone, also used the Sept. 18 meeting’s public comment portion to explain to the public why she had not already filed charges prior to the meeting.
“It takes a long time and a lot of district money, so if Kevin knew what the right thing to do, would be to resign so we don’t have to file an ethics charge and take money from the children in this district,” Wilder said.
After the public comment portion of the meeting was closed, board member Lisa Mansfield said that prior to the meeting she had received a copy of the email Stone allegedly sent to Wilder.
It was Mansfield’s belief that the information sent to Wilder was not actually confidential.
“I’m not sure he (Stone) realized as a board member that this information that he ‘leaked’ could be asked for by the public, and the public would have received it,” Mansfield said.
The money teachers are paid to attend workshops and the analyses of schools’ report card averages compared to local and state schools, are both available to the public under the New Jersey Open Public Records Act.
However, Mansfield said she found “the intent” behind the email “extremely disturbing” and it would difficult for her to move forward with Stone.
“I’m going to personally have a very difficult time because the trust has been irrevocably — hopefully not irrevocably, taken away,” Mansfield said. “I don’t know that I can trust anymore with you, with information down the road.”
Board president Joseph Fisicaro Jr. also said that the information in the email sent to Wilder was public record, but it was his belief that board members can’t “leak” information that is public record, therefore, as evidence in unethical behavior allegations against a board member, it was “fairly null and void.”
Fisicaro said that until an individual with credible evidence files an ethics charge against a board member with the state Ethics Commission, there was little action the board could take.
“Right now it’s sort of a waiting game,” Fisicaro said.
Stone made no comments on the allegations during or after the meeting.
The next board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. at DeMasi Middle School.
