Teachers: district slow to react

Death threats and how they were handled raise eyebrows at board meeting, By Tom Hoffman SUSSEX - The revelation that three death threats have been made against faculty members within the past year sparked an emotional outcry from the Sussex-Wantage School District teachers’ union, which claims that administrators have been slow to respond. Meanwhile, the top administrator for the K-8 school district said each of the incidents was dealt with promptly and professionally. During the school district’s Sept. 30 board meeting, Sandra Santora complained that administrators failed to notify the State Police after a death threat against a faculty member from the Sussex Middle School was scrawled on one of the walls of the school building last spring. About 10 members of the teachers union stood with Santora, who is president of the Sussex Wantage Education Association. She said she learned of the painted threat “a couple of days” after it occurred and asked Superintendent Dr. Edward Izbicki to notify State Police, citing board policy that administrators immediately notify law enforcement when threats are made against faculty members. Santora said administrators finally contacted the State Police only after she “demanded them to do so in accordance with board policy.” By then, she said, the message had been painted over by the school’s maintenance staff. State Police never had a chance to examine it, although she said she saw it. Neither she nor school officials disclosed the exact wording of this or the other threats. Most recent incident Two weeks ago, another death threat was made, this time by phone, against a nurse at The Wantage School. Santora claims administrators did not notify the police and that she instructed the recipient of the threat to contact the police. In a telephone interview on Oct. 5, Izbicki said Santora’s allegations were inaccurate. He said that in fact, two death threats were made during the 2008-2009 school year. He said one of the incidents occurred when Kristin Touw was principal of the Sussex Middle School “and she’s no longer with the school district.” Izbicki did not elaborate on that. Touw and vice principal Teri Haight were placed on administrative leave by the school district last May for the remainder of the school year and their contracts were not renewed. Izbicki and other members of the school district’s board of education declined to state the reason for Touw’s dismissal at the time. The second alleged death threat made against a faculty member last year “wasn’t brought to our attention right away,” said Izbicki. Once the administration did learn about it, Sussex Middle School’s interim principal Sharon Hosking and the interim vice principal, Sue Petrick, “responded immediately,” said Izbicki. “The whole issue has been dealt with. The State Police said it wasn’t a threat,” said Izbicki, referring to the second incident. He added that the third and most recent incident, involving the nurse at The Wantage School, is still under investigation by State Police and that he couldn’t comment further. However, Izbicki did say that the building administrator for The Wantage School happened to be in the nurse’s office when she received the threat by phone and instructed the nurse to call the State Police immediately. An official at the New Jersey State Police barracks in Augusta said that the officer who is investigating the most recent death threat was unavailable to speak to The Advertiser-News until after the newspaper’s deadline.