TOWN WATCH
NEWARK – The Newark Public Library will be looking for its seventh library executive director in the last 10 years since its Board of Trustees voted in a special Aug. 8 meeting to hand Christian Zabriskie his hat and pink slip.
The trustees, without elaboration that Friday, voted 5-3-1 to put Zabriskie on immediate 90-day paid administrative leave – which ends with his Nov. 6 termination. Zabriskie, who came here from New York’s Onondaga County Library district in July 2023, heard the vote with his head bowed and quietly left 5 Washington St. He had been drawing a $180,00 annual salary.
Trustee President Aisha Cooper, Vice President Rosemary Steinbaum, Treasurer Jason Ballard and members Robert J. Austin II and Miguel Rodriguez voted for the severance. Trustee Secretary Havier Nazario – representing the NPS Superintendent of Schools – and members Lauren Wells and Sharnee Brown abstained. Deputy Mayor Jacqueline Quiles – the mayor’s representative – was absent.
The special meeting came 17 days after their July 23 meeting, where the trustees had not received the Request For Quotes documents concerning an intended renovation of the Springfield-Hayes Branch. Zabriskie had told a reporter that he does not have an administrative assistant who can prepare and distribute said materials, had delegated the task to other staff and “obviously some things slipped through the cracks.”
The trustees had also questioned Zabriskie why they were not given the opportunity to review the collective bargaining agreement Memorandum of Understanding with AFSCME Local 2298 That MOU was approved and ratified by the union July 16 and by the trustees July 23.
Library patron Aly Ross, who spoke in the public comment segment, recalled a July 23 discussion with Zabriskie on the labor contract, Ross said that Zabriskie ushered her into his office a day or tow later and accused her of “hurting his feelings” and “of painting in a negative light that would result in his being fired.”
Normal operation is to continue, said Steinbaum Aug. 13, “in the very capable hands of the administrative team.” No process or timetable has been set to select the next director.
IRVINGTON – A township woman’s Aug. 11 visit to Rochelle Park Police Headquarters ended with an overnight stay at Hackensack’s Bergen County Jail. Domithilla Epuechi, 58, was released with a summons and a return date to Central Judicial Processing Court there.
RPPD, according to its Aug. 12 press release, asked Epuechi to come in and answer some questions about a door-to-door contracting solicitation May 22 that one of their residents were accusing her of.
The victim said that Epuechi was representing PJ Roofing & Construction, LLC, of Newark, which also supposedly does construction and pest control work. A PJ Roofing man has started work on the victim’s roof but, according to the press release, asked the victim to wire $100,000 to a separate account.
RPPD detectives, upon receiving the resident’s complaint, traced PJ Roofing’s address to Newark’s 265 Elizabeth Ave. – a vacant lot. They located Epuechi through the account number, however, and recovered the $100,000.
Epuechi has been charged with second-degree attempted theft by deception. PJ Roofing and Construction has no known relation with any similar “PJ” in the trade. Anyone who has been victimized by her and PJ Roofing are to call (201) 843-1515.
EAST ORANGE – City firefighters, with mutual aid from their Irvington colleagues, put out an early morning Aug. 15 house fire in the Hyde Park section. The blaze displaced 13 people from three families – including an injured occupant.
EOFD received the first call of a fire at 140 S. Munn Ave. at 2:45 a.m. that Friday. The first units discovered flames and smoke coming out the front of the 2.5-story building – and a report that some one was trapped inside.
The incident commander pulled two more alarms and had a pair of firefighters enter the 1930 building north of Wilcox Avenue once they beat back front door flames. One person, who was found and rescued, was taken to a local hospital for undisclosed treatment.
A local American Red Cross chapter counted 13 evacuees from three families who were given temporary shelter. The fire was brought under control by 4 a.m.
The fire comes a day past the 2.5 year anniversary of a fire that destroyed four store fronts along 225-33 Central Ave. and damaged a house at 6 Watson Ave. in the Hyde Park section. The storefronts are being replaced as of press time.
ORANGE – When STEM Innovation Academy of the Oranges staff and students respectively report in for their Sept. 2 and 5 first days, they will meet its latest principal, Eric J. Andrews.
Orange Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Gerald Fitzhugh II and the Board of Education appointed Andrews Aug. 13. The Plainfield native brings 20 years’ experience in educational administration and policy.
If Andrews appears familiar to the STEM community, it is because he came from a public school district next door. He was assistant principal of the East Orange STEM Academy, in that city’s former Clifford J. Scott High School Ninth Grade building, until June 30.
Those with longer area memories may recall that Andrews was previously in Newark’s Barringer High School as its Vice Principal of Career and Technical Education and of Visual and Performing Arts. (BHS had been subdivided into technical and arts academies at the time.)
Andrews will be shepherding OPS’ eight-year-old engineering magnet high school. His office is where previous STEM Oranges and past Marylawn School of the Oranges principals had worked from since 1935.
The STEM Oranges and the former Marylawn high schools are instructing from 445 Scotland Rd. in South Orange’s Montrose section. OPS has annually offered 10 tuition-free seats to interested South Orange-Maplewood School District students as a courtesy.
WEST ORANGE – The wake and Funeral Mass for South Orange-Maplewood School District administrator and recent West Orange resident Dr. JaneAnn Bean-Folkes have been respectively set for Aug. 21 at the village’s Preston Funeral Home and Aug. 22 at the township’s St. Joseph Church.
Bean-Folkes, 67, of West Orange, died Aug. 11 at the Morristown Medical Center. She was the school district’s K-12 English Language Arts Supervisor at the time of her death.
Born as JeanAnn Bean, Jan. 16, 1958 in Amityville, N.Y., she first came to South Orange-Maplewood with a doctorate in education from Columbia University. She married Laurie Allen Folkes and they raised step daughter Elizabeth Navarez here before moving to West Orange’s Valley section.
“Dr. Bean-Folkes was more than an exceptional educator,” said Schools Superintendent Jason Bing. “She was a tireless advocate for literacy, equity and the belief that every child has the right to a high-quality education, regardless of circumstance.
Sister Lisa Johnson is also among her mourners. Parents Robert Bean and Eliza Jane Walker Bean and sister Hon. Suffolk County Judge Toni A. Bean predeceased her.
The family and SOMSD have asked that memorial donations go to the Achieve Foundation of South Orange and Maplewood to create a literacy grant to assist English Language Arts teachers: achievefoundation.org/donate.
SOUTH ORANGE / MAPLEWOOD – The former South Orange-Maplewood School District Board of Education member who lost her defamation suit against “Friends of Frank” in April has said that she will appeal a Superior Court judge’s Aug. 13 ruling to pay the other party $40,474 in legal fees.
Judge Jeffrey Beacham directed plaintiff Ellen Malespina, of South Orange, to pay the legal fees for the defendants – fellow former board member Courtney Wakefield, of South Orange, and “Friends of Frank” officers Rachel Fisher and Stephanie Nasteff-Pilato, both of Maplewood. Malespina claimed that Wakefield Fisher and Nasteff-Pilato had “maliciously, intentionally and/or recklessly defamed” her by saying that she “had acted in a criminal or unethical manner and directly caused Columbia High School Principal Frank Sanchez to be arrested and charged with a felony and a misdemeanor.”
Sanchez surrendered himself to ECPO Jan. 3, 2024 when he had learned that he was charged on a count each of felony child endangerment and misdemeanor simple assault. The charges stemmed from a 2023 altercation with a 16-year-old girl in a CHS hallway.
Steinbaum said on Aug. 13 that library operations will continue “in the very capable hands of our leadership team.” There has been no word on the process or timeline for selecting the next director.
SOMSD suspended Sanchez after Jan. 3, 2024 but reinstated him that June after the charges were respectively dismissed in Superior and Maplewood-South Orange Municipal courts. “Friends of Frank” was meanwhile founded to pay for his legal defense.
At issue was “Friends’ ” reaction after it was revealed that Malespina, saying that she had to be a “mandatory reporter,” furnished an internal SOMSD investigation report to the Maplewood Police Department in November 2023 – which was brought to ECPO’s attention.
Beacham, in his April ruling, said that the plaintiff “failed to establish a prima facie case of any cause of action in the complaint” or “state a cause of action upon which relief can be granted.
BLOOMFIELD – Members of the local BMX community will join the relatives and friends of Joseph Tiseo and hold their Joe Tiseo Memorial Jam at his memorial BMX Ramp Park Aug. 31.
The BMX riding and jumping demonstration in that part of Memorial Park commemorates Tiseo nearest to his Sept. 2, 2001 death date. That the event is on Eastern Bikes’ calendar with other trials as far out as Orlando, St. Louis and The Bronx testifies to his influence on the sport.
Joseph Frank Tiseo, who was born in Newark Oct. 21, 1974, became a New York-New Jersey legend in the 1990s with his original and technical riding style. The indoor skatepark competition regularly gained places on the Kink Bicycles and Animal Bikes teams and was featured on various videos.
Tiseo, 26, was killed in a motorcycle accident Sept. 2, 2001. His mother Anita Killian and friends began holding memorial jams in Memorial Park after his funeral. They lobbied Bloomfield Township for a BMX ramp park, which was built in 2008 and refurbished in 2020.
This year’s edition, which starts at noon, features giveaways, prizes and awards for best BMX tricks. Anitia Killian is among Tiseo’s family to be present. Animal, Eastern and Kinks are among the event’s sponsors.
MONTCLAIR – The Montclair Water Bureau is asking property owners’ help in identifying lead, galvanized, brass, copper and “unknown” water service lines that may exist between the township’s water mains and their water meters before Jan. 1.
The MWB is measuring twice before cutting. The agency has conducted an inventory of the said lines towards launching its 2026 Lead Service Line Replacement Program. Although it has conducted the survey mostly on pre-1940 residences, they have posted a survey form on its website as of Aug. 14.
The township is following a 2021 state mandate to have LSLRPs done between now and 2031. Besides the actual lead lines, galvanized pipes and soldier can attract lead particles. Brass and copper lines and fittings can also allow lead buildup. There is no safe lead content threshold.
These surveys will help MWB and meter replacers National Metering Services to inspect sites, bore test holes and interview homeowners before the Jan. 1 LSLRP launch. Homeowners may be asked to set appointment times, take photos and receive swab kits. Photos may also be submitted with the forms.
Montclair’s LSLRP is state DEP funded and is free to homeowners. Questions with an address should be submitted to DOIHAVELEAD@Montclairnj.org.
GLEN RIDGE – A recent New Jersey Court of Appeals ruling has reactivated an eight-year-old malpractice lawsuit filed by the parents of a dead three-week-old against Mountainside Hospital here and Belleville’s Clara Maass Medical Center and its physicians.
The three judge panel ruled that the testimony of the plaintiffs’ expert physician, Dr. Michael Tunik, should have been included in the Carter v. Mountainside and Clara Maass case in Superior Court. Tunik had reported his conclusion that emergency room medical staff at both hospitals failed to meet a standard of care.
Tunik’s testimony was a counterpoint to State Assistant Medical Examiner Dr. Frederick DiCarlo’s Sept. 26, 2017 autopsy report. DiCarlo’s autopsy had concluded that the infant had died from Sudden Unexplained Infant Death.
Plaintiffs Gregory Carter and Keyronna Benjamin-Carter said that their child had died in his crib just after their second ER visit. They claim that the son died from dehydration and an infection that went undetected by both hospitals’ staff.
The case will be returned to Superior Court-Newark. Spokespeople for both hospitals, citing the ongoing litigation, have declined comment from the case.
BELLEVILLE – Eight Township-installed “SafetySticks” camera posts have been posted at the intersection of Greylock Parkway and Union Avenue and on the northern corners of Belmont Avenue and Franklin Street about two weeks ago.
The six grey posts at Greylock/Union and the two at Belmont/Franklin look like bollards except that they were posted next to yellow painted curbing and previously posted parking restricted signage. A closer look reveals each post having a window for a mono-directional camera.
A township release on the SafetySticks describes their operation akin to the former red light cameras once active in Newark and elsewhere 2010-14: A photo is taken of the vehicle’s license place after it has stopped – and again after 30 seconds, The photos are evaluated by a designated police officer and a traffic ticket is sent from Belleville Municipal Court by mail. The maker, Municipal Parking Services, of Austin, Texas, gets a cut of the paid fines.
These sticks or bollards, explained Town manager Brian Banda to a Facebook poster Aug. 12, are part of a pilot program. The Township Council, added Banda, discussed this two months ago. Dover Mayor James Dodd, on Aug. 15, said that there will be a 30-day grace period before its SafetySticks are activated in his Morris County town.
MPS’ SafetySticks have also been installed under contract in North Arlington, Wood-Ridge, Garfield, Hasbrouck Heights and Little Falls as far back as January. The towns are left to set 30- 60- or 120-sec. grace periods before photo snapping.
NUTLEY – The Nutley Public Schools Board of Education will likely take up the idea of offering a 99-year leasing out of the Nutley Park Oval to the Township Commissioners at the former’s Aug. 25 meeting at the high school auditorium.
The proposed lease would allow the township to maintain and operate the oval off the southeast corner of Franklin Avenue and Chestnut Street. The 99-year term will end when the sports and civic events stadium approaches its 200-years-old mark.
The oval started out in the early 20th Century as a cricket pitch but its use was expanded to baseball, football, soccer and track and field. A self-named Oval Park Association added the Japanese cherry trees and stadium seating along the Franklin Avenue side in 1936-37. Additional renovations were made in the 1990s.
The township had sought and received permission for the annual Santa’s Arrival by helicopter since 1961 plus Christmas Tree and menorah lightings.
The proposed lease would be the latest project falling under the 2023 Township-NPS shared services use agreement. The Township, for example, bought and is renovating 777 Bloomfield Ave. as the NBOE’s Nutley Early Childhood Center.
Terms and annual payments are among details not available as of press time. NBOE’s Aug. 25 agenda was not posted as of 11 a.m. Aug. 19.
NBOE to consider leasing Park Oval to township on 99 year lease at their Aug. 25 meeting. NPS: “We already have a shared services agreement.”
