Officials in a Bergen County school district have offered the position of superintendent to a finalist for the job, but the current superintendent says she’s no longer leaving after clashing with the school board over alleged “unbecoming conduct.”
Westwood Regional School District Superintendent Jill Mortimer publicly announced her intention to retire last August, citing a desire to travel, according to NorthJersey.com.
Mortimer, who has worked in the district for nearly a decade, became superintendent in 2021, her attorney said. She earns $242,500 a year in the job, according to state data.
After her retirement announcement, Westwood’s board of education hired a consultant and began a search for a new superintendent, posting public updates on its website.
But, in a 14-minute emergency school board meeting last week, both the board president and Mortimer’s attorney said she no longer intends to retire, complicating the district’s current leadership situation.
“Had any board member, staff or administrator known that Dr. Mortimer was not retiring this year, this trustee team would not have spent tax dollars and hundreds of collective personal hours interviewing candidates,” board president Jay Garcia said at the meeting.
“This board would never have disrupted another superintendent’s career and altered the stability of another district by doing background checks and extending a contract offer,” he said.
Garcia told NJ Advance Media the board can’t execute the contract with the new superintendent. “You can’t have two superintendents simultaneously,” he said.
Mortimer referred questions to her attorney, Armen McOmber, who was the sole person to speak during the April 9 school board meeting’s public comment session.
McOmber alleged the school board has unlawfully retaliated against the superintendent and previously ordered a psychiatric evaluation of Mortimer because she was accused of “behaving erratically.”
“Since Dr. Mortimer objected to its harassing and discriminatory misconduct, the Board has waged an obvious campaign of retaliation against her, ” McOmber said in a statement to NJ Advance Media. “Said retaliation includes suddenly raising ‘performance issues’ and accusing her of ‘unbecoming conduct’ in an outrageous attempt to force her to resign.”
“Suffice to say, the totality of the allegations made against Dr. Mortimer are a complete and utter fabrication and, quite frankly, a textbook example of unlawful retaliation in violation of the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination,” he said.
Garcia was the only board member to speak during the board’s portion of last week’s school board meeting. He read a statement about the timeline of Mortimer’s employment and the board’s hiring search.
The board discovered Mortimer “may not stay true” to her August 28 letter announcing her retirement from a text in January and a recent Instagram post, Garcia said in his statement.
On Jan. 19, Mortimer texted Garcia to say her resignation should not be on the board’s agenda. She asked the district’s director of human resources to remove it and noted she had not submitted a signed letter of resignation, Garcia said.
“Please take my resignation for the purpose of retirement off the January Board agenda,” read Mortimer’s email to the district’s human resources department. “I had put it on there as a placeholder, but I am not submitting a letter at this time.”
Garcia said he forwarded the email to others, and Mortimer texted him a few minutes later. “I had said I would consider staying if you don’t find someone. Hopefully, seeing the candidate’s resumes on Monday will give you some indication,” she wrote.
Over the next few weeks, Mortimer told Garcia she was friends with one of the candidates, the school board president said.
“I called him and told him to apply. You should hire him,” Garcia said Mortimer told him. “I’ve known him for many years. He’s great and he needs the job. He’s done in June.”
In the following weeks, Garcia said his conversations with Mortimer related to her retirement were about whether board members would agree on selecting a candidate.
Garcia also referenced an April 5 Instagram post Mortimer posted and later deleted.
In the post, she said she made significant personnel changes in the last three years, hiring five directors and other staff members. “For these reasons, I have decided to stay on as your proud superintendent,” the post read, according to a photo of the message shared with NJ Advance Media.
Garcia said Mortimer sat “quietly by for two months” as the board interviewed candidates for her position without clarifying her intention to stay in her post.
“The concrete and consistent message from Dr. Mortimer was that she was retiring if we found her replacement,” Garcia said. “We found a phenomenal candidate who we unanimously agree is the right person to lead this district to its fullest potential.”
“Any other inference from anyone involved in this process appears to be intentionally deceptive and self-serving,” he added.
McOmber, Mortimer’s attorney, said the board was trying to force her out of her position.
Mortimer received a Rice Notice — a legally required notice that employees must receive before their employment is discussed before a board — on April 5, McOmber said. He thanked the school board for agreeing to his request that the discussion be held in open public session.
The superintendent had never received a poor evaluation or been reprimanded until recently, her attorney said.
“This all changed beginning this past fall, with what can only be described as a campaign of harassment and unlawful discrimination by the members of the former board of education, which was designed to expedite the early departure of Dr. Mortimer,” said McOmber.
The previous board president demanded a psychiatric evaluation of Mortimer and said she was “behaving erratically” after she returned from back surgery last summer, McOmber said.
Mortimer was placed on involuntary medical leave and cleared by the board’s chosen psychiatrist as permitted to return to work, her attorney said. But, she was only able to return after an email from her then-legal counsel..
Two board members asked to read the doctor’s report, which was “grossly inappropriate,” McOmber alleged. Board members also suggested obtaining a second medical opinion.
“The board, the previous board and this board, has behaved in a bizarre and outrageous fashion in the manner in which they treated this respected educator,” McOmber said.
After Mortimer said she would not be resigning, the board president emailed her, and copied the rest of the board, to say she was not addressing safety concerns in the district. He asked her what specific programs had been initiated “to address the bullying culture in our schools,” McOmber said.
In a recent letter, the board also alleged Mortimer had “unbecoming conduct” and indicated she may receive disciplinary action following an investigation, her attorney said.
“Not a shock, by the way, that that wording was used because unbecoming conduct is one of the legal justifications for terminating a superintendent,” he said.
“The letter is a complete fabrication, the allegations herein, and literally perhaps the most naked example of unlawful retaliation that I’ve seen in 25 years of being an employment lawyer and representing boards of education,” McOmber added.
Mortimer returned to her job last June after back surgery. She replaced Kenneth Rota, who served as interim superintendent of the district. Rota, who resigned for personal reasons, stepped down following several controversies, including a conflict over displaying Pride signs on school property.
It was unclear at the time if Rota’s resignation was related to the controversies in the district.
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Brianna Kudisch may be reached at bkudisch@njadvancemedia.com.
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