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Atlantic City BOE wants independent investigation into issue of accused child pornographer

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Atlantic City's Board of Education voted to have an independent investigation into what happened in 2017, when a now-accused child pornographer was fired from working in the school district.
Kayan Frazier was employed as a substitute teacher and then worked for a company that provided substitute staff to the city's schools.
He was working at Pennsylvania Avenue School when his behavior raised concerns of then-Principal LaQuetta Small.
While Small alerted the company, Source4Teachers, and the Department of Children and Families was called in to investigate, law enforcement was not notified.
It's still uncertain who else, if anyone, in the administration knew.
Board President John Devlin said he wanted an independent investigator brought in to look into what happened.
But a vote last week died in a 4-4 tie. Instead, board attorney Tracy Riley is investigating.
She told the board she has been in contact with the U.S. Attorney's Office and with the FBI agent who investigated Frazier for his current charges.
But some on the board say it's better to go outside to avoid any potential conflict that would come from their current counsel investigating.
After a nearly two-hour discussion on the issue that included Superintendent Barry Caldwell muting former Atlantic City teacher — and current Republican mayoral candidate — Tom Forkin, another vote was called.
Devlin, Al Thomas, Al Herbert and Farook Hossain again voted for an outside investigation with Ruth Byard, Shay Steele, Pat Bailey and Kim Bassford voting against.
But this time Kazi Islam — who left the last Zoom meeting early — and Subrata Chowdhury cast the deciding votes.
The way still isn't fully cleared, however, as state-appointed monitor Carole Morris questioned the legality of the investigation and said she wanted to seek her own legal counsel on the issue first.


More details on Tuesday's meeting will follow. Check back for updates.

author

Lynda Cohen

BreakingAC founder who previously worked in newspapers for more than two decades. She is an NJPA award-winner and was a Stories of Atlantic City fellow.

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