The Atlantic City school board is suing a board member and his wife for tuition and free lunches, claiming the children no longer reside in the district.
Farook Hossain's status on the board is already in question after school board solicitor Tracy Riley alleged at this year's reorganization meeting that he is no longer a resident.
Since then, she ordered the board secretary not to record Hossain's vote. At the last meeting, a majority of the board voted to petition the commissioner of education to have Hossain removed.
The board also authorized Riley to file civil suit against Hossain and his wife, Mossammat Akther, which she did on Friday.
According to that suit, Hossain and Akther moved to Egg Harbor Township, but kept their two children — currently in fourth and eighth grade — in the Atlantic City School District.
Hossain also allegedly lied about his family's financial situation in order to obtain free lunch for the two children.
The suit claims two counts of fraud-deceit and one count of unjust enrichment.
Documents that are already part of a complaint Hossain filed against the board with the commissioner of education seem to indicate the couple may be separated.
Hossain also said that he does have people living in his Atlantic City home, but that was to help them out due to hardships they had related to COVID.
He claims to be staying in a home on Bartram Avenue.
But Riley countered that, saying that Hossain signed for papers served at the Egg Harbor Township home.
That is not the case with the current civil suit filed Friday, which shows Akther signed the notices for both her and her husband when they were delivered to the Egg Harbor Township residence at 6:46 p.m. Saturday.
The suit, which requests a jury trial, alleges that the family has not lived in the city since at least Jan. 1, 2019.
It asks for compensatory and punitive damages, along with reasonable attorneys' fees and costs.
While it doesn't give a monetary amount for the lunches, Riley did include tuition prices.
But it gives tuition only for grades one through five and nine through 12. The older child would have been in sixth through eighth grades during the timeframe of the allegations.
Riley did not return a request seeking the tuition amounts for the missing grades.
The tuition owed would be more than $85,000, although an exact number is difficult considering the missing tuition amounts and how the 2018-19 school year would be split.
It was not clear who would be representing Hossain and Akther in the civil suit.
Meanwhile, all the parties will have a hearing Wednesday morning in the fight to remove Hossain from the school board.
Hossain's complaint claims the solicitor had no right to keep his vote from being counted while a sitting member. The board has countered with a petition to have the commissioner of education remove him.
Department of Education spokesmen have declined to comment about what Hossain's current status would be.
They would not answer questions BreakingAC asked about whether a solicitor has the authority to bar a sitting board member's vote. They also would not comment on action taken at the last meeting, that included not calling Hossain's name during three roll call votes, two that included him and one to discontinue the $25,000 superintendent search.
