The Atlantic City Board of Education voted Tuesday to pursue ethics charges against its former president for comments he's made outside the meetings.
John Devlin has labeled himself a whistleblower as he has gone public about things like a seemingly stalled investigation into the employment of a now-convicted sexual predator.
But current President Shay Steele alleged Devlin seems to be blowing smoke, not whistles.
"He just goes and tells and says things that are misleading and misrepresenting," Steele said.
He pointed to Devlin confirming a "riot-like atmosphere" at the Feb. 2 high school basketball game when Atlantic City hosted the Institute of Technology.
Steele said he could find no proof of any such issues, and that the claims unfairly tarnish the city's students.
He also pointed to Devlin announcing in July 2021 that the board had received a grand jury subpoena. That was revealed in executive session and should not have been made public, Steele said.
It was actually state monitor Carole Morris who first publicly raised ethics questions about an unnamed board member at the Jan. 24 Board of Education meeting.
She questioned how an email she sent board members overturning a failed attempt to bring back retired Superintendent Barry Caldwell on a per diem rate made it into the hands of the media. The email — which Morris admitted was public record — offered little insight into the issue. In fact, it did not mention Caldwell by name nor give a reason for the vote to be overturned.
Because the email was released to radio host Harry Hurley — the main outlet for Devlin — it was presumed that Devlin was the person who leaked it.
Morris' focus on ethical questions seems a departure from her previous stance.
Steele was one of five then-board members who were conflicted from participating in the search for the next superintendent due to family members working in the district. Both Steele's wife and father are employees.
Regardless, Steele announced in July 2021 that he would be choosing the members of the search committee himself.
Steele would not say whether he believes it was a violation.
"I find it laughable that this board is speaking about ethics," Devlin told BreakingAC.
He then reiterated his claim that the 2021 reorganization meeting was postponed by then-Superintendent Caldwell so that Steele would have the votes to unseat Devlin as the board's leader.
"Shay Steele shouldn't even be the president," he said.
"This is all a ploy to tarnish my good name because I exposed a sexual predator who worked in our schools that happens to be the (cousin) of Superintendent La'Quetta Small," Devlin claimed.
He was talking about the case of now-imprisoned Ka'yan Frazier, who was a substitute teacher at Pennsylvania Avenue School when he met and groomed a student.
That child is a unidentified victim in the child pornography case for which Frazier was convicted.
The investigation has been halted twice due to spending limits. No findings have ever been released publicly.
"He knows everything we do," Steele said of Devlin's knowledge of the investigation. "Don’t you think if he had something, he would have exposed it already?"
It was not immediately clear what the next step will be.
Board solicitor Tracy Riley did indicate that she has a conflict in the case. She has represented Devlin in court in his job as a city police officer.
"I can't comment," she told BreakingAC after the meeting.
Devlin abstained from the vote against him, and left before the meeting resumed after executive session. Board member Torres Mayfield was the only vote against the move.
"I think they need to refocus their efforts and worry more about what's going on at the schools because this administration is failing our children," Devlin said Wednesday. "The board and administration are a mess.
"What will they think of next? Shave my head and sent me to Parris Island?" the former Marine asked. "Been there, done that."
