Pleasantville BOE special meeting to vote on seat at center of court battle

The Pleasantville Board of Education is holding a special meeting Tuesday, expected to address the filling of a vacant seat that now is at the center of a court battle.

Irvin Moreno-Rodriguez was chosen to fill the seat at the Dec.16 meeting in a 6-2 vote.

That vote, however, could be much different this time, as three of the yes votes were by members who lost November’s election and were attending their last meeting.

Several residents who spoke at December’s meeting asked that the board wait until January, so that the three new board members could be part of the decision. Those asking included two of those incoming members, Elyse Sanchez and Cheri Harris.

The vote went on anyway.

But a civil suit filed by a passed-over candidate alleges the board did not follow their own policy, interviewing just four of the two candidates who applied. The suit also claims the Open Public Meeting Act was violated.

Kanefe Johnson said he went to the meeting expecting to be interviewed, after applying for the seat before noon Dec. 11, as the public announcement required.

“A tentative date to interview candidates is set for Dec. 16, 2025, 6:00 P.M.,” the published announcement read.

Despite Board Secretary Daile Dixon-White acknowledging four residents applied, only Moreno-Rodriguez and Jerome Page were brought to the microphone for questions at that meeting.

Johnson — a longtime Pleasantville Jokers youth football coach — did speak during public comment, explaining why he wanted to serve. 

“It would be a disservice to this community not to have Kanefe Johnson on the school board,” fellow coach, Gordon Pratt, told the board. “He’s a kid-first guy. … This man is nonstop making sure safety, uniforms, coaches, everything is in order for all these kids.”

The board went into executive session without answering why Johnson was not interviewed. The fourth candidate did not come forward.

Page — who previously served 17 years on the school board — insisted that the discussion on who they would choose to fill the seat should be a public one, not one taken behind closed doors.

But there was no public discussion.

When the board returned from executive session, more public comment was heard on general issues before board President Doris Rowell called for the vote to appoint Moreno-Rodriguez to the seat.

Johnson walked to the microphone, saying he had been skipped over to speak, after it was noted that he signed up for that portion before the meeting.

Rowell said that since she already had called for the vote, it had to be completed before Johnson could speak. 

By then, it was too late. Moreno-Rodriguez was chosen.

“If I had known, I would have brought my lawyer too,” Johnson said as he turned to Moreno-Rodriguez, who was sitting in the front row next to attorney Jonathan Diego.

Diego was beside Moreno-Rodriguez again last Thursday, as they sat in court before Assignment Judge M. Susan Sheppard in the Civil Courthouse in Atlantic City.

At that time, Diego lost a motion to have the litigation dismissed, saying that the issue was one that should go before the commissioner of education and not a Superior Court judge.

Sheppard disagreed.

Many issues would be under the commissioner’s jurisdiction, she said, “but issues of compliance with local public policies or the Open Public Meetings Act, or general standards of due process are properly heard in the Superior Court under judicial review powers,” she said.

Sheppard was expected to follow her verbal decision with a written one, along with a schedule for the ongoing case.

Diego indicated at that time that he would appeal following the written ruling.

With the special meeting Tuesday, it’s not clear what would happen with the case.

The announcement for the special meeting indicates the purpose “is for Board Vacancy, Finance, Litigation, Personnel.”

“I believe the board may be considering voting upon that issue (of Moreno-Rodriguez) based upon the court’s ruling but I am not certain,” Johnson’s attorney, David Castellani, told BreakingAC

But Diego insisted that the judge did not clear the way for a re-vote to happen, and that her decision is expected “on or about April 16.”

Moreno-Rodriguez also is on the list of three candidates in front of Pleasantville’s City Council to fill the unexpired term of Joanne Famularo, who had to give up her seat after she was appointed to a commission board by the governor.

That list includes Pablo Santiago and Martin Gibson, currently a sitting Board of Education member, although that could be in question at Tuesday’s meeting as well.

Gibson garnered negative attention at last month’s board meeting during a vote of no confidence in Rowell, after she left the meeting before it ended.

He cast the first vote against the move, which apparently was met with disagreement from the audience. 

“You can see me outside if you want,” he said from the dais, which was met with others calling it out as a threat.

Sources tell BreakingAC that this conduct will be addressed at the special meeting as well.

   A day after the last court hearing,the Board of Education announced a special meeting.