Najjar not among Sayreville football coaches reinstated
Head coach George Najjar was not among the members of the Sayreville High School football team's coaching staff who were reinstated as tenured teachers in the district during a Board of Education meeting on Tuesday night.
Top assistant Michael Novak (physical education), assistant Mark Poore (physical education), head freshman coach Ed Mish (science) and assistant freshman coach Tim Ballard (social studies) were all reinstated as high school teachers effective immediately in a unanimous 9-0 vote of the school board.
The quartet had been suspended with pay since Oct. 16, the day the school district commenced an internal investigation into the football program after seven of its players were criminally charged in connection with the hazing and sexual assault of four teammates inside the team's locker room.
With the Board of Education announcing no recommended action on Najjar, the future of the head coach and physical education instructor, who has been suspended with pay as a teacher since Oct. 16, is unclear.
No Sayreville coaches have been criminally charged.
"Tonight we are moving forward as a school district," Schools Superintendent Rick Labbe said in a prepared statement. "The actions taken by the Board are the next step in this process. Our investigation is ongoing."
Findings of the school district's investigation into the football program will determine what sanctions, if any, Najjar may face.
The next step for Najjar could run the gamut from reinstatement to tenure charges.
State law permits a school district to file tenure charges with the New Jersey Department of Education against teachers for conduct unbecoming, inefficiency, incapacity or other just cause. A school board would have to support a superintendent's recommendation that the teacher be terminated before tenure charges could be filed. The cases are assigned by the Commissioner of Education to an arbitrator who makes the final determination.
Labbe recommended on Tuesday night for good cause shown that the salary increment and employment adjustment increment for the 2015-16 school year be withheld for both Mish and Ballard.
According to MyCentralJersey.com's data universe, Najjar entered this academic year earning $84,750 annually as an educator, while Novak received $78,050, Mish made $61,000 and Poore and Ballard were each paid $45,250.
The Board of Education cut in half the annual coaching stipends of Najjar ($11,700), Novak ($8,866), Mish ($8,866), Poore ($8,187) and Ballard ($8,187) last month. The reduction reflects the school board's Oct. 5 decision to shut down the football program for the remainder of the season at all levels.
One of the state's most successful public school programs, Sayreville won NJSIAA sectional titles three of the last four seasons and qualified for the playoffs each of the past 18 years.
The alleged hazing and sexual assaults took place over a 10-day period beginning Sept. 19 and led to the cancelation of the team's season. All of the criminally charged players have been suspended from school.
Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey, whose office continues to investigate the football program, has decided not to seek a waiver to try the juvenile defendants as adults.
More than 1,100 of Najjar's supporters have signed a petition, which was presented to the Board of Education last month, asking that the district take into consideration their comments when determining the future of the coach.
Najjar has compiled a 165-54 record during 20 seasons at Sayreville including a 21-13 postseason mark. He previously coached at Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he went 94-32-1.
A member of the New Jersey Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame, Najjar guided Sayreville to a 12-0 record in 2012 as the Bombers finished undefeated for the first time since 1949 and only the third time in school history.
Staff writer Greg Tufaro: gtufaro@mycentraljersey.com