The South Orange-Maplewood School District voted Thursday night to reappoint a high school principal who is facing a charge accusing him of assaulting a student last year.
Frank Sanchez, principal of Columbia High School in Maplewood, had been on administrative leave for six months following the accusation. The charge stems from an incident with a female student in a school hallway last year, according to authorities.
Six board members voted in favor of a resolution reappointing Sanchez, according to a video of the board meeting. Two board members, Nubia DuVall Wilson and Kaitlin Wittleder, abstained. Board member Bill Gifford voted no.
“A ‘yes’ vote tonight is a vote in favor of beginning the restorative process and repairing the harm that has been done to our high school community,” board member Shayna Sackett-Gable said Thursday night.
Other district officials expressed concern with appointing Sanchez while he still faces a charge of simple assault now pending in municipal court. Sanchez was charged in March with second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, but a grand jury declined to indict him. The simple assault charge filed in March remains pending.
“I cannot vote to renew any staff member who I know has an outstanding investigation and assault charge,” said DuVall Wilson. “My big picture concern is that we could set a precedent that any staff member who has open assault investigations against them could be renewed or tenured.”
Gifford, the lone “no” vote, expressed concerns about the pending charge and the message it would send to the student who reported the incident.
“At the center of this is a young girl who felt the need to come forward about her treatment at the hands of one of our administrators,” Gifford said. “I cannot discount her experience while there are still outstanding charges.”
The live streamed meeting showed a packed room of attendees, with some people sitting on the floor. Some held signs urging district officials to “Bring Frank back” and “We need to get back to normal.” More than a dozen people spoke during public comment supporting the longtime educator’s reinstatement.
Sanchez was described as “the real deal” by speakers who recounted their own experiences with the principal.
Despite the showing, there remains division in the district over Sanchez’s reappointment. During Thursday’s public comment, an organizer with Black Lives Matter-Paterson said reinstating Sanchez creates “a hostile environment” for many students.
The Black Lives Matter-New Jersey chapter said earlier Thursday it was “disgusted” by the school board for “even considering allowing Sanchez to return to Columbia High School in any capacity,” according to a press release.
The decision by the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office to refer the remaining simple assault charge to municipal court — rather than dismiss it altogether — was criticized this week by Sanchez’s attorney.
“Their original actions in subjecting Principal Sanchez to incarceration on a warrant, one year after the event, when a summons complaint is the norm in these situations was concerning,” attorney John McMahon said Wednesday in a statement. “Their failure to conduct any meaningful investigation was not what the community expects from its chief law enforcement agency. And now its failure to respect the Grand Jury’s findings raises grave concerns.”
The Black Parents Workshop, a South Orange-Maplewood advocacy group that supported the criminal charges against Sanchez, also called for Sanchez to be fired.
“There is no expiration date on justice. Black Parents Workshop stands in agreement with Black Lives Matters New Jersey and will pursue justice for this student by any means necessary,” the group said Thursday in a statement on its Facebook page.
The group’s legal counsel, Robert Tarver, and the group’s chairman, James H. Davis III, are representing the student who was allegedly assaulted, separate from their roles with the Black Parents Workshop. Davis declined to comment on Friday.
Tarver, who has a law practice in Toms River, said Friday he did not have a comment on the reappointment.
The criminal complaint filed by prosecutors against Sanchez said video footage from March 9, 2023, showed Sanchez with his hand on a girl’s arm in a school hallway as he pulled her toward a staircase, authorities said. The girl pulled away and Sanchez grabbed her again in an exchange that continued for about 30 seconds, according to the complaint.
The video footage then showed the pair falling through a door, with Sanchez holding the student up against the wall, according to the complaint.
Video from the hallway outside the stairwell, viewed by NJ Advance Media, shows the student and Sanchez walking side-by-side in a quick stride toward the stairwell entrance. It’s not clear whether the principal has a grip on the girl’s arm from the video because the camera is some distance away and Sanchez’s body obscures the view. When the girl steps away from Sanchez, she appears to attempt to enter the stairwell.
Footage from inside the stairwell shows the moment the two go through the double doors. The student appears to be pushing against Sanchez as he attempted to stop the student. Sanchez briefly pushed her against the wall during the struggle, according to the video viewed by NJ Advance Media.
Sanchez pleaded not guilty to the charges. His defense attorney argued the security camera footage showed the student willingly walking toward a stairwell with Sanchez as she tried to push past him so she could confront other students in the cafeteria downstairs.
The student had a separate confrontation with classmates earlier and was on her way to cafeteria to confront them when Sanchez intercepted her, the attorney said.
The school district appointed Ricardo Pedro in early April to serve as interim principal of Columbia High School in Sanchez’s absence.
Sanchez’s reappointment is effective July 1 at an annual salary of $182,662, according to board documents.
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Jackie Roman may be reached at jroman@njadvancemedia.com.
