The complaints, obtained through a public records request, allege Jay Eitner targets older teachers.
WATERFORD TWP. -- Jason "Jay" Eitner has made a name for himself in the world of public education. He's won awards, spoken at educational conferences around the country, and visited the White House twice for educational summits.
But he has a different reputation with some staff in the two districts where he has been the top administrator.
Records show teachers at Waterford Township schools, where he has worked for a year and a half, have filed complaints against him alleging ageism, retaliation, sexual harassment and other behavior.
The Board of Education placed him on non-punitive leave Oct. 19. After more than five hours of deliberation over two nights this week, they extended it until Feb. 28.
Before coming to Waterford, Eitner was chief school administrator for two years at Lower Alloway Creek Township School. There were also teachers there who complained about him, Eitner acknowledged.
"In both places, I was hired as a change agent," Eitner, 37, of Mount Laurel, said in an interview last week. But in small school districts like these, he said, "change is an evil, evil word."
He said both districts have many great teachers, but some were threatened by the change and his style. He likes to describe it as not just upsetting the applecart, but "kicking it down the road."
"I'm not here to make friends. I'm not a coddler," he said. "I'm here for the kids."
He says the affirmative action complaints against him are just attempts by a few bitter teachers and conspiring school board members to get him fired.
Meanwhile, the teachers who've filed complaints about Eitner paint a picture of a quick-tempered administrator who is prejudiced against older teachers and retaliates against those he feels are against him.
According to documents obtained through a records request, they told the Office of the Commissioner of Education in filings this summer that retaliation sometimes takes the form of a transfer to a different teaching assignment, a disclosure of confidential information from a teacher's personnel file, or a thinly-veiled jab in a tweet.
"No one is fighting change," said Deborah Borrelli, one of the teachers in question. "We are standing up against sexual harassment, intimidation, and bullying."
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And it's not just a few teachers, she said. Borrelli said complaints have been filed by at least 25 staff members. That number cannot be verified because affirmative action complaints are not public records.
"We are experienced educators who deserve to be treated as professionals," said Daniel Bittner, another teacher who has filed complaints.
Eitner has also accused Board President Terri Chiddenton of conspiring with the complaining teachers, harassing him and yelling at him at meetings. "She's had a personal and political vendetta against me from the beginning," he said.
Chiddenton said she could not comment on the matter and the board's attorney, Howard Long, said he could not make any comments on behalf of the board members.
Complaints to the state
The three teachers who have petitioned the Commissioner of Education, calling for Eitner's educational certifications to be pulled, have alleged that he was against them from the start due to their age. They also argue that Eitner punished them for resisting his proposals to transfer them or for participating in the investigations into his behavior that began in early 2016, records show.
The petitioners -- Borrelli, Bittner and Patricia Chiodi -- said they are the three most senior teachers in the district. In addition to their complaints, records show they have filed notice with the district of their intent to sue for damages over $100,000 each.
Eitner said he cannot discuss the contents of the complaints due to the threat of litigation. However, he did deny discriminating against older teachers, saying that all he wants to see is passion and enthusiasm for the job.
"If younger people are more excited about the things they learned in college and are excited to do them with students," he said, he is excited to work with them.
He also said that he doesn't understand why teachers stay in their jobs after they've maxed out their pensions, because they are essentially working for money that would be given to them anyway.
In her complaint, Chiodi alleged that Eitner in March told the Waterford Township Education Association executive committee that she had been arrested that day for drunk driving and that she had another past drunk driving arrest from 2012. He also told Chiddenton about the past arrest, she said.
Chiodi said there was no new arrest, only the 2012 incident that was in her personnel file. Eitner at first said a parent called him about the new arrest, and later told Chiodi that a grandmother told him when he was in a diner, Chiodi wrote.
"I believe that there never was anyone who informed Mr. Eitner about a DUI," Chiodi wrote in her complaint. She accused him of digging for dirt in her file and trying to "shame me by divulging this information to colleagues and school board members."
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Bittner, a long-time teacher for gifted and talented students, described several incidents when he felt Eitner discriminated against him because of his age. He wrote that when they met, Eitner quickly asked him when he was retiring.
Bittner said Eitner tried unsuccessfully to reassign him after he gave statements in investigations. In June, Bittner alleges, he lost his head teacher position because Eitner encouraged principals to choose new staff, instead of those "embedded in past practice."
Borrelli alleges that an email she received from Eitner in May, after she resisted his proposal to transfer her, was sexual harassment.
The email, attached to the complaint, appears to be a post titled "Slut shaming -- A horrible school epidemic" from Eitner's blog. According to the attached email, he wrote that educators at a conference described rumors circulating about teachers and he mentioned the specific sexual acts that staff members were said to have performed.
Borrelli feels that Eitner sent her the email as a threat to shame her similarly. He said he cannot address the accusation, but that anyone who subscribes to his blog will be emailed a blog post when it goes up.
A post on the topic does show up on his blog, but without the references to sex acts that appear in the email Borrelli attached. She also provided photographs to the commissioner that she says show the blog post was only added a month later, without those paragraphs, and backdated to look like it's from May.
The teachers' filings with the commissioner have been moved to the state's Office of Administrative Law, records show, where a judge consolidated them last week.
Eitner's attorney moved Sept. 6 to have the matter dismissed, but the judge has not ruled on the request. The motion argues that the complaints do not fall under the commissioner's jurisdiction, among other things.
Heated tweets
Several teachers and parents have objected to Eitner's posts on Twitter.
In today's times of fake news, shady board members, and angry parents, the threshold of acceptance, not beliefs, often guides decisions.
-- Jay Eitner (@Jay_Eitner) December 3, 2016
The complaining staff point to tweets they think are jabs at them, claiming they are too on-the-nose to be coincidental though they don't name them. Eitner denied targeting anyone, saying his opponents in the district are paranoid.
The petitions to the Commissioner of Education include pages of tweets that the teachers feel show Eitner is ageist, including posts that say if teachers can't change, embrace technology or get along with their superintendent, they should retire.
It's #backtoschool week for most NJ Faculty. Who's excited for a great year? If you're not excited to get started, who's ready to retire???
-- Jay Eitner (@Jay_Eitner) August 30, 2015
In April, after a parent said that Eitner was tweeting during a Board of Education meeting, the board passed a new policy prohibiting board members from using social media during meetings. That includes Eitner, who is an ex-officio board member.
What happens now?
On Monday, the last day of Eitner's original 60-day leave, members deliberated for four hours in closed session. In the end, they put off the decision and voted instead to extend his leave to Dec. 31.
Chiodi said at that point that she wasn't happy with board's 6-3 decision.
"I do know there are Board of Ed. members who understand the severity of what he's done, but I'm disappointed that that some on the board didn't take it seriously enough to address it the way it should be addressed," Chiodi said of Monday's vote.
On Wednesday, the last scheduled meeting before Dec. 31, the meeting was again packed with teachers and a few parents, some of whom said they were hoping for a more final decision. Instead, the board extended the leave to Feb. 28.
Asked by a resident what that extension will do, board attorney John D. Wade answered, "I can tell you the board decided to take certain actions and they feel that they need this amount of time."
Eitner said he would not comment on the board's decision Wednesday night because he had not received notice about it.
The board will have three new members in the new year: Michael Vitarelli, William A. Wilhelm and Al Pangia.
Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.