TRENTON – A New Jersey school employee is accused in a federal corruption case of allegedly taking bribes on behalf of his brother, who is the mayor.

But a debate erupted at the school board over whether to suspend him with or without pay and perhaps more shocking, a board member actually said the whole thing was “not an important matter”! Moreover, the board president downplayed the accusations because they didn’t involve “misconduct in class”!

From The Times of Trenton:

Teachers union representatives immediately took issue with [school board president Toby] Sanders’ query, saying the board should not publicly discuss Mack’s job without notifying him first, as is required by law.

“You shouldn’t be trying to persuade the vote,” Trenton Education Association president Naomi Johnson-Lafleur said as she walked out of the room and dialed Mack on her cell phone. “It’s unethical.”

Several board members said the discussion should not take place publicly and quickly voted to move into executive session.

“I didn’t feel it was appropriate to discuss that topic in open session without appropriate notification to that employee,” board member Gerald Truehart said yesterday. Truehart originally voted against suspending Mack’s pay.

Sanders said yesterday that he should not have brought the subject up in public session. But he said he still felt the board needed to go on the record and take another vote, given the earlier questions surrounding the board’s standard practice on suspensions and the hot-button nature of Mack’s case and his political connections.

Trenton is one of the few municipalities where the school board is appointed by the mayor, not elected by the public.

“It’s a complex issue because it involves an employee of the district who has been a valuable employee and the circumstances are unfortunate and complex,” Sanders said.

Sanders said that Capella wrote in her ruling that she believed it was district policy to suspend an arrested or indicted employee without pay, but several board members were conflicted about taking away Mack’s pay before his case is heard in court.

“It’s complicated,” Sanders said. “What Mack was indicted for did not involve the delivery of educational services to children, he didn’t do anything to a child, there was no misconduct in class.”

Sanders said the board would meet in executive session in two weeks to talk about Mack’s pay again.

Truehart said he didn’t think there was anything left to discuss, given the monitor’s decision.

“We should just move on,” he said. “At this point, it’s not an important matter, we have other important matters to discuss.”

Is this New Jersey schools’ version of Hillary Clinton’s “what difference does it make!” outburst