Police Serve the Superintendent

An over reach of bureaucrat power.

Last year in August, I was denied entry into my Board of Education meeting by my township police, upon the order of the superintendent, because I was not wearing a mask. At that second, I messaged the mayor.

“Does DelRossi make the law in Medford now?” referring to the superintendent in our district. Apparently he had control over the police and could use them as door bouncers to enforce HIS rules.

I thought it was the legislative branch that made the laws in NJ, and I don’t remember a law that said that the superintendent can use township police to force citizens to follow arbitrary rules set forth by the superintendent.

I decided to let my council know that this wasn’t going to fly with me…

Dear Mayor, Councilmen and Councilwomen,

  I am writing to inform you of an event that occurred At Kirby’s Mill School on June 28th 2021 at 7PM for the public school board meeting.

Please allow this letter to serve as notice that the events that occurred present serious implications of civil rights violations with liability potential for the Medford School Board, Superintendent and the Medford Police department.  As I attempted to enter Kirby’s mill school to exercise my right to peaceably assemble and petition my government during the public school board session, I was met at the door by two armed police officers, O’Hanlon and McHenry, who told me I could not enter without a mask, according to the Board of Education.  Unfortunately, they were under the assumption that they could violate the Bill of Rights under the arbitrary direction of the Medford Board of Education.  The Board of Education wants to prevent public debate over the masking issue and are using the Medford Police to prevent opposing opinions from entering the building.  I have attended multiple BOE meetings in NJ, including LRHS (Lenape Regional High School), Evesham Township Schools, Southamption township schools, Mt. Laurel Township schools, and Gloucester City Schools without armed police preventing me from entering the building. So imagine my surprise when 2 armed police officers prevented me from entering the building in my own school district. I asserted my request for entry with an accommodation due to me under the ADA, still I was refused entry by the police officers.

    I prefer to resolve this matter both amicably and prior to the next scheduled Medford School Board Meeting in lieu of litigation. I recommend the town to consult its council and instruct the BOE and police department to revise its policies immediately and communicate accordingly to the public.

Sincerely,

   Nikki Stouffer

That all didn’t fly with my town council either. So they told the superintendent that Medford township police are not to be used to enforce school rules for citizens who are not breaking the law and the police will not guarding the door at the next BOE meeting. They told the superintendent that if anyone became disruptive at the meeting that the superintendent or the board can call the police when the incident occurs… which never happened. Everyone is respectful in my town.

I’m always happy to see my town council default on the side of freedom for citizens. Medford is a great town with great elected officials

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Fast forward to August 2022 Mantua.

Two parents who regularly attend the Mantua township BOE meetings were denied entry to a meeting by two Mantua law enforcement officers, on orders from the school superintendent. The parents were told this was a “private meeting” with the superintendent and curriculum supervisor to talk to exclusively to 2nd and 3rd grade parents ONLY, regarding the new Sex Ed curriculum in the 2022/2023 school year. They said anyone without 2nd or 3rd graders can not attend. However, three board members without kids in 2nd or 3rd grade were permitted to attend.

The parent who was denied entry, has a 1st grade child and was trying to attend this important curriculum meeting to decide if he was going to enroll next year. He didn’t want to send his child to 1st grade only to pull his child for 2nd after he attended the Sex Ed curriculum meeting next August. Parents deserve to hear the entire curriculum to make adequate decisions regarding education.

Christine R. Trampé is trying to avoid contraversary by holding information from parents and uses the police to control the parents. What other meetings does the superintendent have where police have to keep parents from attending? So if there is an 8th grade dance committee, do the police show up to make sure only the 8th grade parents to attend? Probably not. They're keeping parents out of the curriculum meeting this because it's controversial.

Besides the sneaky way the Mantua superintendent controls information, the larger problem is using police to enforce the capricious rules of the superintendent. She specifically did this so that she could use the police bully parents. What other rules can the superintendent make that the police can enforce?