Licata Ethics Response 2

7/26/2019 Licata Ethics Response 2

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NIRENBERG VARANO LLP32 Mercer StreetHackensack, ew Jersey 0760(201) 996-1121Attorneys for RespondentJoseph Licata

RYAN CURIONI,

Complainant

-vs.-

JOSEPH LICATA, President of the LodiBoard of Education ,

Respondent

: BEFORE THE SCHOOL ETHICS: COMMISSION OF NEW JERSEY: DOCKET NO.: COl-16

CERTIFICATION O JOSEPH LICATA

I JOSEPH LICATA, _o f full age, hereby ce1iify the following:

1. I am cmTently the President of the Lodi Board o f Education. I first became a

board member in 2009 when I was 21 years old and a college student. I have lived in Lodi my

entire life and have attended the Lodi Public Schools. I have been a member o f the Lodi Board

o f Education continuously since 2009. From 2009 to 2012, I was Vice President . I was

appointed President in 2012.

2. I make this ce1iification in response to an inquiry contained in the School Ethics

Commission decision of May 25, 2016 and to provide fmiher evidence in preparation for the

probable cause review.

3. At the outset, I wish to make it clear that in support of my motion to dismiss the

complaint I did not assert that at the August 26, 2015, meetingof

the Lodi Boardof

Education,

the appropriate Doctrine of Necessity was invoked which permitted all board members with

conflicts to vote to approve the Superintendent's Merit Bonus.


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4 . Rather, as demonstrated by a copy of the minutes from that meeting at page 5535,

annexed hereto as Exhibit A, a resolution was passed to invoke the Doctrine of Necessity with

respect to voting on the resolution to amend certain labor agreements for emplqyees..

5 As set forth in the resolution invoking the Doctrine of Necessity on August 26,

2015, the following board members had conflicts of interest:

1 Carole D Amico s son, Frank D Amico, is a Principal for theDistrict;

2 . My wife is a teacher for the District;3 . Jonathan Carafa s parent, Emil Carafa, is a Principal for the

District and his sister Stephanie Carafa is a teacher;4 Philip Carbonetti s daughter, Kristen Borrometti, is a teacher; and5 Jeffrey Telep s wife, Stacey Telep , is a teacher.

6 Based on these same conflicts, a majority of the board members including me was

precluded from voting on the resolution regarding the Superintendent s Merit Bonus and

. therefore the Doctrine of Necessity was required to allow all conflicted board members to vote

on ,that resolution.

7 Accordingly, the only impropriety if any with respect to my voting on that

resolution was that the Doctrine of Necessity may not have been properly invoked in that it

referred only to the resolution regarding the amendment of certain labor agreements and did not

specifically refer to the Superintendent s Merit Bonus .. However, based upon the Board s lack

of a quorum to vote on that resolution, this is not a situation where I would not have been

permitted to vote under any circumstance . Instead, I along with the other conflicted board

members were permitted to vote on that resolution, just as we voted on the resolution to amend

certain labor agreements for employees, upon the invocation of the Doctrine of Necessity by

resolution .

8 The board attorney was not present at that meeting .


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9 At the May 25, 2016, meeting, the Lodi Board of Education unanimously .passed a

resolution invoking the Doctrine of Necessity which specifically refers to the vote to approve the

attainment of the 2015-2016 Superintendent s Merit Bonus Goals. 1

10. The Doctrine of Necessity was required because the Board of Education lacked a

quorum to vote on this matter due to the following conflicts of interest:

1 Carole D Amico s son, Frank D Amico, is a Principal;2 My wife, Nikki Licata, is a teacher;3 Robert Marra s spouse, Mary Marra, is a learning disability

specialist for the Distr ict s child study team;4 Jonathan Carafa s parent, Emil Carafa, is a principal and his sister,

Stephanie Carafa, is a teacher;5 Philip Carbonetti s daughter, Kristen Bon-ometti, is a teacher;

6 Jeffrey Telep s spouse, Stacey Telep, is a teacher;7 Nicholas Vara s cousin, Janelle Guido, is a teacher; and8 Michael Nardino s niece, Lisa Costa, is a teacher.

11 My salary as Executive Director for the Boys and Girls Club of Lodi/Hackensack

was determined by contract at the time I was h ired for the position i n or about December of

2015. t is not based on any revenue that may be attributed to me .

12 The revenue generated by the the Boys and Girls Club Educator s Training

Institute comprises a small percentage of the Club s total budget.

13 I do not receive a salary or any form of remuneration from Lodi Cares, a non-

profit educational foundation whose programs include scholarships which benefit students

residing in Lodi. In fact, it is not uncommon for me to utilize my own personal funds for the

benefit of Lodi Cares.

14 All funds raised by Lodi Cares are spent on scholarships, a high school barbecue

and minimal overhead .

As of the preparation of this certification, the minutes from the May 25, 2016 meeting have not been approved bythe Board.


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15 . Lodi Cares primary source o f funding is the contribution it receives from the

Boys and Girls Club of a p011ion o f the funds generated by the Educator s Training Institute.

16. Jamie Ciofalo, as the Supervisor of Guidance, Curriculum and Instruction for the

Lodi-Board of Education is a 12-month salaried employee. He is required to structure his time to

insure all his professional duties are performed and his obligations are met.

17 . Upon information and belief, no substitutes are hired by the Board of Education

when Mr. Ciofalo is out o f the district for sick, personal or professional development days.

18. Upon information and belief, Mr. Ciofalo is not the only administrator who is

permitted by the Superintendent to use professional development days and therefore not docked

or required to use a personal day when giving professional development workshops both in- and

out-of-district.

19 . The Educational Information and Resource Center (EIRC) provides professional

development workshops for educators. EIRC rents a room from the Boys and Girls Club of

Lodi/Hackensack . In conjunction with that transaction, as the Club s Executive Director, I

arranged for EIRC to allow five Lodi Board of Education staff members to attend all of their

workshops at the Club free of charge.

20. I am a lifelong resident of Lodi and have strong roots in this Community. Over

the years, my parents were involved in volunteering in Lodi having been coaches in the

recreation department, PT A and PTO Presidents and volunteers for various fund raisers .

21. I attended the Lodi Public Schools from kindergarten through high school. I

attended Wilson Elementary School, where my grandmother, great aunts, great unC es, mother,

father, aunt, uncles and all three o f my siblings attended . I then went to Thomas Jefferson

Middle School and Lodi High School.


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22. I concl uded my career at Lodi High School having been President o f the National

Honor Society President o f he Studen t Council Editor of the Yearbook and President of the

Science Club among other activities.

23. I learned a sense of community at the Lodi Schools. Because of this and my

desire to give back to the system that had given me so much in 2009 when I was 2 years old

and still in college I ran for a seat on the Lodi Board of Education. Since that time twice ran

for re-election unopposed.

24. I had been fo rtunate to be able to volun teer as an Intern at the Boys and Girls

Club of Lodi/Hackensack in 2009. That internship developed into a job caree r and personal

mission to help those children who need it most.

25. As someone who is burdened with student loan debt from my graduate and

undergraduate education in 2014 in an effort to help other Lodi students lessen their student debt

burden founded and created Lodi Cares a nonprofi t educational foundation which works to

provide supplemental education funding and college scholarships .

26. I want to do all I can to make Lodi and its schools the place of community it was

.for me as a child. This is the reason am on the Board of Education work for the Boys and Girls

Club and created Lodi Cares - to make Lodi a better place.

hereby certify that the foregoing statements made by me are true. understand that if

any of the foregoing statements are willfully false am subject to punishment .

DATED: June 10 2016

Documents

Licata Ethics Response 2