SOME FEAR TESTIFYING IN WAYNE SCHOOL CASE

NEWARK -- Some teachers and administrators fear retribution for speaking out
against the district, a court hearing for a suspended Wayne vice principal
has revealed.

Wednesday, an elementary school principal waiting to take the stand on
behalf of Joseph Graceffo, who faces termination by the school board,
testified that she received notice about a week ago from the board that
"terms and conditions of [her] employment would be discussed."

The statement, by Pines Lake Principal Mary Jane Tierney, elicited by
Graceffo's defense attorney, seemed to imply that she was being discouraged
from testifying at the administrative hearing.

Tierney, questioned by a school board attorney, said she did not know if the
notice had anything to do with her scheduled testimony on Graceffo's behalf.

District officials reached after the hearing said their sudden interest in
her employment had nothing to do with the Graceffo case.

Superintendent Raymond Kwak said that all elementary school principals
received the letters -- known as Rice notices -- to attend a board meeting
tonight. Sources in the district said school officials are considering the
possibility of reassigning principals to different schools.

"All of our principals received this," Kwak said after the hearing concluded
for the day. "We talk about evaluations and different positions. We have two
[principal] openings, and we need to decide what to do about them."

Still, valid or not, the fear of retaliation resonated throughout
Wednesday's hearing. In addition to Tierney's testimony, a teachers' union
leader testified that he is concerned about possible retribution by district
officials because he took the stand.

Graceffo, a Wayne Hills High School vice principal, is charged
administratively with failing to order a drug test for 11th-grader Nick
Lucatorto last January as a matter of routine after a teacher suspected him
of smoking marijuana. Lucatorto died two weeks later from a heroin overdose
at an overnight house party.

The hearing is scheduled to continue Jan. 31. If the court finds Graceffo
violated district policy, the vice principal's fate would be up to the state
commissioner of education.

In October, Susan Ammerman, a physical education teacher at Wayne Hills,
testified that on Jan. 21 she smelled marijuana on Lucatorto and noticed
that his pupils were dilated. Ammerman reported her findings to Graceffo.
Two school nurses who examined the boy later testified that his eyes were
normal and he smelled only of cigarette smoke. Graceffo later phoned
Lucatorto's mother to tell her about the incident and decided against
ordering a urinalysis.

Under the district's drug and alcohol policy, an administrator must order a
urinalysis for any student suspected of drug use. Whether any discretion can
be used is at the heart of the case. Several school personnel have testified
that administrators and teachers did not automatically order a screening
when told of possible drug use by a student.

Additionally, throughout the hearings, which began in October, the defense
has attempted to show that Graceffo was the target of other administrators
with whom he had quarreled.

Tierney testified Wednesday that Victoria Musetti, the district's student
assistance specialist, told her a few years ago that she had compiled a file
on past abuses of the drug policy by Graceffo and that she would use it
eventually to "get him."

In December, Musetti provided some of the strongest testimony against
Graceffo when she detailed four instances in the past when Graceffo either
did not order a screening for students suspected of drug use or delayed
doing so.

After Tierney's testimony, Joseph Modica, the grievance chairman for the
local teachers' union, testified that other union officials had told him
that the Board of Education once criticized administrators for screening too
many students and not getting enough positive results.

"I believe Mr. Graceffo is really being made the scapegoat for this
situation," said Modica, a veteran teacher, who added that he was "concerned
over the consequences of testifying," against the district.

Modica said that almost 95 percent of teachers do not want to make the
decision whether to drug test a student.

That supported testimony from school nurses in November that teachers and
administrators, although suspecting drug use, often waited for the results
of a cursory medical exam before requesting that a student be subjected to a
urinalysis.

Modica said there was an incident when he asked three administrators,
including Wayne Hills Principal Gene Sudol, to order a screening for a
student who appeared violent. Modica said the student was never screened.

In October, Sudol testified that there was a "zero-tolerance" policy when
deciding whether to order a drug screening for students suspected of drug
use.