By: Gabi Aste-Molina, Law Clerk
Editor: Sanmathi (Sanu) Dev, Esq.
On October 6, 2023, the Appellate Division of New Jersey affirmed the revocation of the teacher’s certificates in In re Certificates of Rita O’Malley by the State Board of Examiners for repeatedly failing to test and evaluate her students with learning disabilities.
Woodbridge Township School District (“District”) employed the teacher in 2000 as a special education teacher and Learning Disabilities Teacher Consultant. She was responsible for testing and diagnosing learning disabilities, developing individualized education programs, and meeting with parents and teachers to discuss the special education needs of her students. In 2015, the parents of one of her students contacted the District to report that their child had not been tested and evaluated by their teacher. The District decided to conduct a random review of the tests the teacher had given, and this review revealed missing test scores and testing deficiencies. Due to this review, the District certified tenure charges against the teacher, citing her neglectful conduct, amongst other causes. The teacher resigned from her tenured position without contesting the charges.
The teacher appealed the revocation of her teaching certificates several times. First, the State Board of Examiners (“Board”), the educator licensing agency in New Jersey, filed an order to show cause regarding the teaching certificates. She answered the order and requested to transfer the matter to an Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”). The ALJ recommended that the Board suspend the teacher’s certificates for three years. The matter returned to the Board, which decided to revoke the teacher’s certificates, citing that her repeated failure to test and evaluate her students merited revoking her certificates. The teacher appealed the Board’s decision to the Commissioner of Education (“Commissioner”). In a final agency decision, the Commissioner agreed with the Board and held that the record supported its decision to revoke her teaching certificates. The teacher appealed again, this time to the Appellate Division.
The teacher argued that the Board’s revocation was arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable, citing a lack of credible evidence in the record. The Appellate Division disagreed and held that the record did support the decisions of the Board and Commissioner to revoke her teaching certificates because there was unconverted evidence that she failed to test her students and correctly record the results of the tests she did administer. By failing to perform these obligations, she did not provide adequate educational services to her students with learning disabilities, and these failures made her unfit for her position. Accordingly, the Appellate Division held that the Board had cause to revoke her teaching certificates under N.J.A.C. 6A:9B-4.4 and that the Commissioner’s decision to uphold the Board’s decision was not arbitrary, capricious, or unreasonable.
