The author of this article describes himself as an “Asbury Park community member hoping to improve the district.” He wishes to remain anonymous. The views are his own.

I’ve heard from high places that the leaked letter written by the Administrators and Supervisors Union to the Asbury Park Board of Education informing them the district has “arrived at a crisis point” was actually written by the principal of Thurgood Marshall Elementary School, Lauren Schulze. Schulze has been bad-mouthing other administrators in the district to people in the community, including board members. She has continually attacked Mark Gerbino, who was the first choice of the staff as superintendent almost three years ago.

Here’s the backstory:

Schultze has been crusading against Gerbino because we hear he had to mediate a very uncomfortable situation between Schultze and another staff member she was harassing. Gerbino had no luck because “certain powers” in charge took Schultze’s side. It was so bad for the other staff member that she was forced to leave due to the hostility she was enduring. But more on that shortly.

Why does Schultze want to damage Gerbino’s reputation? Simply because she is trying to help behind the scenes to get herself a better position. To do so, she has to knock Gerbino off the list of potential successors to Superintendent Rashawn Adams, who is reportedly on his way out. Instead, Schultze wants Perry Medina, principal of Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, to get the interim superintendent position! Director of Student Services Kristie Howard was the Board’s first choice but now she’s off the list too; we’ve heard she was the one who leaked the administrators’ letter just before she was suspended by the district. With Howard “out of the way,” they need a replacement the board can agree on if they decide to suspend Adams. Schultz is helping Medina because who besides Howard would even want the Interim job?

We’re also told that Schultze is so delusional that she thinks she will be elevated to Central Office if Medina takes charge.  Adams and Medina don’t get along and he has written Medina up for ridiculous reasons to show he’s in charge. Should Medina be considered? This guy can’t even run the middle school so what makes them think he can run a district? Oh, wait, Adams couldn’t run the middle school either and look where he is! Deja vu all over again.

So how did Schultz get to where she is in Asbury Park? Let’s take a look. As a teacher at Thurgood Marshall, the ass-kissing and back-stabbing begins. She created a documented hostile work environment for a fellow teacher who is the daughter of a highly-visible elected official so the teacher left the district. It was so bad the teachers union was called in to help. That was when Schultze would say to people, “no one would take me down, including Gerbino,” who was the building principal at that time. All Gerbino wanted to do was have people work together professionally.

What happened to Schultze, you may ask? Not a goddamn thing! While she was supposed to be teaching the children of Asbury, she was constantly seen typing on a laptop and not doing anything for the students in her classroom. Teachers would make comments about it but nothing would get done because [former superintendent] Sancha Gray needed her to write her doctoral thesis! Yes, that’s right!

Speaking of Gray’s doctoral degree, the district paid for it and was never reimbursed even though she left several months later. Schultze even did her own graduate work during student contact time. Teachers have told me she was never doing anything with the kids, she would just be typing on her laptop. So what happens when you type thesis papers for your boss? You become a supervisor with only two years of teaching experience!!! Yes, that’s right, two years or teaching experience! But can we even call it experience when you do nothing in the classroom? Job postings and job requirements were changed and POOF!  She became a principal without the minimum qualifications!

We’re told she has no problem trying to protect her own ass and that includes contacting school board members. I hope they’re not listening to her but, based on the way they treat Gerbino, they must be, which is really sad because he is probably the only one that can fix this place. She is just trying to ruin another administrator in the district. This is a problem!

What a sad way to operate as a staff member when all you think about is yourself and moving up the ladder. This madness must stop and the Board needs to look at who is qualified right now to fix this school district.