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March 11, 2024
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March 11, 2024BREAKING: South Orange-Maplewood Principal Charged With Felony
Updated with response from the district.
This morning Frank Sanchez, principal of South Orange-Maplewood’s Columbia High School, turned himself in to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office. He has been charged with second degree child endangerment, a felony, and simple assault, a misdemeanor.
On Friday, March March 8th, the Essex County prosecutor issued a warrant for Sanchez’s arrest.
While this is a developing story, the charges reflect an incident in March of last year when a tenth-grade female student, who is Black, was allegedly assaulted by Sanchez.
The next step in the process is the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, led by Theodore N. Stephens II, will convene a grand jury, who will decide if there is enough evidence to indict Sanchez.
On January 2nd of this year, the South Orange-Maplewood Acting Superintendent Kevin Gilbert informed the community that Sanchez had been put on administrative leave, writing, “no one in the District is at liberty to share any details pertaining to his absence.” Sanchez has been temporarily replaced by Assistant Superintendent Ann Bodnar. Two months earlier the district school board fired superintendent Ronald Taylor after a vote of “no-confidence” from the teachers union and concerns about SOMA’s history of racial disparities.
New Jersey Education has asked the South Orange-Maplewood district for comment. If the district responds we will update this article.
Update: Dr. Kevin F. Gilbert, Acting Superintendent of the South Orange and Maplewood School District. issued the following statement:
“I am deeply saddened by the news of charges against the Columbia High School principal, the latest in a series of unexpected events that have happened in our District during this school year. No matter what our feelings may be at this time, our focus must be on meeting the needs of Columbia High School students, their families, and staff. I am working with my administration colleagues to make sure we continue to fulfill our obligations to the people we serve.”
8 Comments
This feels like a very dangerous precedent being set.
First, why mention the race of the child? This implies that it was racially motivated.
Second, would parents rather that Sanchez just let the kids fight and not intervene?
Wasn’t there an uproar when no one intervened in the Nex Benedict school beating, that ultimately led to their death?
Maybe this “breaking news” could have waited for more info. Sigh.
While this is a well-curated story, it would be great if you could elaborate on why the girl was reprimanded. Mr Sanchez is a well-respected principal of Columbia High School and was highly spoken of when the Board of Ed sought to remove him for this incident. At that point, the students reminded us why he was such a great principal. He makes the kids feel safe and always walks the hallways and classrooms, making himself available to all students. It was a significant loss to the school and the student when he was placed on leave. He was a principal who cared, and these accusations only tarnished his and the school’s reputations.
Please tell the whole story!
100% agree with your comments. Principal Sanchez goes above and beyond in his job. He cares and he shows up for the students — time and time again. So saddened by this turn of events.
Did the reporter make any attempt to reach Mr. Sanchez or his attorney? Other than “this is a developing story,” I don’t see any mention of trying to hear his side of things. Before moving to Maplewood, he was in Mountain Lakes, where the students loved him.
This is not reporting/journalism. There are no interviews, no sourcing, no attempt to get to the bottom of the story. It’s just a repost of press releases abs is extremely unhelpful.
Love this publication, but very disappointed in the reporting here.
I have spent many days in multiple schools in this district. This district is suffering from extremely biased and bigoted hiring practices. They simply do not hire black teachers. What they do is hire black aides and white teachers, offering black qualified educators minus 30-40k their worth. The student body does not reflect those who are in positions of authority. Anyone who does a walkthrough of any of these schools will see this. It’s unhealthy in its structure and lacking inclusion on many levels.
My 2 babies graduated from Columbia high. I never got no bad report from any of them about the educators. My daughter is now a nurse who graduated valedictorian in nursing school. Thank you for Columbia high.