Lakewood Public Schools is again in the news. The New Jersey Department of Education has ruled that it can’t continue to pay its lawyer Michael Inzelbuch a million dollars a year and so, for its latest swordplay, the district is claiming no lawyer can possibly fill Inzelbuch’s shoes. Therefore, Lakewood says, the only answer is for the DOE to reverse its ban on Inzelbuch’s employment and approve his usual compensation.

There are two problems with the district’s position:

1. There are 590 school districts in NJ and every one has legal representation at costs well below what Inzelbuch gets. While Lakewood is complicated — 50,000 private school students attend Orthodox Jewish day schools and the district must provide transportation and special education services for those who qualify — it is still just a school district. What happens when Inzelbuch retires? Will the district cease to function? 
2. If the school board really thinks the district can’t function without Inzelbuch (weirdly, two law firms who also work for Lakewood insist this is true) then Lakewood is in the throes of a cult of personality, a dangerous pathology for an organization that is supposed to serve children.

Let’s back up for a minute. Inzelbuch has a long history with Lakewood Public Schools, both as attorney and adversary. During 2002-2012 he held two positions in the district: Board Attorney and “Non-Public Special Education Consultant.” As NJ Ed Report detailed after the Board fired him in 2013, “Inzelbuch’s critics repeatedly claimed he dominated the board and orchestrated how the majority of the board voted.” More importantly, said the Asbury Park Press,  Inzelbuch was in “the center of controversies over sharply increased spending on private religious schools, charges of racial bias, a cheating scandal and regularly poor testing results.” With a new board in place, his contract was terminated.

Then Inzelbuch started suing the district on behalf of those private special education students, as well as a few public students with disabilities. The district, in response, sued Inzelbuch, citing an “impermissible and unwaivable conflict of interest.” But he kept suing and kept winning, with the district paying large settlement costs.

In 2017 the Board gave up and rehired Inzelbuch with a bizarre contract (explained here) that gave him enormous control, plus $600,000 a year. Over the last decade the district has accumulated over $200 million in “loans” from the state DOE in order to sustain its budget and that means the DOE gets to appoint a State Fiscal Monitor.  While previous monitors bowed to Inzelbuch, the  latest monitor, Louise Davis, ruled that Inzelbuch’s contract with the district isn’t kosher (see the “scathing state report” on his contract, “which has paid him more than $6 million since 2017 and requires little accountability”). But, the district says, no other law firm will take the job. 

Currently the district takes $130 in legal fees out of the money allotted annually for each public school student, way over the state average of $51 a student. This is in spite of DOE requirements that districts, says spokesman Mike Yaple, “have an obligation to minimize the costs of professional services.” Also, says the state, the district pays him a monthly retainer of $50,000, which is against regulations. Also, he bills the district an hourly rate of $475. Also, the board never put his contract out for the required competitive bidding process.

Yet Lakewood can only function with the Six Million Dollar Man at the helm.Yesterday the school board cancelled its public meeting because it claimed it could secure no legal representation. 

This is silly. As Administrative Law Judge Susan Scarola ruled in the Board’s attempt to get the state to back off, the district will suffer no “irreparable harm” without Inzelbuch’s presence. School districts change lawyers all the time!

Meanwhile, only one out of five third-graders who attend district schools can read or do math at grade level. Their teachers are miserable. Enrollment is shrinking among public school students as parents vote with their feet.

Lakewood can function without Inzelbuch— stay strong, DOE! —although that would require that board members show up at board meetings and its president assert his authority. Maybe it is time for district leaders to escape the cult they’ve created and start running their own district.