On March 11th the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office charged Frank Sanchez, principal of South Orange-Maplewood’s Columbia High School, with second degree child endangerment, a felony, and simple assault, a misdemeanor. Earlier the district board of education placed Sanchez on administrative leave. Following these events there has been much dispute within the SOMA community about whether the actions by the district and justice systems are warranted. Some say it’s a “hit job” on a beloved educator while others cite the arrest warrant, which says Sanchez “did cause the child harm that would make the child an abused or neglected child.”

Today attorneys James Davis and Robert Tarver of Davis Advocacy and Consulting released the following timeline of events that led to Sanchez’s arrest. Davis is also the president of the Black Parents Workshop, which is “dedicated to the academic success of Black children in public schools.”

Here is a statement from Davis and Tarver, followed by the timeline:

As the attorneys representing the abused juvenile in this matter, we have maintained our silence and allowed for the criminal justice process to play out. However, due to the media hysteria, and in an effort to set the record straight, there is a need to provide accurate information to combat misinformation deliberately offered by Mr. Sanchez’s allies. The following is an accurate timeline of events, supported by factual and documentary evidence.

Timeline of Events re: What the Student Experienced

March 9, 2023:

• Based on the charging complaint by the Essex County Prosecutor, Frank Sanchez physically assaulted our client. There was no fight and there was no impending fight. There is video and there are several eyewitnesses to the events that eventually led to his arrest. 

Fact: Fights and other forms of violence are required to be memorialized in an “Incident Report” for reporting to the New Jersey Department of Education. 

• We have our client’s school records and no documentation demonstrates our client was in a fight on March 9, 2023.

• The Incident Report that is currently in our client’s file describes in detail what happened between our client and Frank Sanchez. 

• It is clear in the Incident Report that Frank Sanchez was not justified in putting his hands on the student in the manner described in the Prosecutor’s charging document.

• The Incident Report states that [then- Assistant Superintendent of Access and Equity] Dr. [Kevin] Gilbert received the narrative and the video and there appears to be no action taken by Gilbert to protect, check on, console, or investigate what happened to the student in the aftermath of the event.

March 10, 2023:

• Our client was suspended by Sanchez. 

Fact: State law requires that schools document all suspensions and send information home to parents regarding any suspension and the opportunity to appeal the suspension. There is no documentation regarding a suspension of our client in her file. It appears Sanchez suspended her without following federal and state law requirements in addition to school policy requirements.

April 2023:

• Student filed an Affirmative Action-Student Grievance complaint against Sanchez.

• Dr. Gilbert is the purported investigator of these types of complaints.

April 2023 – September 2023:

• NO ACTION taken by Dr. Gilbert or any other designee. 

Why didn’t Dr. Gilbert investigate this matter in March, April, May, June, July, or August? 

September 2023

• South Orange-Maplewood Public Schools District hires independent counsel, Carl Taylor of Cooper Levenson, to review the Affirmative Action-Student Grievance complaint filed by the student in April 2023. 

September 2023-October 2023:

• Mr. Carl Taylor interviews Sanchez, Columbia High School staff, and students regarding the March 9, 2023 incident. 

November 2023:

• Our client was interviewed by Carl Taylor.

• Taylor’s report includes interviews with our client, students who were eyewitnesses to the event, staff, and Sanchez.
  
• The report discusses the content of the video and how it matches the testimony of the witnesses, but not the testimony of Sanchez.

• The report by Mr. Taylor includes eyewitness testimony that it was a student that had to intervene to separate Sanchez from our client as she was pinned against the wall. That same brave student then took our client to a trusted staff member.

• Credibility: After interviewing all the witnesses, Mr. Taylor states that only Sanchez did not come across as fully credible in his discussion of this event.

• The Taylor report also includes a laundry list of school district policies that are applicable to the Affirmative Action/Student Grievance complaint filed by our client in April 2023, which include, but are not limited to, Code of Ethics (Policy 3211), Inappropriate Staff Conduct (Policy 3281), Student Grievance (Policy 5710), Public Complaints and Grievances (Policy 9130), and HIB (Policy 5512).

• Taylor’s report indicates that the Assistant Principals reported this event up the chain of command of the school district and provided the information regarding the event.

December 21, 2023:  

• William Donio, Partner at Cooper Levenson, sent an email to SOMSD School Board Attorney, Patrick Carrigg. (Mr. Carrigg provided this information to Mr. Davis and Mr. Tarver) 

• Mr. Donio stated that the report by Carl Taylor should be considered a draft.

• Mr. Donio does not use the words “flawed” or “irregularities” or any other negative characterization in his email to Mr. Carrigg. 

January 2, 2024:

• Dr. Gilbert removed Sanchez from his position at Columbia High School, presumably based on the report submitted by Carl Taylor, after Mr. Donio stated it was a draft.

January 2024:

• Essex County Prosecutor contacts Mr. Davis and Mr. Tarver to request that our client be interviewed. 

• It was clear, based on the discussion, that the Essex County Prosecutor’s office was conducting its own independent investigation into the events of March 9, 2023. 

February 2024:  

• Mr. Donio attempts to contact witnesses already interviewed by Mr. Taylor. It is our understanding that no witnesses would speak with Mr. Donio because the Essex County Prosecutor was conducting its own investigation and interviewing applicable witnesses.

Note: Mr. Donio never contacted Mr. Tarver or Mr. Davis to interview our client. 

March 2024:

• William Donio of Cooper Levenson issues a Memo to Dr. Gilbert. Mr. Donio does not interview any of the previous witnesses or any new witnesses. Based on his memo, Mr. Donio appears to be in possession of an audio recording of our client and Sanchez alone in Sanchez’s office. 

• We requested the recording from school district attorney Patrick Carrigg and received the recording, which actually appears to be a surreptitiously-recorded video, on or about March 15, 2024. Neither our client nor her parents consented to the recording of the video by Sanchez. 

• Mr. Donio’s report exonerates Sanchez of any “Affirmative Action” violations, but not any criminal violations.

• Mr. Donio’s memo does not address the eyewitness testimony of students who saw what Sanchez did to our client, only stating that Mr. Taylor didn’t interview enough students. Based on his own document, Mr. Donio only addresses the Affirmative Action policy and no other applicable policies. 

March 8, 2024:

• The Essex County Prosecutor notifies Mr. Davis and Mr. Tarver that it has issued a warrant for Sanchez’s arrest for the assault on our client. 

March 9, 2024: One year anniversary of the assault. 

March 11, 2024:

• Sanchez surrenders to Essex County Prosecutor. 

March 15, 2024:

• Receipt of First and Second Reports from from School District; Patrick Carrigg, counsel for the school district, provided the investigative report by Carl Taylor of Cooper Levenson (Dated Dec. 20, 2023). 

• Patrick Carrigg also provided the Memo to Dr. Gilbert from William Donio of Cooper Levenson (Dated March 7, 2024). 

• The documents were requested and provided in accordance with school district policy as our client was entitled to have the reports based on her complaint from April 2023. 

This timeline was compiled by an aggregate of information originating from documents provided by the school district.