The drama continues in Asbury Park Public Schools as the new Athletic Director Troy Bowers, a former gym teacher in Irvington, is, according to insiders, habitually bullying students. Bowers was hired this past October at a salary of $125,000 to replace popular AD Mark Gerbino, whom Superintendent Rashawn Adams, it’s said, resents for his popularity among staff and students.

It appears likely that Bowers’ behavior will come up during public comment at this evening’s school board meeting. 

Here is a catalog of alleged recent events involving Bowers. I’ve only included those confirmed by two independent sources:

• On Bowers’ first day at Asbury Park, he told  several female students “to go back to the streets” and told a told male student to “get out of his fucking hallway or watch what will happen.”
• On March 16th Bowers threw a ball at a middle school student. “The student is afraid to come forward because he feels that he will be targeted and it will affect his time left in the district.”
• Harassment, Intimidation, and Bullying charges (HIB) allegedly have been filed against Bowers but there has been no investigation and parents have not been notified. “This has not been done because either the principal [Bridget O’Neill] or the superintendent [Rashawn Adams] covers them up to protect Bowers.”
• He told a female student who is homeless that “he makes more money then both her parents combined” and “followed up with pulling money out of his pocket.”
• He told a student with autism, “he ain’t about that life and beat it.”
• Bowers “challenged students to a fight for not holding the door open for him.” 
• As previously reported, a male student told the School Board at the public meeting in February that Bowers told him to “go back to my one-bedroom apartment, you are a fake athlete, you are a fake basketball player.” Sources say Bowers also said to the boy, “you can have your Dad suck my dick.” A teacher reported this in an email to the principal but there has been no response.
• Bowers told students “to get the fuck out of here with that bullshit.”
• Bowers summoned the police after students on the Boys Basketball team didn’t leave the gym promptly. One of them was a student who was homeless and living out of a car with his girlfriend. This student has not returned to school. 
• Staff alleges that Bowers “sits in his office all day playing music or eating.”  When there are transportation issues at away games, he doesn’t answer his phone. 
• He rarely attends games; when the Boys Basketball team got into a fight with Toms River East (and was disqualified from the state tournament), he was not in attendance. 
• Bowers “hands out sports equipment to people he knows” and gives students energy drinks, which staff claim is against BOE policy. 
• During a post-conference observation, Bowers became so combative that the union representative “decided to remove the teacher from the meeting” due to safety concerns. 
• One staff member: “Our students are being verbally and physically abused. When will Adams or O’Neill or State Monitor Carole Morris do something? When is enough enough?”