Staff at a New Jersey school district allegedly held parties where attendees dressed as their “favorite pedophile,” according to a lawsuit filed in Ocean County.
Melissa Pomphrey, a former special education teacher at Pinelands Regional School District, is suing the district, claiming administrators did not take action after she reported the parties, at which a school paraprofessional and other staff displayed “egregious glorification of pedophiles,” the Asbury Park Press reports.
Pomphrey also alleges she was demoted from high school to middle school after making her complaint about the parties and the paraprofessional’s “inappropriate” relationship with a female student.
The paraprofessional also allegedly brought that student around a special needs student who’s known to be “sexually violent towards females,” the lawsuit claims.
Pomphrey’s attorney, Matthew A. Luber, wrote in the complaint that his client’s reassignment to a middle school class was retaliation since “each teacher assigned to this class consistently resigns.”
Pomphrey “immediately experienced severe symptoms of anxiety and depression because of the demotion,” according to the suit. The symptoms got so bad that she was put on an unpaid disability leave of absence last November, before the school informed her in the spring of this year that her contract would not be renewed.
The suit, which was filed in Ocean County Superior Court, names the school district as well as Pinelands High School Principal Troy Henderson, Director of Special Services Marisa Elwood and special education specialist Scott Beaton as defendants.
A spokesperson for the school district characterized the lawsuit as “baseless.”
A trial has not yet been scheduled.