Evesham’s mayor recently alleged female employees of the ETSD had accused ETSD director of personnel Richard Dantinne Jr. of sexual harassment.
Richard Dantinne Jr., director of personnel for the Evesham Township School District, has named Mayor Randy Brown, Evesham Township and three members of the Evesham Township Board of Education in a defamation lawsuit.
The lawsuit comes after comments made at a recent news conference Brown held on Jan. 12, where Brown alleged female employees of the district had accused Dantinne of sexual harassment.
Dantinne’s lawyer, Matthew S. Wolf of Cherry Hill, originally named only Brown in a lawsuit filed in Superior Court in Mt. Holly on Jan. 20, but several days later, Wolf filed a new lawsuit in federal district court in Camden.
In addition to Brown, defendants now include Evesham Township and ETSD Board of Education members Nichole Stone and William McGoey, along with board vice president Sandy Student, all of whom were present at Brown’s news conference.
Although Dantinne submitted his resignation to the Evesham BOE at its December meeting, several days before Brown claims he first learned of the allegations against Dantinne, at its meeting last week, the board voted to accept a request to rescind Dantinne’s resignation.
Student, Stone and McGoey abstained from the vote. Board president JoAnne Harmon voted yes, along with remaining board members Elaine Barbagiovanni, Jeff Bravo, Trish Everhart, Joseph Fisicaro, Jr. and Dennis Mehigan.
According to the lawsuit, Dantinne faces the prospect of losing employment and being unemployable “due to the stain on his character created by Brown.”
The Gloucester Township Board of Education rescinded an offer to Dantinne to start a new position as human resources supervisor for that district on Feb. 1. The Gloucester Township BOE cited the confidentiality of personnel matters and has not commented on the issue.
According to Dantinne’s lawsuit, Dantinne is seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorney’s fees, interest, costs and other relief from the defendants, including an apology.
In naming Evesham Township, the lawsuit alleges Brown claimed “duty through the trappings of his office to make the statements which are the subject of this lawsuit.”
Much of the new lawsuit repeats the allegations made by Dantinne and his lawyers in their original filing.
The lawsuit references ongoing disputes between Brown and Evesham Township School District Superintendent John Scavelli Jr., with the lawsuit claiming Brown had used Dantinne as a “pawn” to get revenge against Scavelli.
Scavelli is a supporter of the ETSD Board of Education’s decision last March to close Evans Elementary School, to which Brown has repeatedly voiced his opposition.
“In general, the superintendent simply refused to do Brown’s bidding,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit alleges Brown was also upset at the district turning down Brown’s son for a job.
According to the lawsuit, the district deemed an African-American candidate more qualified for a job over Brown’s son, who is Caucasian, which allegedly caused Brown to use a racial epithet when speaking to Scavelli regarding the new employee.
Brown has called any allegations of racial animus “maliciously false statements.”
Brown first spoke publicly about hearing of sexual harassment allegations against Dantinne at a press conference on Jan. 12, which Brown had originally scheduled to reveal he would not be running in the Republican primary for the upcoming New Jersey gubernatorial race.
In front of several reporters gathered at the Evesham Municipal Complex, Brown alleged a female employee of the district had told him in person several weeks prior that Dantinne had sexually harassed her and other district employees in 2015.
The Evesham BOE members present at the news conference did not provide any additional evidence, with Student saying he had been unsuccessful in attempts to learn more from Scavelli.
Brown said he gave a statement to the Evesham Township Police Department just days after first hearing about the allegations against Dantinne.
An official with the police confirmed the Evesham Township Police Department conducted an investigation of Brown’s claims, but no criminal charges were filed, and the investigation was closed.
While Scavelli has not commented specifically on the allegations against Dantinne, citing the confidentiality of personnel matters for district employees, Scavelli did say the district has “specific policies and procedures” in place to handle sexual harassment allegations.
“Let me make this very clear — we investigate any and all allegations with regard to sexual harassment in a timely manner and in accordance with board policy and the law,” Scavelli said in comments made to The Sun after Brown’s news conference.
Scavelli said the district would also contact police should an investigation reveal potential criminal conduct.
