EDISON -- A former township principal is suing the school board and its members claiming that his contract wasn't renewed because he is gay.
Timothy Hart, who worked at Lincoln School, filed the discrimination suit earlier this year after finding out one of the school board members had penned a letter to the administration calling the educator a "brazen hussy" who "should be removed before he does something really weird," according to court documents.
The school board has denied any wrongdoing in court filings but declined to comment further citing pending litigation. The board member Theresa Ward did not respond to calls for comment.
Hart, who has since been hired as a principal in the Livingston School District, alleges that Ward convinced the majority of the board to vote against renewing his contract on May 3 despite superintendent Dr. Richard O'Malley's recommendation to rehire, according to Hart's attorney Armen McOmber.
The board did not go into executive session to discuss personnel, according to the minutes.
After his contract was not renewed, along with two others in administration at that meeting, Hart requested an explanation.
The district's letter, provided to NJ Advance Media by McOmber, reads Hart was not rehired because of complaints from staff about his management style where he allegedly failed to create a "collaborative environment," "lack of empathy" for employees and "inability to communicate effectively."
McOmber, though, said Ward's two-page letter, which was sent as a result of her looking into potential issues at school, was the reason Hart was not rehired.
Hart says in his suit, which was filed on June 6 in Middlesex County Superior Court, that he had only received positive performance reviews since he was hired by the district in 2004.
"The letter that board member Theresa Ward wrote is the product of a bigoted and warped mind," McOmber said.
The last paragraph of the Ward's letter reads, "One term which kept coming to my mind while listening to our employees pour their hearts out is TH is a brazen hussy. Anyone with TH's proclivities doesn't belong in education. That is neither here nor there; however, he doesn't belong in Edison Township and certainly not in one of our elementary schools. He is a very strange person and should be removed before he does something really weird. Lincoln School deserves better. "
Craig McCarthy may be reached at 732-372-2078 or at CMcCarthy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @createcraig and on Facebook here. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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