BOE Member Files Harassment Complaint Against Aggressive Questioner

The harassment complaint Gloucester Township school board member Marianne Coyle filed in February after a man peppered her with questions at a board meeting has yet to have a court hearing.

Coyle filed the complaint on Feb. 28 after being aggressively questioned during, and allegedly after, a board meeting. She claimed John Schmidt, 24, of Gloucester City, "went right in [her] face, screaming and yelling, acting extremely erratic and intimidating," according to the police complaint.

Coyle declined a reporter's request for comment at a school board meeting last month. Schmidt was not immediately able to be reached for comment.

The case is scheduled to be heard at 10 a.m. on April 24 at Winslow Municipal Court on S. Route 73 in Winslow. The venue was changed on April 3, a court administrator said Tuesday morning. An earlier court date in Gloucester Township was postponed.

Schmidt questioned Coyle during a public portion of a meeting on Feb. 28 about her association with a political action committee that he claimed was a violation of election law.

Schmidt is a gadfly and open-government activist in South Jersey. Last year, he went on a crusade to stop parents from parking in the yellow zone outside two schools in Runnemede, even though he doesn't live in the town or have children in the school district, Fox 29 News Philadelphia reported.