Holmdel BOE Candidates File Ethics Complaint Against Incumbent

HOLMDEL, NJ — Three candidates for the Holmdel Board of Education have filed a joint ethics complaint with the School Ethics Commission against incumbent Terence Wall, who is also running for reelection.

Surekha Collur, Kimberly Tuccillo and Weiping Wang — who are running together under the slogan "Better Holmdel Education" — claim that Wall made "materially false and intentionally misleading accusations" against them by saying that they were being controlled by a union.

They have also submitted a letter to the Holmdel Board of Education requesting an outside counsel investigation in regards to those same accusations.

The complaint refers to a robocall in which Wall said that the "union is running a ticket to take schools over."

On Facebook, Wall also wrote that "the union is trying to take over the Holmdel Board of Education by running candidates. By backing a trio of union controlled candidates, led by a ten year NJEA labor leader."

In the complaint, the candidates stated that Collur (an ophthalmologist) and Wang (an engineer) have no connection with any unions and that Tucillo is a teacher in Freehold Township and a union representative in the Freehold Township School District.

The candidates said they had received neither endorsement nor support from any union and that by the time they filed the complaint a request had been sent to all six board candidates from the Holmdel Township Education Association (HTEA) for a screening.

They also said that after that screening, Tuccillo and Wang received notice from HTEA that they would like to endorse their candidacy, but that the two candidates had no plans to be publicly endorsed by the HTEA and that Collur had not even been offered an endorsement.

"Additionally, to this date, no monies from any local or state union have been accepted," Tucillo said. According to the candidates, all of their donations have been through grassroots efforts.

Wall called the complaint "frivolous" and "an attack on the first amendment."

The incumbent argued that Tucillo's connection to a union and the fact that the three candidates were running on a platform of shared values was reason to believe they are running as a union-backed ticket.

"They say they're running together because they have common values. Two of them will say 'well, I'm not in the union.' That's true. However, you're running in a bracketed ticket with an NJEA member," Wall told Patch. "If my opponents want to suggest that a reasonable, prudent person in Holmdel, a voter in Holmdel, doesn't see the direct connection between their candidacy and this union I'm very happy for the voters to sort it out in the polls."

Tuccillo dismissed the idea that there was any inherent union influence.

"I am running as parent and concerned citizen because I want what is best for our children," she told Patch.

She also clarified while a member of the Freehold Township Education Association (FTEA), she had no direct dealings with the NJEA or the Monmouth County Education Association, which are parent associations of the FTEA.

"To say that someone will be unduly influenced by the HTEA because they are pro-education seems to be a biased view," she added. "I would like to think that most, if not all, HTEA members and BOE candidates share many core values of education and student-centered decision making. That being said, while they may have shared values, the candidates are individuals that can and will form their own views and conclusions on various issues depending on the facts and circumstances."

Wall, however, doubled down on his position that a union member should not have a place on the Holmdel School Board.

"If one believes in unconscious bias, then help me understand how a labor leader is not gonna have her judgment colored while she's sitting as a member of the Holmdel Board of Education?" he said.

The current board member also said that he was contacted by the HTEA president on Sept. 28 informing him they were screening all candidates and that he rejected the offer — a position he shared during a Holmdel Board of Education meeting.

"A board of Education should always be conflict-free and politics-free," Wall said.

The incumbent argued that if a union member were to be elected to the school board then that person would have to excuse him or herself from matters related to labor negotiations.

"So you do not have a fully functioning board member when they are on the Holmdel board," he said.

In response to this, Tucillo has also said that not participating in one particular committee would not be a hindrance to performing her duties on the board.

"I would not be permitted to be a member of the negotiations committee. However, there are only four out of nine members on this committee, therefore I do not see my lack of involvement in one particular committee as interfering with board functioning."

A 2017 note from the School Ethics Commission clarified that the State Board of Education stated: "We reject the view that status as a member of another local union within the same statewide union should, on a per se basis, preclude a board member from voting on a collective negotiations agreement in the district where he or she is a member of the district board of education."

The Commission also said that Advisory Opinion A14-00 stated that board members would be in violation of conflicts of interest regulations by negotiating contracts with the local bargaining unit of the same statewide union to which they belong and by simply being present during negotiations. However after the memorandum of agreement has been attained (and signed), board members could vote on the collective negotiations agreement without being in violation of those same regulations.

"Once the memorandum of agreement and salary guides have been signed I will be able to vote on the collective bargaining agreement just as all other board members would be able to," Tuccillo said.

Wall said that negotiations in Holmdel include the full board.

"The subcommittee of which I am chair reports back regularly to the full board for their feedback and input," he said.

Three Board of Education seats are up for grabs in the Nov 2. election. Terence Wall, Surekha Collur, Kimberly Tuccillo, Weiping Wang, Jill Perez and Kristy O'Connor are all vying for a seat.

Check out our voter guide before you cast your ballot.