Ex-Special Services Director Alleges Discrimination In Suit Against Manchester Schools

MANCHESTER, NJ — The former director of special services for the Manchester Township Schools alleges in a lawsuit that she was threatened and was discriminated against for her support of the district's prior superintendent, a gay man, before declining to renew her employment in the spring of 2024.

Bridget Antonucci, who worked for the Manchester Township Schools from January 2022 through May 2024, alleges in the lawsuit filed Sept. 30 in Superior Court in Ocean County that there was pervasive bigotry and she was subjected to persistent harassment after the firing of John Berenato as the district's superintendent.

She also alleges the district and Superintendent Diane Pedroza — who was appointed when Berenato was fired — ignored her requests for medical accommodations and harassed her after Antonucci suffered a severe concussion in an accident at school in December 2023.

"As you know, the Manchester Township School District cannot provide any comment or information regarding pending litigation," said Dina Silvestri, a spokesperson for the district.

Berenato filed a lawsuit against the Manchester school district and school board in May alleging he was fired because he is gay, which Antonucci reiterates in her lawsuit, alleging pervasive bigotry within the school board and the school district toward the LGBTQ community and other groups, including Hispanics and Jews.

Antonucci, who was hired by former superintendent David Trethaway and started in Manchester a month before Berenato took over as superintendent, alleges Pedroza told her "Manchester has its own home-grown way of doing things. That they bleed blue and gold [District Colors] and not rainbow."

"In no uncertain terms, the MBOE (Manchester Board of Education) acted to remove Mr. Berenato from the District because he represented a lifestyle the majority of MBOE members rejected out-of-hand," Antonucci's lawsuit said.

Berenato was fired in November 2023, less than two years into his contract, in the wake of the filing of a lawsuit by Evelyn Swift, principal at Whiting Elementary School. Swift alleged Berenato harassed her and was trying to force her to retire. Antonucci is a defendant in Swift's lawsuit, which alleges she assisted Berenato in his efforts to try to force Swift out.

The lawsuit alleges Laura Wingler, a member of the Manchester school board, threatened to "trash" Antonucci on social media over an incident involving Wingler's child, the circumstances of which were unclear. In December 2023, a month after Berenato was fired, Antonucci received an unsigned Christmas card that said "Enjoy it. Your next," and the lawsuit alleges Pedroza did nothing to assure Antonucci's safety.

Antonucci also alleges Pedroza told the staff at Manchester Township Middle School, where Pedroza was the principal, that Berenato and Antonucci were "ruining Manchester," and that administrators began a campaign to get rid of them and others who supported Berenato.

"Plaintiff was not only identified as a member of the rainbow community by virtue of her vocal support of Mr. Berenato, but also of the mandated New Jersey curriculum which highlights and promotes diversity, including economic diversity, equity, inclusion, tolerance, and belonging in connection with gender and sexual orientation, race and ethnicity, disabilities, and religious tolerance; as well as the political, economic, and social contributions of persons with disabilities and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people at the middle and high school level," the lawsuit says.

Antonucci alleges board member Gayle Mount made bigoted statements about the district's efforts to obtain a preschool expansion grant, saying the Orthodox community and Hispanic community could pay for preschool themselves, as Mount had to do, according to the lawsuit.

Antonucci alleges Pedroza made bigoted statements on multiple occasions during the two-plus years she was in the district, such as wanting multi-language learners to receive 504 classifications and be placed in special education classes. That was a move Antonucci says was "patently illegal and discriminatory." Antonucci alleges that when she spoke up against such statements she was harassed.

Part of the harassment happened after Antonucci suffered a concussion during an incident at school, according to the lawsuit. The incident that caused the injury is not described, but she was receiving care from the district's workers' compensation doctors, according to the lawsuit.

While she was receiving treatment, Antonucci worked reduced hours and Pedroza demanded a doctor's note, in spite of the fact that Antonucci was being treated by the district's doctors, the lawsuit says. When Antonucci asked about receiving treatment during the workday, because of schedule conflicts, the district told the workers' compensation carrier to cancel her workday appointments. That happened after Antonucci complained that Pedroza had made anti-Semitic statements, according to the lawsuit.

Antonucci said the district also took away all of the sick, personal and vacation time that she had received as part of her agreement with Trethaway to join the district, according to the suit.

Once Antonucci had medical accommodations in place, Pedroza began monitoring her work intensely, sitting in on child study team meetings, leaving her out of meetings and overriding decisions Antonucci made about staff members under her supervision, according to the lawsuit.

When Pedroza notified Antonucci in April 2024 that her contract was not being renewed, Antonucci requested the reasons and said the reasons she was provided were "merely a pretext for removing an employee who had promoted tolerance and inclusion along with former Superintendent Berenato. Moreover, the stated Reasons were further skewed by evaluating Plaintiff’s performance during her concussion recovery."

The lawsuit asks for unspecified compensatory pay and damages.