NJ School Librarian Was Ostracized, Fired Over Crime He Didn’t Commit, Lawsuit Says

PASSAIC COUNTY, NJ — A former librarian claims he’s been fired by a Passaic County school district for his history as a convict. The thing is, his criminal record was expunged years ago.

Jabir Nash, a former librarian at Roberto Clemente Elementary School in Paterson, was fired after just one school year. He believes he was fired for a crime from more than 20 years ago he was discovered not to have committed, and is now suing the Paterson School Board.

Nash was hired by Roberto Clemente Elementary in September of 2024, more than ten years after he served nearly a decade in prison for a crime he did not commit.

In 2000, while working as a librarian in a Newark middle school, Nash was accused of molesting two middle schoolers, one of whom had special needs.

One of the students, a diagnosed schizophrenic, claimed Nash had assaulted him in the school’s bathroom. A year later, Nash was indicted, found guilty, and eventually ordered to serve 22 years in state prison.

Following years of Nash trying to prove his innocence, the NJ courts confirmed that the special needs student had a round-the-clock aide accompanying him, including on any trips to the bathroom. This aide would’ve seen any abuse against the middle schooler, the court found.

After serving just under ten years in prison as an innocent man, Nash was exonerated and released.

Related: New Jersey Is Sending Innocent People To Jail: Republican Senator

Once hired by Roberto Clemente Elementary, Nash noticed he was not being introduced to many fellow staff members and was not given proper training, according to the suit. It wasn’t long before a colleague told him that staff members had been conducting internet searches on him, learning about the crime he was convicted of and later exonerated of.

“The (colleague) told me that the administration and the staff did not want to work with me and did not feel comfortable with me, nor were they happy about me being around the students,” Nash said in his lawsuit. “The ensuing days and weeks to come, I feel the isolation and the coldness.”

Nash goes on to say how the staff would continue to avoid him, taking the stairs instead of sharing an elevator, falling silent in the break room, and even limiting his ability to file paperwork, which was part of his job.

He said his colleagues even left him out of the staff holiday party, where an “open forum” of his past conviction took place without his knowledge or permission.

During his final teacher evaluation of the school year, Nash was informed that he would not be allowed to continue his employment at Roberto Clemente Elementary, the suit reads.

Nash cites in the suit that the situation causes emotional distress, lost wages and benefits, harm to reputation, and limited career advancement.

He now seeks a jury trial with $10 million in compensatory damages, $5 million for pain and suffering, as well as reinstatement to a position as an educational media specialist within the district.