The recorded conversation was stark and revealing. The mayor of Linden and two school officials openly discussed their preferences for school hires, highlighting discriminatory practices, according to court documents.
“If it’s in a neighborhood school district,” said the school board president, “we don’t mind if it is a Black person or a Haitian-speaking person.”
The mayor’s response was more explicit, according to the allegations.
“That’s what has to happen in order to keep our community being taken over by guys with big hats and curls,” he said, referencing the growing Jewish community in Linden and alluding to the traditional attire of some Orthodox Jewish men.
In a whistleblower lawsuit filed on Thursday, Paul Oliveira, Linden’s former assistant school superintendent, accused Mayor Derek Armstead, school board president Marlene Berghammer, Superintendent Atiya Y. Perkins, and others of blatant antisemitism, claiming they deliberately excluded Jews from school employment.
The mayor dismissed the allegations as “hogwash.”
Filed in state Superior Court in Union County, the lawsuit asserts that Armstead and other officials targeted job candidates specifically of African-American or Haitian descent while excluding Jewish individuals.
Oliveira, with 20 years in the Newark school system, also alleged retaliation against him, violating New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination and Conscientious Employee Protection Act.
Armen McOmber, Oliveira’s attorney, called the accusations “deeply concerning.” He stated the complaint alleges that the mayor and school district members “engaged in illegal and antisemitic hiring practices” and that the Linden Board of Education “unlawfully allowed Mayor Armstead to handpick candidates for open positions.”
The lawsuit contends that while recruiting diverse staff is commendable, the mayor and others had a discriminatory agenda to prevent Jews from being hired, effectively trying to keep Linden from being “taken over” by Jews.
In a recorded meeting on Jan. 22, 2024, with Oliveira and Berghammer (who was on the phone), Armstead warned that “Linden will go the same way as Roselle, Irvington, Newark if we don’t manage this thing the way that we’ve been trying to manage it, and that’s having full and complete control of who gets hired.”
“It’s a … over there from top to bottom,” Armstead said on the recording. “Because it’s been mismanaged for years, you know, and nobody, nobody’s taking the time to try to figure out how to fix it.”
Oliveira recorded the conversation, his lawyer confirmed.
Much of the discussion centered on hiring local candidates, which the mayor insisted should be the priority.
“I don’t care what they are,” Armstead responded to the suggestion of Black or Haitian candidates. “If they’re from the general area here, that’s what we’re trying to build here. That’s what has to happen to keep our community from being taken over by guys with big hats and curls.”
Berghammer asked if they had demographic data on the applicants’ race or ethnicity.
“You can almost figure that out by the name sometimes,” Armstead suggested.
He also lamented a prospective maintenance worker who missed training and sold his house to someone in the Jewish community.
“Moved out of town,” Armstead said. “He sold his house to the guys with the big hats and the curls too. So, you know, everybody’s undermining the progress we’re trying to make here in town.”
In an interview following the lawsuit filing, Armstead denied recalling the conversation and called the allegations “a whole bunch of hogwash” from someone let go for performance issues.
“Everyone is welcome here in Linden. It’s our strength,” he said. “I don’t care if you’re Jewish, Black, white, or Latino. We get along well in Linden.”
He added that school employment data would refute Oliveira’s claims. The lawsuit did not specify if any hiring decisions were influenced by the January discussion.
“Paul is off his rocker. I can’t fathom why he would take this approach. It’s disheartening,” Armstead said. “Paul can go to hell with gasoline drawers as far as I’m concerned.”
Regarding the recordings, the mayor said, “I’m glad he has me on tape. We are a good community, and we all get along with everyone in this town.” He added: “Nobody respects someone who comes into a room and starts tape recording people.”
An attorney for the Linden school district declined to comment.
“The board looks forward to our opportunity to vigorously present our defense,” said Joseph Garcia of Cleary Giacobbe Alfieri Jacobs in Oakland.
The lawsuit claims that the mayor’s involvement in school hiring was improper. By directing Oliveira to hire specific candidates, it alleges the Linden school district “engaged in the illegal practice of abrogating its responsibility to hire its own employees” to the mayor.
“Of course, (Armstead), in his capacity as mayor, could not and should not have been directing (Linden) as to who should be hired for certain positions in the Linden School District,” the lawsuit states, arguing that his directives “went well beyond the scope” of his authority.
Armstead responded by saying there is a “close relationship” between his administration and the Board of Education, and he had supported Oliveira’s hiring based on a councilman’s recommendation.
The complaint also asserts that the directives marginalized Jewish candidates and allowed selective hiring based on unlawful criteria.
Oliveira claimed he voiced his objections.
“I don’t feel comfortable doing this,” he told Perkins, the school superintendent, according to the lawsuit.
In a subsequent discussion, Oliveira said Berghammer was asked if the district could be sued over the hiring plan.
“Yes,” Perkins responded, according to the lawsuit.
When asked why, another official reportedly said, “because technically that is discrimination.”
Despite his objections, Oliveira said he faced retaliation, including negative performance reviews, creating a hostile work environment that led to him taking medical leave for stress and anxiety.
He ultimately resigned, claiming “constructive dismissal” due to the hostile environment.
{Matzav.com}
Hasidim with big hats and curls do not usually work in the public school system.
Look at NYC – how many of those type of Hasidim work in the school system?
There are frim women who are speech therapists, physical/ occupational therapists, social workers, even some teachers in the NYC public schools. Don’t know about NJ but imagine it is likely similar.
I’ve been going to the Linden area for many many years for kashrus purposes. Many of the companies they go to are owned by the chasidishe yiddin. They have successful businesses BH and have contributed to the local economy in more ways than can be imagined. For this piece of garbage to say what he did, just shows what he is all about.
I have no doubt there are many many people in Linden who will love to see this guy removed from office.
“recruiting diverse staff is commendable” means recruiting an exclusively black and Latino staff is commendable.
He’s a bad man, a very bad man. I wish him into the corn field.
vote him out of office
Imagine the uproar if instead of ‘Jew’ it would say ‘Black’.