District Does Not Renew Contracts of Employees Involved in Gregory School Bathroom Incident

The Long Branch School District has decided to not renew the contracts of two employees who allegedly were involved in an incident with four Gregory School students earlier this year.

The two employees, Kevin Garifine and Robert I. Rego, were suspended with pay in March after the incident was investigated by the district, but are not facing any criminal charges at this time and have not been indicted by the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office. Rego was employed as an assistant building manager and Garifine was a plumber for the district.

The Long Branch Board of Education passed resolutions at its last meeting on June 20, stating that the board will "not offer a contract for the school year beginning July 1, 2012," to Garifine or Rego. Both employees' contracts expired on June 30. Their contracts state they can be terminated before they expire upon 60 days notice.

The resolutions state that Garifine and Rego "participated in an incident involving students in a school bathroom." A letter from a parent in March said the .

This allegation has never been confirmed by the school, the police or the prosecutor's office and Long Branch School District Superintendent Michael Salvatore has said there have been no allegations of sexual abuse.

The resolutions state the incident was reported to the Division of Youth & Family Services, the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office and the Long Branch Police. The investigations launched by each organization have resulted in no action, according to the resolution.

The resolutions state that Garifine and Rego "acted unprofessionally and exercised poor judgement. This caused the Long Branch Board of Education to "incur unnecessary expense in lost time and money, confusion and consternation and (the employee's) own lengthy suspension with pay pending the investigation and the exposure of the board and its employees to various allegations that the students were in some way harmed."

In a statement released on March 2, Salvatore stated that the "acts are claimed to be without malice and in jest," but he did not comment further on what happened in the Gregory School bathroom.

The district stated it will not comment on the situation at this time, but will be releasing a statement next week.