MANCHESTER– During their most recent meeting, members of the township Board of Education voted to approve a settlement agreement that served to resolve a discrimination lawsuit by the former superintendent, John Berenato, 41, who will be paid $265,000 from the Board’s liability insurer.
The lawsuit filed on May 1, 2024 by Berenato alleged that the Board’s stated reasons for his dismissal at a November 7, 2023 board meeting were pretextual and that the real reason for his termination was sexual-orientation discrimination.
He was fired about two years into his position as superintendent following a lawsuit that had been filed against him by Whiting Elementary School Principal Evelyn Swift alleging agism. She retired at the end of the school year last month. Her lawsuit was settled last year.
This settlement is in addition to approximately $500,000 in back pay he received when the state Department of Education (DOE) and an administrative judge ordered the district to return him to his former job last October. The firing was determined to be a violation of tenure laws according to the DOE.
Berenato also alleged Board members and district officials had “searched for any reason” to remove him because he was openly gay and because he supported policies intended to protect LGBTQ+ students and comply with State Department of Education guidance.
According to court documents the lawsuit alleged that hostility toward the former superintendent started during his hiring process. At that time, he said community members, district employees, union leadership and Board members discussed his sexual orientation and expressed fear that he would push a “gay agenda.” He also alleged a denial of due process regarding his firing and stated the Board had used a driving under the influence conviction from 2010 as its reason to say he had lied on employment application as he stated he had no criminal record.
He also alleged that members of the Manchester Township Educational Association, district administrators along with several members of the Board opposed him because of his sexual orientation.
The complaint states specific Board members and district employees made inflammatory or sexually inappropriate comments about him or LGBTQ+ people, objected to policies designed to protect transgender students, gender-neutral bathrooms, gender-neutral graduation gowns and LGBTQ+ -inclusive curriculum, and linked those issues with Berenato’s sexual orientation.
The complaint also attributed alleged conduct or comments from Board members Gayle Mount, Laura Wingler, Gina Georgiano, George Cervenak, Timothy Poss and Fay Weinstein. It also stated that such comments were also made by district employees or union officials including Diane Pedroza who now serves as superintendent, Dennis Adams, Evelyn Swift and MTEA President Dan Staples.
His lawsuit cited the Board’s opposition to state polices regarding the treatment of transgender students and opposition to designating single-occupancy bathrooms in the schools as gender neutral for students to use. Separated multi-stall bathrooms remained as boys and girls.
Berenato began serving as Manchester’s superintendent in February 2022 under an employment agreement that ran through June 30, 2026. Manchester terminated him effective November 7, 2023 after the Board alleged that he had omitted a Driving Under the Influence (DUI) conviction and license suspension that he said occurred in 2010 from his employment application.
The School Board had to reinstate Berenato through June 30 of this year due to the expiration of his contract. He had been placed on administrative leave upon his reinstatement. He also claims that three administrators left the district after he was fired and sued the district alleging anti-LGBTQ bias.
Administrative Law Judge Mary Ann Bogan issued the ruling that Berenato’s termination violated the provisions of the Tenure Employees Hearing Law. By law a tenured employee must be provided an opportunity for a hearing and given notice to a plan to remove them. Superintendents don’t receive unlimited tenure in the state but tenure laws apply to them for as long as employment contract is in place.
The School Board had the ability to continue his contract, to file tenure charges or simply pay him to do nothing for the remainder of his contract while assigning his duties to the administrator they replaced him with, Diane Pedroza, which is the option they took.
The Manchester Times reached out to the school district for any additional comment they might wish to offer on the matter. District Public Information Officer Dina Silvestri replied “we appreciate your request and the opportunity to provide a comment. However, we are prohibited from commenting on matters involving litigation or personnel issues. Accordingly, we are unable to provide a statement.”
Berenato is currently assistant superintendent of business at Salem City school district in New Jersey.
Prior to joining the Manchester School District as superintendent in February 2022, Berenato served as supervisor of curriculum in Springfield Township, director of curriculum in Little Egg Harbor, director of math and science for Pinelands Regional schools, and assistant superintendent for Little Egg Harbor.
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