Hearing date set for BOE member’s residency BOE

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — A hearing will be held Feb. 7 in Newark Superior Court’s Office of Administrative Law to determine if newly elected Bloomfield Board of Education member Gladys Rivera qualifies as a township resident.

The action was brought by former BOE member Shane Berger. Berger filed a brief for emergency relief asking the court to void Rivera’s candidacy and prohibit her from being a board member.

Judge Leslie Celantano heard Berger on Thursday, Jan. 5. The hearing was short.
Berger was represented by Ciro Spina III. Rivera was represented by James Key. Also present was Jonathan Busch, who observed the proceedings on behalf of the Bloomfield School District.

Spina told Celentano that she had been provided with information from the building superintendent where Rivera resides. Spina said the superintendent had said that Rivera did not move into the building until April 2016. Spina said the judge also had information from a private investigator hired by Berger. Rivera currently lives on Ampere Parkway.

To qualify as a resident, Rivera would have had to have lived in Bloomfield one year before the day she was elected, or at least from Nov. 8, 2015.

Key told Celantano that what Berger alleged was false and speculative, and that the person Berger’s detective investigated was not even his client. He also questioned the veracity of the building superintendent.

“His mother is the landlord,” Key said. “A 19-year-old a superintendent? It’s false on its face.”

The judge made her written decision the next day. She denied Berger’s request for eme gency relief. Celantano said that considering that information provided by Berger was being contested, she would have to wait until there is a full hearing, with testimony, to decide anything.