No charges filed against Maplewood teacher following recent investigation

SOUTH ORANGE/MAPLEWOOD — The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office announced on Wednesday, Jan. 19, that a teacher at Seth Boyden Elementary School in Maplewood will not face criminal charges, after investigating an allegation that she forcibly removed a second-grade student’s hijab from her head in October 2021. The teacher, Tamar Herman, has not been teaching since the incident occurred.

The South Orange–Maplewood School District handed the investigation of the incident over to the Maplewood Police Department and the ECPO shortly thereafter. According to the press release announcing the conclusion of the investigation, there is not sufficient evidence to support criminal charges.

“Following a full investigation and a thorough review of all the available evidence and the applicable law, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office has concluded that there is insufficient evidence to sustain a criminal prosecution in this case,” the ECPO said in a statement. “While we understand that many may find the incident troubling, as prosecutors, we have a legal and moral obligation to only bring charges in cases where we believe we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a crime has been committed. For those reasons, we will not move forward with this case.”

In a statement emailed to the News-Record on Friday, Jan. 21, the school district said it was not privy to the details of the investigation.

“The district thanks the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office for their time, effort and thorough review in regards to this investigation. As a district, we are not privy to the details of their investigation, but we trust and respect their decision,” the district said. “While the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office has wrapped up and shared the results of their investigation, we remain committed to diversity, equity and inclusion throughout our schools, including providing antibias and anti-racism training for all educators in the district on a regular basis. In addition, we remain committed to restorative practices to help our students, staff and families process any social-emotional harms they are faced with at a school or community level.”

The student’s parents, Joseph and Cassandra Wyatt, filed a lawsuit on their daughter’s behalf against Herman and the district, seeking damages for emotional distress, humiliation, loss of enjoyment of life, and other pain and suffering. In a phone interview with the News-Record on Friday, Jan. 21, their attorney, Robert L. Tarver, said he is not surprised there will be no criminal charges.

“We didn’t expect criminal charges. There’s a different standard there,” he said. “It doesn’t diminish the fact that this teacher acted in a fashion that was disrespectful and wrong.”

Tarver added that, according to his investigation, Herman had a history of problematic behavior similar to the incident in question and that, in his opinion, the Prosecutor’s Office did not investigate her past as fully as it should have.

“I am disappointed in the investigation, or the lack thereof, by the prosecutor,” he said. “You have to measure her current behavior with the context of her past behavior.”

According to Tarver, the lawsuit will move forward as planned.
Herman’s attorney, Samantha Harris, did not return a request for comment by press time on Tuesday, Jan. 25.
Cassandra Wyatt, the student’s mother, said at the press conference announcing the lawsuit on Thursday, Jan. 6, that her daughter still wears her hijab, but often doesn’t want to anymore. She has had a hard time understanding why other students in her class don’t wear one.

“I always told her that her hijab was her protection,” Wyatt said. “So now she’s asking me why the other kids don’t wear it, and, if her teacher could take it off of her head, other kids and other people could try to take it off of her head. She and her sister are afraid that someone else is going to pull their hijab off of their head.”