Atlantic City, NJ school district under investigation after child-porn case
A member of the Atlantic City Board of Education has come under criticism for revealing that the board was subpoenaed by a grand jury on behalf of the State Police corruption unit.
Board member John Devlin on Wednesday told Harry Hurley of New Jersey 101.5 sister station WPG that the board learned about the subpoena during executive session, a portion of board meeting that is closed to the public.
The State Police corruption unit is investigating former fulltime elementary school substitute teacher Kayan Frazier, 28, of Somers Point, who was accused of sleeping with a student.
Frazier pleaded guilty in February on federal charges of sexual exploitation of a child after investigators found thousands of images of child pornography on his phones and online accounts, including images of an underage boy who lived with him part-time.
The boy's mother has filed a lawsuit against the district.
According to the criminal complaint, the state Department of Children and Families investigated Frazier in 2017. The school's principal, La'Quetta Small, was Frazier's cousin. Small, also the wife of Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small, is now in charge of the high school.
Somehow, Frazier ended up employed as a child-welfare worker at the same agency that had investigated him.
Board President Shay Steele told the Press of Atlantic City that he would not comment on the specifics of the subpoena but told the Press that the board is not concerned about the subpoena because officials did nothing wrong in the Frazier case.
Grand jury subpoenas are secret and its contents would not be known to the board.
Devlin also told Hurley he is upset that Steele ended a "nationwide search" for a new school superintendent to do an in-house search, suspecting that the board will wind up hiring the mayor's wife.
”This totally violates every ethical code in the business,” Devlin told Hurley, adding that he will be submitting a complaint to the state board of ethics.
Previous reporting by Sergio Bichao was used in this report.
Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ