A group of Camden parents who claim that they were swindled out of hundreds of thousands of dollars for field trips that were already financed by the Camden School District has sued the district to recoup their money.
In a civil rights lawsuit filed Wednesday in New Jersey Superior Court in Camden, the H.B. Wilson Elementary School parents allege that the Camden School District "illegally, unethically and immorally seized" vast sums of money from them. During a 17-year period, parents paid an estimated $583,000 for trips, according to the lawsuit.
The district has said it doesn't know how much the district paid for the trips.
Parents have said they paid from $10 to $30 for trips this year. Students were taken to a range of places, such as the Pumpkin Farm, Clementon Amusement Park, and the Franklin Institute, the lawsuit said.
Each class could have two to four field trips a year. District officials have previously acknowledged that the district normally pays for such trips and that parents should not have been charged.
Parents complained about the trip payments after the school became the focus of an investigation into unusually high scores on state standardized tests by fourth graders in 2005. The state Department of Education determined last summer that the scores were inflated because of "adult interference."
In addition to the district, the lawsuit names Michael Hailey, Wilson's longtime principal, who retired in June amid a state criminal investigation into the test scores and spending practices at his school.
"I'm disappointed that parents have decided to sue the board for expenses that were allegedly charged by a principal without the board's knowledge," board President Philip E. Freeman said. "These trips were already paid for by the board. We had no reason to believe, nor was it brought to our attention, that additional fees were being assessed."
Hailey did not return a telephone message left at his Delran home yesterday.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of 14 parents, but the group could grow, said their attorney, Eric Taylor. The payments were made between 1989 and 2006, the lawsuit said.
"It's been going on allegedly for 17 years. Potentially, we're talking about thousands of students," Taylor said yesterday.
Parents at Wilson have said they had paid to attend events as chaperones, even though they later learned that chaperone costs should also have been covered by the district.
Freeman said the board's internal investigation into the field trip payments is continuing, and declined further comment.
"We never took a position that parents should not be compensated, but the investigation must continue so that we have accurate information before we consider how far this matter dates back to, before we consider compensation or other options," Freeman said.
Last week, Taylor and his partner, Kevin Mitchell, told the district that they plan to file a separate suit against the district, alleging negligence. They must give notice before the suit can be filed. According to the notice, the suit will allege that the board was negligent in hiring and supervising Hailey.
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