Somers Point parent brings it up after mayor apologizes for earlier outburst
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
NORTHFIELD — Mayor Erland Chau opened the City Council meeting Aug. 10 with a statement of apology for his behavior during the previous meeting, July 13, when he verbally assaulted two members and suggested racial discrimination was the motivation for leaving him out of a decision regarding the city’s library.
“I stand before you with immense regret and remorse for my inappropriate behavior at the City Council meeting of Tuesday, July 13, 2021,” he said. “There was absolutely no excuse for my disruptive outbursts and offensive behavior that I exhibited on that evening. It was completely uncharacteristic, irresponsible and insensitive of me.”
Chau, who retired last year after 45 years of teaching science at Mainland Regional High School, later was called to task for other misbehavior, this time toward one of his students in the classroom.
Somers Point resident Rita Gisondi accused the mayor of sexual harassment of her son in 2016, an incident that was documented by the school district as a violation of its Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying policy.
On July 13, Chau became irate, raising his voice, slamming his hand down several times and leaving his seat in a threatening manner while questioning why Councilwoman Barbara Madden and Councilman Greg Dewees did not consult him about the library.
Madden, who is liaison to the Otto Bruyns Public Library of Northfield, reported that she and Dewees had decided against consolidating with the Atlantic County Library System following a decision by the library board of directors.
Madden was visibly upset by the outburst and later said she was personally hurt by the mayor’s allegations of racial discrimination.
She said Chau sent City Council “a rather generic apology, saying he was sorry for his outburst and he would move forward.” But she was not appeased.
“I consider that rather cowardly. It’s not an apology to me personally,” Madden said last month. “I do not respect what he wrote as an apology.”
The first-term councilwoman was not moved by the mayor’s public apology either, making a sweeping statement that included the city GOP.
“The Republican Party has displayed a lack of respect for women over the past years and apparently this misogynistic mindset exists in our city government as well. Three years ago as a newly elected councilwoman I felt the ire of a former councilman who happened to be a Republican. This time our mayor has lashed out.
“Mayor Chau’s behavior at the July 13th meeting was unconscionable. Not only was he totally out of control, he was vulgar and falsely accused me of racism. During his five-minute, 11-second rant, he portrayed himself as the victim, as he did again today. Mayor Chau, you are not the victim here. You verbally assaulted me, your brother-in-law, Councilman (Greg) Dewees, and our Council President Mr. (Tom) Polistina.
“It has also come to light that this type of egregious behavior is not new to you — and the record exists. Your behavior is unbecoming and quite frankly unacceptable for a leader of this city,” Madden said in her own statement.
A mother’s wrath
During a public comment portion of the meeting, Gisondi said she had filed a police report in 2016 regarding the mayor’s behavior toward her son.
“I ask you to bear with me because what I have to say is extremely difficult, as you’ll see,” she began, identifying herself as an educator and the mother of three sons who attended Mainland Regional High School.
Gisondi said she filed a police report with the city of Linwood regarding “your mayor’s egregious behavior toward my son Kevin, who [sic] he sexually harassed on more than one occasion.”
“This is not up for dispute. I have in front of me a founded incident from the school’s own paperwork. This happened,” Gisondi said.
She read her son’s statement from the school’s Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying report dated Oct. 13, 2016, a copy of which was provided by Madden at the meeting:
“In Mr. Chau’s class, it was a Friday, the last class of the day, and we were going over how to use a microscope for a future lab.
“Mr. Chau was talking about cells on the body that were so small you couldn’t see them. He used one of my private parts as a verbal example, that you could not see it in the microscope. He didn’t say it directly but everybody knew what he was talking about. Later in the class Mr. Chau was talking about muscles and he showed us a muscle on the shoulder. He used my shoulder for an example and tapped me on that muscle. Then he pointed out a muscle in his hamstring as an example. He bent over in front of my desk and said something like ‘I bet you like that, Kevin. Did you get excited?’”
Gisondi said she spoke with Chief School Administrator Mark Marrone, the county prosecutor and multiple lawyers but nothing ever was done.
“Everybody’s appalled. Everybody’s, you know, crazy about it but nothing was ever done. … I went up the chain of command. I went everywhere. Nobody wanted to hear anything. No lawyer wanted to touch it,” she said.
Gisondi said she asked Marrone about revoking Chau’s tenure but that he balked at the suggestion.
“The paper here from Mr. Marrone, superintendent and king of Mainland. He’s his own boss, which is helpful, and he says NA (not applicable) on discipline. He put a letter in Mr. Chau’s file and told me that he would not go after his tenure,” Gisondi said.
She also said the harassment was not limited to one incident.
“There were three incidents, only one was documented. He said, apropos of nothing in the classroom, ‘if Kevin Gisondi would use deodorant maybe some girls would like him … or maybe some boys,’” she said.
Another incident Gisondi alleged was that Chau used her son being assaulted as an example of force.
“He said ‘If I beat Kevin Gisondi to a bloody pulp blah blah blah. So, as I explained to Mr. Marrone, he intimidated him then he fished for sexual information,” she said.
Gisondi called for the mayor to resign.
“You’ve outlasted the statute of limitations. You can’t be sued for this. I don’t care. I never wanted your money. But for you to sit there and talk about signs and banners and mundane things and have access to our children, and I’ve seen you for five years with your arms around the latest Cub Scout. You need to go away,” she said.
The report
The report details the incident, stating witnesses reported Chau making “off the wall” comments to Kevin and going “back and forth jokingly.”
The summary of factual findings includes the statements of several witnesses corroborating the boy’s story. The names were redacted from the report.
One girl “stated in the interview that his (Chau) sexual innuendos cross the line. In her written report she wrote: One Friday in class Mr. Chau made an inappropriate joke toward Kevin Gisondi. We were talking about going from centimeters to inches and he told us that there was 2.5 cm in 1 inch, and it was as long as a body part on Kevin’s body.
“Mr. Chau continued to make the joke all class. The whole class he stood next to Kevin. One time he was standing there, and he bent over right in Kevin’s face then turned around and said, ‘Oh, did that get you excited?’ He also kept saying that he could use the microscope to find Kevin’s penis because it was so small.
“Mr. Chau never actually said he was talking about his penis, but it was obvious. When he was saying this stuff Kevin was like holding his shirt over his face like he was embarrassed. He also said that Kevin probably gets it mixed up with his toe.”
The results of the investigation were that the incident met the criteria necessary to be deemed a confirmed case of harassment, intimidation and/or bullying.
Chau admitted to putting his hand on the boy’s shoulder in his statement on the incident to the school but denied bending over in front of the desk or making any statement while doing so.
The investigation’s findings state the motivation for the behavior was gender and physical anatomy and that it was a form of social bullying, classified as “gossiping, teasing about appearance, exclusion, public humiliation, etc.”
It also found that a substantial disruption or interference to the student’s rights occurred with the effect of insulting or demeaning the student, as well as the creation of a hostile educational environment.
Kevin was immediately switched to another biology class.
Chau’s response
Reached by telephone after the meeting, Chau said confidentiality rules prevent him from discussing any specific student or incident regarding a student.
He also said the incident was five years ago and “fully vetted by local police and by the school administration.”
The mayor rejected calls for him to resign, saying his behavior at work has nothing to do with his political career.
“What reference that Mrs. Gisondi has made was about three or four or five years ago. I just retired from Mainland this past year and that HIB complaint that was filed against me was fully vetted by the local police as well as the school administration,” Chau said.
The mayor said he has no idea why this was made public five years after the fact.
“I was kind of shocked because this happened several years ago,” Chau said, noting he was not dismissed, asked to resign or put on probation at the school.
“I’m not denying that this is something that happened several years ago after a successful career of over 45 years at Mainland Regional High School,” Chau said.
Reached via text, Gisondi stated a medical situation prevented her from commenting further.