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Thursday, June 9, 2016

Oakcrest High School Vandalized; No Police Report Filed by District

The ongoing controversy regarding Oakcrest Principal Joseph Carruth has now spilled over into vandalism at the Oakcrest High School which is located in Hamilton Township. According to sources the vandalism occurred in the evening of Monday, June 6, 2016. 

Oakcrest which is part of the Greater Egg Harbor Regional School District appeared to be on the right track when Carruth was unanimously appointed by the Regional School Board on November 17, 2014.

Superintendent John Keenan who also appears to be back in the middle of the controversy, stated in 2014, Carruth was "known for his ability to establish meaningful relationships with students, teachers, and parents alike, Carruth’s strong administrative, organizational and communication skills will be valuable assets as he assumes his role of Oakcrest High School principal." 

Keenan and the Board President placed Carruth on paid Administrative leave on May 4, 2016 until further action. No reason was provided in the documents released by the District. Galloway Township News reached out to Carruth who declined to comment citing personnel and legal action reasons. 

According to several sources controversy between Keenan and Carruth spurred after Keenan refused to purchase jackets for the Marching Band in December 2015.  In January 2016 the District Board agreed to pay a certain amount towards the jackets for all teams that won championships but only for this year. The merchants of Hamilton Township funded the balance for the marching band.

The Greater Egg Harbor District Board has been publicly under fired since they shut down Galloway Mayor Don Purdy from speaking on January 25, 2016. 

It what appears to be a divided district with the teachers and staff working without a contract, a principal placed on administrative leave with no reason provided to the public and now members of the Board stating they no longer want to serve; leaves one to believe there is no stability within the leadership of the district.

While Oakcrest Principal Joseph Carruth, whose contract does not expire until June 30, 2016, is out on administrative leave, Supertinendent John Keenan has been pulling double duty and serving as acting principal for Oakcrest. While under the supervision of Keenan, Oakcrest High School was vandalized. 

According to Detective Frank Schalek of the Hamilton Township Police Department, no one from the Greater Egg Harbor Regional School District reported the vandalism. Superintendent John Keenan did not return our request for comment regarding the incident. 


Galloway Township News has obtained pictures of the vandalism inside of Oakcrest School and according to those pictures the Class of 2016 has placed the High School and Superintendent up for sale. However the Class of 2016 did not include in the principal in the sale which showed continued support for the principal after the students staged a walk out on May 13, 2016.

Over the past month petitions were circulated to remove Keenan and YouTube Videos were also created citing Anonymous Against Keenan. 

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Blame Hood, Hatch and Guenther. They are the ones responsible for hiring the superintendent. In fact we have already had one board member quit because of Vicki Hood who goes running to the superintendent to court special status by reporting comments to him. The three of them have been his biggest supporters throughout the ordeal of the last two years. I'm sure you read their comments they don't like when kids speak the truth fact they don't like the truth they want to do whatever they want to do. They were the ones that agreed to the contract structure including the $25,000 bonus. They hate when their Authority or judgment is challenged. Like a superintendent God forbid you should question or challenge his judgment decisions or authority. If you were lucky enough to be one of the many who saw the 11 patent leather but the former principal of Oakcrest in which he details of the inner workings of the greater Egg Harbor Regional School District you can understand why children teachers and parents are so upset with these board members and the superintendent in particular.

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