Atlantic City BOE Policy Supports Basketball Coach Applicant

We are revisiting the hiring of the next Boys Basketball Coach at Atlantic City High, which is expected to take place tomorrow night on Tuesday, July 19, 2022.

It’s one of the most coveted head coaching positions at the high school level in the state of New Jersey. The program’s rich tradition is elite in nature.

We have obtained additional information which appears to support the Superintendent’s recommendation of Wayne Nelson, which the Atlantic City Board of Education will consider tomorrow night.

Multiple Atlantic City Board of Education sources have confirmed to us that Nelson has the votes to receive the position.

The Atlantic City Board of Education policy regarding this type of hire is detailed below. The yellow highlighted area contains the pertinent information regarding this controversy.

Atlantic City Public Schools - Board of Education policy.

The policy clearly states that a substitute certified teacher candidate is eligible to be considered for the head coaching position.

We have confirmed that Wayne Nelson possesses a New Jersey substitute teacher certification and therefore, he is qualified by Atlantic City Board of Education policy.

The administration’s job posting does not mention about a person holding substitute teacher certification being eligible … However, the Atlantic City Board of Education policy clearly does confirm eligibility.

Long-time certified, full-time teacher Robert Newman has called-out the process, without saying a bad word about Nelson.

If you missed our previous coverage about this, here it is:

The Atlantic City Board of Education is poised to hire Nelson tomorrow night.

It remains to be seen if Newman will litigate the matter in an attempt to challenge the Atlantic City public schools wording for this job posting. See below.

Atlantic City Public Schools

The job posting clearly states that “Priority will be given to New Jersey Certified Teacher applicants.”

If this decision is ultimately contested, it appears open to interpretation as to whether the job posting will trump the board of education policy or vice versa?

We reached out to Newman for a comment about this development.

“Sometimes just because something appears to be legal does not necessarily mean it is the right thing to do. I have still have not received any response as to the reason why I was not selected,” said Newman.

Regardless of how this turns out, not communicating with an unsuccessful candidate is highly unprofessional.