CLEARY GIACOBBE ALFIERI JACOBS PREVAILS IN APPELLATE DECISION AFFIRMING THE DISMISSAL OF A SCHOOL ETHICS COMPLAINT BASED ON BOARD MEMBER’S PERSONAL SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS

On July 7, 2025, the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division issued an opinion in Stephanie Siegel v. Sahar Aziz, Westfield Board of Education, Union County, affirming the decision of the School Ethics Commission in favor of Sahar Aziz.

The firm represented Sahar Aziz in her capacity as a member of the Westfield Board of Education. Sahar Aziz is the first Arab and Muslim American woman member of the Westfield Board of Education and Distinguished Professor of Law at Rutgers Law School (Newark Campus). Aziz served a successful three-year term on the Westfield Board of Education. During her time on the Board, a School Ethics complaint was filed against her by a resident as well as The Deborah Project regarding Aziz’s social media postings from her professional and personal accounts and being a co-signatory to a letter for Scholars on Palestinian Freedom which according to Appellants were purported violations of the School Ethics Act and/or Code of Ethics for School Board members.

Our firm filed a motion to dismiss in April 2023 and the School Ethics Commission issued its final decision on December 19, 2023 dismissing the Plaintiffs’ five-count complaint alleging violations of the School Ethics Act. The Commission’s December 2023 decision was a final decision of an administrative agency appealable only to the Superior Court-Appellate Division. Appellants Stephanie Siegel and The Deborah Project filed an appeal of the final decision of the School Ethics Commission.

Appellants/Plaintiffs alleged that the School Ethics Commission incorrectly interpreted and applied subsection (e) of the School Ethics Act in its final decision on the motion to dismiss. The Appellate Division noted that the School Ethics Commission emphasized that Aziz’s posts were made from her personal and professional social media account(s) and did not mention her board membership. The Appellate Division noted that “while we do not dispute that school board members are held to a higher standard than members of the general public, we are unpersuaded this principle requires us to overturn the School Ethics Commission’s decision in this case. As the SEC stated, ‘disagreement with how a school official conducts [themselves] outside the scope of [their] duties as a school official is best addressed at the time of election.”

Matthew J. Giacobbe, Partner of the Firm, and Janice V. Arellano, Counsel of the Firm, briefed and handled the case representing Sahar Aziz from its inception.