I don't think we will ever know the full charges brought against Simon, but if this stands Sampson has won his first court battle - but at what cost? I believe the district was paying Simon while this was going on and who knows what the total legal cost was? But Sampson has made his mark and now all district employees should fear him. Kind of reminds me of good old Wasser, et. al.

The Judge made the wrong decision. Mr. Simon is a kind, compassionate man and would never put the children of his High School in harms way. Everyone SHOULD be afraid of Mr. Sampson, the Board President Heshey Moses and him are very close, I saw it with my own eyes, How this district voted Heshey in as President of the Board again is beyond my understanding. This vindictive behavior has been going on for years at the FRHSD, if they were not charging someone with something it was a rare year. Everyone better be on their best behavior, or else you will be next. TBFCharlop

Mr. simon is a good made. It is terrible that this is being done to him. The cost is another injustice, but i applaude him continue to fight. List the charges, they are laughable! Manalapan High was a great place under his watch, the kids and parents respected him. Mr. Simon, i hope you know that people really care for you!

There is no doubt that this was a vendetta against Mr.Simon from the time Dr. Koegler replaced Wasser. These are trumped up charges based on questionable witnesses which never should have reached this level. If there were legitimate crimes involved the police should have been called in to investigate. All this did was provide the Schwattz, Edelstein , Celso law firm an additional windfall which this board has been doing for years. I have many friends in Manalapan who sent their kids to the high school & none have ever had bad word to say against him.

So happy mychildren are done with Manalapan HS ,Mr Simon was a wonderful man and really enjoyed the students.My children have many fond memories of him and he made that HS a great environment.Too bad he's not there,more kids could have been inspired by him.

It's a sad day in the FRHSD community. The tyrant of FRHSD--"Dr." James Wasser, has been replaced with another. This action probably cost the district nearly a half-million dollars. This action required no more than a written warning or small suspension--no need for this to rise to the level of termination. This man will in all probability be ruined forever. His license will be revoked, and his employment in education will never happen again, unless some private institution employes him.

Mr. Sampson has spent thousands on newly created positions--and himself, without any questioning whatsoever from the Board of Education. They have always and always will "rubber-stamped" everything!!!

This year the district's state aid will probably be severely diminished in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Will the Board still approve Sampson's "Merit Pay Raise" later this year??? This figure could be as much as $26,000.00 for doing functions already contained in his job description. This year, taxes will probably rise significantly. Would the ever-stressed taxpayer's be required to pay the budget shortfall AND have to fund this man's "merit pay?" The current contract states the board MAY give him a merit raise--they are not required.

But he will get it his merit pay; no questions asked.

To those FRHSD employees that supported Simon: Watch your back. The purge will continue--rest assured.

Yeah, inspired to disregard rules and regulations.

And take utilize monies that don't belong to them for purposes it was not intended for.

I think you missed the part of how the students were put in danger by not following the rules in case of emergencies.

Yes like pep rally in gym cause it was raining and girls decorating electric box in ladies and misappropiating a sub for drama teacher who had play that night and wanted time to eat! Oh and the bus he "misappriotated" for jv team was only for varsity. Les see eho that was for! The kids! Absolutely no personal benefit!

Lets get every name on the complaint that supported Sampson's quest for conquest, and let's see who gets promoted, or some typical silly-dilly FRHSD pay raise down the road.

I'm watching....:)

Tom Thornton, the Judge may a decision based on the evidence presented him, not necessarily all the facts. Did you know that Dr. Koegler once adored Mr. Simon? Then she had to endure the wrath of the other principals when she was charmed by Simon into making a rather foolish decision. It all had to do with administrators coaching! She was acting Supt. & wanted the job - Mr. Sampson got it though. It's a good guess that a part of her blamed Mr. Simon. Louise was no fan of Simon and was quite verbal about it both in and out of the school. She was Wasser's neighbor and didn't see school employees putting up his fence. The group of Simon haters began to solidify and with a purpose. Success! Sleep well liars! You destroyed a good, yet flawed, man's LIFE! Which one of you is so perfect? Karma is a bitch!
Congratulations!

She applied!
M.R.

I Know Mr. Simon for over 30 years. I dont believe a single charge. he would never put kids in any sort of harms way. Stay strong Jeff .

As an MHS student I have seen what the school was and what it is now. Mr. Simon made all students very happy to go to school every morning and we all felt safe and welcomed. Now we don't like doing anything to do with the high school, because going there feels like a jail. Future students don't want to even step foot into MHS for orientation, because they don't want to deal with all that is happening. We feel like prisoners walking through the halls. We miss Mr.Simon dearly! He's innocent!

Hey Tom, why bother changing your name for this site? Benji's DNA is all over your hateful rants...BTW, what did Simon ever do to you for you to hate him so much...and don't say it's not hate. There's no other way to describe your words when you write what you do.

You missed the point. The judge said he got caught in a series of lies and deceptions.

He stole money from the students.

Do you condone that?

I'll reserve comment on the ruling until I do as suggested and read the decision. That being said, "Ha", your inappropriate posts and language skills do nothing to aide your position. If you are a product of MHS or are a current student, your postings are an indictment of the education you've received. Clean up your act if you want to be taken seriously.

I just read through the judges decision (well, most of it anyway). I have 2 children who have graduated MHS and 1 who is a sophomore and never had an issue with Mr. Simon - until reading this document. At the very least, Mr. Simon has demonstrated that he does not have the skill set to be in a position of leadership.
"Rapid Dismissal Fire Drill"? Allowing students to stop at their lockers AND buy pizza on the way out of the building during a fire drill? Are you kidding me? Does anyone consider this to be a good idea? Does everyone know the purpose of fire drills? This man clearly put the students, faculty and staff at risk by not taking fire drills seriously. This is unforgivable.
As for the other charges, he clearly made some incredibly poor decisions and is not a person who should be leading a school or any organization for that matter. If he had to live in the business world, he would not be a position of authority.
As Tom Thorton (or whatever his real name is) has suggested, those who are blindly defending Mr. Simon should read the decision. The judge clearly took the case seriously and weighed the credibility of the individual testimonies before rendering his decision. For what it's worth, when the charges were originally made and Mr. Simon was swiftly removed from his job, I thought the whole thing appeared to be a witch hunt. After reading the facts, my opinion has changed. Mr. Simon had to go and is lucky to not be arrested.

are you calling me a brat? wow. you should be in high school. you really don't understand what has been going on as well as we do and you never will. I will admit that some of Mr.Simon's decisions haven't been the best but no principal is perfect. He got to know us and taught us a lot. Unless you know him like we do then you shouldn't be bashing him. I am graduating this year and the #1 thing getting me mad about graduating, is that the principal has been such an inspiration to us isn't going to be there shaking our hand when we receive our diplomas. Any man or woman can be a principal, but it takes a lot to be a principal that your students aren't scared of or angry at 100 percent of the time. Please don't post hateful comments, because from what I have read all you have done was read an article. You have probably never even met the man. I am saying all of this as a STUDENT, which none of you are. You aren't in MHS everyday. I have been involved with so many activities dealing with the school and I have seen what goes on. None of you have.

While facts are facts, and they can not be disputed, I will say that the High School was a better learning atmosphere while Simon was there.

Despite the bad he did, he encouraged and motivated students to learn more than any other recent principals at the school. That is something that can't be taken away from him.

They don't care about the helping the students.. They just want to penalize them more so thy look good and get tenure

To the students who made comment,

Your perspective is clouded by the appearance of joviality and friendliness.

Just because you got a high five and a smile did not make Simon an educational leader. The judge specifically said that Simon decided to do things in a manner that was against district policies that are designed to protect students and ensure an orderly educational process. His opinion was that because Simon was not even one bit sorry prompted the judge to determine that he would continue to do whatsoever he wanted. The mishandling of student funds and the attempted coverup were just wrong and he tried to blame others. He failed to take responsibility for his actions. Perhaps that is the lesson you should draw from all this. The former superintendent had a similar problem where he refused to take responsibility. In the end, he too had to leave his position.

Mr. Simon, by all accounts, seems to be a personable, friendly and well liked person. It's fine for folks to say that. But it cannot be used as a defense and to ignore the facts that were presented. If he had worked at a bank or department store...he would have been fired. Ignoring what went on would be condoning his actions. That is not a lesson that can be taught to our children. It is a shame that is happened, but it was brought on Simon himself. He needs to learn from his mistakes, accept them and get on with his life.