John Venino at the RBR board meeting on September 11. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Regional High School board of ed member John Venino wound up with a black eye following a student altercation last week at a middle school where he works in Asbury Park, according to a TV news report Monday.
News12 New Jersey reported that Venino was put on paid administrative leave following a fight Friday afternoon between two students at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Upper Elementary School, where he works as a guidance counselor.
The station ran cellphone video capturing a few seconds of the incident, in which Venino appears to get punched in the face by a student. He’s also seen pushing a student out the door of a classroom, according to News12 reporter Jim Murdoch.
A closeup photo of Venino’s face showed him with a black eye. The district teachers’ union told News12 he was treated for an eye injury.
Police arrested two juveniles and charged them for assaulting Venino, according to the report. Venino is not alleged in the report to have been at fault in the incident.
The Asbury Park school district confirmed to News12 that Venino was placed on paid leave while the matter is investigated by the New Jersey Department of Children and Families’ Institutional Abuse Investigation Unit.
“Rest assured that we will not tolerate any behavior that jeopardizes the welfare of our students and our staff,” Superintendent RaShawn Adams said in a statement to News12.
An official with the teachers union told the station: “Staff members should not be placed in harms way in a school setting.”
Venino, of Little Silver, did not immediately respond to a redbankgreen request for comment Tuesday.
As an RBR board member, Venino drew heavy criticism for his August 16 vote that triggered a temporary termination of the immigrants-advocacy Dreamers Club.
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