Elections for student council at a local Point Pleasant, Ocean County, New Jersey middle school not only ended in controversy, but the New Jersey Superior Court, Law Division Criminal Part, became involved over allegations of criminal cyber-bullying.
Student council elections at Point Pleasant Memorial Middle School this year were hotly contested, as the winning candidate for vice president of the student government, a 12 year old boy, found himself embroiled in a political fight involving his mother, Susan Rogers, the Point Pleasant Borough Council President, and newly elected councilman Christopher Goss, as well as school board members and the parent of the student who the boy defeated in the school election.
Councilman Goss' Facebook page was where much of the drama began as the mother of the defeated candidate, Ann Hoffman-Zitarosa, wrote that she believed the young student had "bought" the election and that he was "slime" adding that the proverbial apple "doesn't fall far from the tree."
The electoral intrigue did not end however. Not satisfied to smear young Mr. Rogers on Facebook with mere words, pictures of the 12 year olds' campaign signs vandalized with crude sexual drawings also appeared online. The postings involving Rogers prompted another adult in a position of authority in the Point Pleasant school system to post on Facebook that the young boy could not help who his mother was and that he was learning from "a political machine that only knew how to use money to win friends & votes."
Once word leaked out that Susan Rogers had complained to the school board about the attention her son was receiving, a local blogger named Laura Beeden posted a suggestion on her blog that the mother-son duo were attempting to alter election results with bribes. The school election was controversial to the extent that the Superintendent of Point Pleasant Borough launched an investigation into the results of the student council race, finding that young Mr. Rogers had won his election fairly.
Criminal charges were filed against the adults. A Superior Court Judge found that there was a lack of probable cause to pursue the disorderly persons complaints which had been filed against Goss, school board member Joan Speroni, and Hoffman-Zitarosa. Susan Rogers was undeterred by the dismissal of the criminal charges and stated that she was pursuing civil remedies for defamation of character and libel, recently having sought an attorney to represent her son in the manner. For his part, Mr. Goss claims that this is all a political ploy by Susan Rogers, and that neither she nor her son could have seen the posts without monitoring his online activity.
In New Jersey, cyber bullying is covered under N.J.S.A. 2C:16-1, a statute dealing with bias and intimidation. The penalties for actions such as cyber bullying are covered under N.J.S.A. 2C:43-3.8. There are also resources throughout the state aimed at stopping cyber bullying, such as www.njbiascrime.org, and legislation enacted in 2002, N.J.S.A. 18A:37-13, requires school districts to adopt policies that combat bullying.
