COURT OKs SCHOOL-PERV DECISION

PFMLIT CHILD PORNOGRAPHY, COURT DECISIONS, General, PRINCIPAL, SEX OFFENDERS AND OTHERS IN POSITIONS OF TRUST, TEACHERS SCHOOL STAFF

The state Supreme Court upheld a ruling that found a Bergen County school board liable for the actions of Samuel Bracigliano, a principal who took sexually provocative photos of more than 100 boy students.  Yesterday's unanimous decision held that a trial-court judge acted properly when he entered a verdict against the Elmwood Park Board of Education for failing to act despite overwhelming signs that the principal was involved in strange and aberrant behavior.  Bracigliano had been the principal of the Gilbert Avenue Elementary School for eight years when he was arrested in 1990 for possession of child pornography.  Police also found 176 photos of students from the school that had been taken in Bracigliano's office.  He was convicted and served four years in prison.

(Trenton, New Jersey)