By James Queally/The Star-Ledger
NEWARK — The incident took place 3½ years ago in a Newark classroom.
Jose Cotto, a first-year Spanish teacher at the Newton Street School, said he asked James Olbert, then 13, to switch seats.
“Shut the (expletive) up before I pop you!” the eighth-grader allegedly screamed at his teacher.
Next, Cotto said, the boy pulled out a cell phone and promised to “call the home boys to come and kick (his) ass.”
Cotto said he then asked school security to remove the student, and he was, but Olbert was returned to class a short while later. An exasperated Cotto said he then called police, but school security turned the officers away without mentioning the death threat.
Allegations of what happened that day in March 2009 are laid out in a landmark lawsuit Cotto filed after claiming he was fired for making too much noise about the incident. This summer, he won $225,000 in a wrongful dismissal lawsuit against the school. He hasn’t received the money yet, pending a possible appeal.
But this story doesn’t end there.
“I’m trying to look at it as an educator and say to myself, ‘I’ve intervened in kids’ lives and made a difference,’” Newark Teacher’s Union President Joseph Del Grosso said. “Why couldn’t someone maybe intervene in that kid’s life and made a difference?”
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