Embattled CEO Lizette Delgado-Polanco made “false statements” about a restructuring she led that is now at the center of an investigation and has prompted calls for the abolishment of the Schools Development Authority she leads, four top executives said in a letter obtained by NorthJersey.com and the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey.

The letter – sent to the authority board chairman, two attorneys in the governor’s office and the State Ethics Commission director – exposes divisions in the highest ranks of the authority charged with building schools in the state’s poorest districts. The executives say in the letter that Delgado-Polanco has put out misinformation about their level of involvement in the restructuring. It was sent after the authority’s board met Wednesday for the first time since the Network detailed Delgado-Polanco’s firing of veteran employees and hiring of about three dozen people in new or, in some cases, higher-paying positions. The new hires included a cousin, the mother of Delgado-Polanco’s grandchild, a friend of her daughter’s and several former co-workers at the two unions she worked at, drawing accusations of political patronage.

Delgado-Polanco has defended the restructuring as a necessary streamlining of operations to align with her vision of the agency as it attempts to secure billions of dollars in future funding, and during Wednesday’s meeting she addressed the controversy to the board "because there's a lot of misinformation being disseminated."

In her statement to the board Wednesday, Delgado-Polanco repeated an assertion that her office made to the Network last week, that the restructuring was done in coordination with the authority’s chief operating officer, office of the chief of staff, human resources department, counsel’s office and its vice presidents. At the meeting, she named four of the five vice presidents, who were sitting at the table with her.

“Personnel decisions regarding reorganization, terminations, promotions, salary increases were made with the assistance and the input of our chief operating officer, Andrew Yosha, office of the chief of staff, the human resources department, counsel’s office, the SDA vice presidents that are sitting here at this table: Don Guarriello, Manny DaSilva, Jane Kelly and Tom Schrum. All of them were in place before I came here,” Delgado-Polanco said.

None of the vice presidents refuted that statement during the meeting.

But in the letter sent later Wednesday, Guarriello, Kelly, Schrum and chief counsel Albert Barnes said that while they participated in discussions regarding existing staff promotions, salary increases and “terminations” as they have in past transitions, “we had no involvement in the 2018 restructuring/reorganization of the authority, the selection of new hires, the creation of new positions, the establishment of new employee salaries or decisions regarding new hire promotions.” They added that they were “not privy to a reorganization plan” and have not been provided with a current organizational chart for the authority.

“We are taking the extraordinary step of writing to you with the request that you ensure that the above false statements are not repeated and that no further inaccurate information regarding our involvement in this process is disseminated to the general public,” the executive wrote in the letter, which was not signed, to board chairman Rob Nixon.

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Nixon had announced at Wednesday’s meeting he ordered an internal audit of hiring practices and payroll under Delgado-Polanco, Gov. Phil Murphy’s choice to lead the authority who took over in August. She is also the vice chairwoman of the Democratic State Committee.

Nixon said in an email Wednesday night that he received the letter and that “I am forwarding to the audit team to include in the review of what went on over the last several months.”

“I have worked with each of those individuals for a decade and I respect them immensely,” he said.

A spokesman for Delgado-Polanco did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the letter late Wednesday night. The governor’s office declined to comment.

The authority’s management team is comprised of eight people, led by Delgado-Polanco. It includes five vice presidents responsible for construction, finances, legal affairs, administrative operations and real estate. All but one of those vice presidents – Pamela Luster, a former union political director brought on in Delgado-Polanco’s restructuring – have served since at least the Christie administration, some longer.

One of the vice presidents, DaSilva, spoke at Wednesday’s board meeting.

“I do take responsibility and I did sign on to this new mission. I know new hires were brought in,” he said. “I see the value that they bring.”