PALISADES PARK — The borough school board fired its attorney and terminated the school security agreement with the Borough Council on Wednesday after the program was suspended last week following reports that found no background checks and other reviews were conducted on the nine security guards assigned to the schools.

It’s unclear what the council’s next move will be after the Board of Education's decision, which was made without giving the council any prior notice.

“That’s insane,” David Lorenzo, borough administrator said Wednesday after being informed of the board's decision. “I’m speechless.”

Since Monday, police officers have been placed in the schools and the school board assured parents and teachers that multiple security layers will continue to be put in place.

After terminating the shared service agreement, board member Barnabas Woo said he had lost confidence in Board Attorney Louis Flora and felt that he had guided the board wrongly.

"We are volunteers and taxpayers, but we hire and pay a lot of money for an attorney to protect us and the schools," Woo said. "But the professionals have failed. There were no checks and everything was pushed the wrong way."

Mayor James Rotundo also seemed unsure about what the borough’s next step would be.

“I really don’t know what we do,” Rotundo said. “I’d have to talk to the attorney about it.”

He went on to say that the “spirit behind this plan” was to provide security for the schools without the school board having to come up with the money.

The actions by the school board on Wednesday follow a decision made at a special meeting last week to pull two security guards out of the schools. The program was suspended and uniformed officers were assigned to guard the schools.

Rotundo said there was no plan to pull those uniformed officers from the schools.

“As far as I’m concerned we are still sending guys to the schools,” Rotundo said.

Lorenzo echoed that statement, saying that he had “no intention” of pulling those guards but was surprised that the board seemed to “vote to terminate this without a plan B.”

Last week, the school board appointed Matthew Petracca, an attorney, to investigate the creation of the security officer program.

Lorenzo also planned to ask the borough attorney to look into "what went wrong" because “someone needs to clear the air.”

After a brief closed session on Wednesday, the school board voted 8 to 1 to terminate Flora, effective immediately. School Trustee Paul Kim cast the sole dissenting vote. Flora was working for the board at an $150 hourly rate since February.

MORE:No background checks meant accusations against Palisades Park school guards were missed

VIDEO:Palisades Park Councilman Henry Ruh talks about school guard qualifications

Flora did not return to the meeting after the closed session and was not present for the vote.

"I believe the whole program given to us from the borough was almost dumped on us," said Stephanie Jang, board member. "It's my fault and our shame and I will like to correct it now by taking the right steps."

Board members said they felt misguided and misinformed from the inception of the shared service agreement.

The board also agreed to explore options for a school security survey after a presentation was given by a school security consultant.

The security consultant, Raymond Hayduck, who is also the South Brunswick chief of police, presented the board with all security options including School Resource Officers, Class III special officers and armed security.

The emergency meeting was held to discuss the shared services agreement with the borough to station armed guards in Palisades Park's three public schools.

These actions followed the publication of an investigation by NorthJersey.com and USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey that found that the nine former police officers who had been serving as armed school guards had been hired without submitting résumés or undergoing background checks or psychological exams.

The probe also found that some of the guards had been accused in the past of serious indiscretions, including aggravated assault, police brutality, lying to authorities and threatening public officials. In addition, records show that two of the guards were carrying handguns after their permits expired.

A review of news reports, borough documents and court records showed that one of the guards, Laurence Ruh, a brother of Councilman Henry Ruh, faced a litany of administrative charges after his testimony at the federal trial of a borough police lieutenant who was convicted of taking part in a police-led burglary ring that terrorized Palisades Park in the mid-1990s.

Another guard, Richard Sopelsa, was forced to retire from the borough Police Department after he was accused of threatening a councilman. Joseph Mourao, formerly of the Palisades Interstate Parkway Police, was charged with assault in 1993. And John Pinzone, a retired chief of the Fairview police, was chastised by a prosecutor in federal court after writing a letter to a judge in 2009 supporting an alleged mobster.

None of the guards has been convicted of a crime.

E-mail: Cattafi@northjersey.com