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Bernice Marshall, who is suing the Perth Amboy School District, stands outsider her home. (Brian Amaral | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

PERTH AMBOY — Two former school district employees, including the one who oversaw its affirmative action policies, filed race discrimination suits in September, saying they were fired because they're not Hispanic.

Bernice Marshall, the former human resources manager, and Edmund Treadway, the former transportation manager, argue in Superior Court filings that the Perth Amboy School District is favoring Hispanic job candidates and employees.

"No one's paying attention to the kids," said Marshall, who is African-American. "It's about who's getting hired, who needs to be hired. They're paying attention to controlling the jobs in the district. They could care less about curriculum and instruction."

School board members and officials dispute that the district discriminates against non-Hispanic candidates. Derlys Gutierrez, the school district's lawyer, said that two recent lawsuits are "without merit."

"The district did not discriminate against either one of those individuals, and those allegations are not true," Gutierrez said.

Among Marshall's claims in the lawsuit: One board member said that if there were 80 job openings, 80 Dominicans should be hired.

The district, like many in New Jersey with a large Hispanic population, has struggled to attract bilingual teachers. Perth Amboy school employees traveled to Puerto Rico last year, sparking criticism. The Marshall and Treadway lawsuits point to the Puerto Rico trip as evidence of its alleged "discriminatory motives."

In an interview with NJ Advance Media this summer, Marshall said that some of her duties were taken away when she spoke out against a Hispanic job candidate that she didn't think highly of, sparking one of many incidents in her tenure there.

Obi Gonzalez, the president of the school board, disagreed with Marshall's assessment of the candidate's skills, Marshall said. Gonzalez made clear that, contrary to Marshall's view, she liked this candidate, who was up for a job at the WIlentz school, Marshall said.

After the disagreement, the acting superintendent, Vivian Rodriguez, summoned Marshall into her office, Marshall said. Rodriguez told Marshall that she was no longer allowed to speak at job interviews — she was simply to introduce the candidate and fetch water for the other members of the committee, according to Marshall.

In June, the district changed Marshall's job description to require a principal's certification, which she doesn't have (she was seeking a doctorate, which would have allowed her to be an assistant superintendent). Marshall's last day in the district was June 30.

In a brief interview in her office, Rodriguez said the school district followed all state and federal laws regarding discrimination. She declined to talk about personnel matters. Gonzalez, the school board president, didn't respond to requests for comment.

Israel Varela, a fellow school board member, denied that the district was discriminating against non-Hispanic candidates. His own preference, he said, had nothing to do with ethnicity, nor did he even take Spanish language skills into account when considering a job candidate.

What he values is a candidate from Perth Amboy, a city of nearly 52,000 that is 78 percent Hispanic -- a figure that some in the community say underestimates its true makeup, particularly at local schools.

"We're getting up to a 95 percent Hispanic community," Varela said. "My job is to make sure that our community succeeds."

According to district data from the middle of the summer, 842 of the district's 1,776 employees are Hispanic, or 47 percent. The second-largest group are white, with 818, or 46 percent. Five percent are African-American.

Samuel Lebreault, another school board member, said the district and the board doesn't discriminate.

"Personally, I can tell you that I don't care whether a person speaks a second language other than English to teach our youth," Lebreault said. "What I care about is how good is this individual, and whether they are going to care about our student population in general."

Lebreault pointed to several non-Hispanic candidates that have been hired, including Marshall's replacement. Marshall says in her lawsuit that the district first offered the position to two Hispanic candidates, who turned it down.

"I honestly don't see us engaging in those practices," Lebreault said. "Because it just hasn't happened."

Marshall acknowledges that in a school with such a large Spanish-speaking population, it makes sense that the school would try to hire Spanish speakers for English as a second language instruction. But the district went far beyond legally permissible need and into the territory of discrimination, Marshall said, even for positions that didn't have a Spanish language requirement.

She's not alone in that opinion. According to internal documents, the business administrator, Derek Jess; and his assistant, Richard Grobelny, have written memos describing the fear they have for their jobs because they're not Hispanic.

In a May 2013 memo, Jess wrote: "I feel that the board will hire and/or keep people because they are Hispanic and not because they are capable of doing the job the right way."

In a November 2013 memo, Grobelny wrote: "There have been whispers that all 'white administrators' have a target on their backs."

Jess and Grobelny didn't respond to requests for comment.

Treadway, who was fired in May, said he realized he was at-risk of losing his job. According to an internal memo Treadway wrote, a bloc of school board members circulated fliers in the run-up to last November's election promising "change in the transportation department."

Treadway, who is white, came under criticism from some district officials when he ordered employees at the transportation department to use English when they were speaking on radios about work. At the time, the schools' attorney said his order was legal.

In 2013, James Ferriter, the former director of security, also filed a discrimination suit alleging he was fired because he is white. Varela, the school board member, said that needed to "get our own kind" in the district, according to his lawsuit. That suit is still in discovery, Ferriter's attorney said.

Even some Perth Amboy school board members question the district's practices. An election is coming up on Nov. 4.

Board member Bill Ortiz has questioned his colleagues' decision to fire Marshall, and said she might have a good case. Ortiz, an outspoken critic, said there's a perception in Perth Amboy that if you're not Latino, "you need not apply" for a job.

Said fellow board member and critic Maria Garcia: "I believe that a lot of the actions that they are trying to put in place, it is not for the better education of the children of Perth Amboy. It's more for bringing jobs for people. And that is not what we are supposed to do."

Brian Amaral may be reached at bamaral@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @bamaral44. Find NJ.com on Facebook.