N.J. school principal charged with drunken driving no longer overseeing middle school, district says - NJ.com

A new principal is no longer in charge of a West Orange middle school following her recent arrest on drunk driving charges.

Aretha Dooley-Malloy will not be serving as principal at Liberty Middle School as the school year begins, according to a note sent to the school community on Friday.

Dooley-Malloy, a veteran educator hired over the summer, was not mentioned by name in the memo sent Friday. But the note said she was no longer leading the school.

“As we welcome you back to the 2022-23 school year ... I am writing to inform you about the transition in leadership that is taking place at Liberty Middle School,” the note said.

Students and staff were instead greeted on the first day of school Tuesday morning by Edison Middle School 6th grade principal Xavier Fitzgerald and Liberty assistant principal Stephen Olshasky, the note said.

It wasn’t immediately clear Tuesday if Dooley-Malloy was suspended temporarily or voluntarily stepped away from her new job. West Orange interim Superintendent C. Lauren Schoen and multiple other school officials couldn’t be reached Tuesday morning.

Dooley-Malloy’s attorney, Ray Hamlin, declined to comment on her job status Tuesday.

A post about Dooley-Malloy’s hiring published last month has been removed from the district’s official Facebook page.

Dooley-Malloy, 51, was arrested Aug. 30 and charged with driving under the influence after allegedly crashing on the property of a home on Rock Spring Road after attending a fundraiser at nearby Rock Springs Golf Club for township councilman Ron Rutherford, who is running for mayor.

In a social media post, Rutherford acknowledged Dooley-Malloy attended his event and that he came to the scene following the crash. But, Rutherford denied he attempted to interfere with her arrest.

After the “very uncooperative Dooley-Malloy” was processed at police headquarters, she was released to Rutherford, according to the police report detailing the incident.

“I stopped to make sure everyone, including the accused, was OK,” Rutherford wrote. “She was a guest at my event and I was concerned for her as she was clearly in distress. I would have been concerned about anyone in that same position.”

Police also issued Dooley-Malloy summonses for driving an unregistered vehicle, failure to possess an insurance card and failure to give consent to take breath samples, court records state.

Dooley-Malloy, of West Orange, was taken into custody after failing two field sobriety tests given after officers detected the scent of alcohol on her breath. She refused to submit breath samples, police said.

No one was injured in the crash but the property in front of two homes was left with minor damage, police said.

Dooley is scheduled to answer the drunk driving charges in court later this month.

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Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com.

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N.J. school principal charged with drunken driving no longer overseeing middle school, district says - NJ.com
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