richard d. tomko (a/k/a richard tomko) et al.//// school ethics commission, 6-9-11,part 1
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Date: June 9, 2011
To whom it may concern,
I, Irandokht Toorzani who is Mathematics teacher at Memorial High school of Elmwood
Park Schools in Bergen County, file the attached complaint with the Ethics Commission of New
Jersey.
About May 10, 2011, I contacted Department of Education ( Bergen County
Superintendent office in Hackensack ) to ask regarding process of filing a complaint against
unethical conduct of school administrators (stated on the attached complaint form). After a week
Ms. Rosario gave me a call back and left a message for me that she had been advised to tell me
that I had to call the Department of Labor. I followed her direction and called the Department of
Labor but I was told by them that they did not have any jurisdiction over this matter. As Ms.
Rosario had also directed me that if I wanted to discuss the matter further with her I could call
her, I called her but anytime I called she was not available so finally I was successful to talk to
her colleague, Mr. Steven ? ( I do not know his last name). But Mr. Steven ? told me that there
was no way to complaint about the unethical conduct of the administrators that he was aware of
it. And then when I asked him, “What should I do, You mean I should not do anything and I
should wait for them to use all the false and falsified information ( that they have been placing on
my observation and evaluation reports and in my personnel file) to bring tenure charges against
me?”, he said “Yes” and he added that when they did then I could appeal it.
I was not convinced with Mr. Steven ?’s response since I was sure there should be
something, somebody and some place to prevent administrators from committing unethical
conduct, abusing their authority, and misusing their power. Therefore I searched online and I
found that a complaint can be filed with the Ethics Commission of New Jersey regarding
unethical conduct of administrators.
Please accept the attached complaint as my petition against all unethical conduct of the
named administrators of Elmwood Park school district on the attached complaint based on
N.J.S.A. 18A:12-24.(a,b,d, and e).
Your attention is greatly appreciated in this matter.
Irandokht Toorzani
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Irandokht Toorzani, High school Mathematics
teacher
v. BEFORE THE SCHOOL ETHICS
COMMISSION OF NEW JERSEYSCHOOL ETHICS ACT
Elmwood Park District administrators:
Richard D. Tomko, current superintendant and
former High School principal; David Warner,
current HS principal and former HS assistant
principal; Corinne DiMartino, current director
of curriculum and instruction and former
Science supervisor
_________________________________ COMPLAINT FORM
I, (Irandokht Toorzani), residing at (175 Oxford Terrace, River Edge NJ, 07661, 201-488-
7429), request the School Ethics Commission to consider a complaint against the above-named
Respondent(s) whose home address is (52 Conestoga Trail, Sparta NJ 07871; 54 Beverly
Drive, Hillsborough NJ 08844; 41 Strong Street, Walington NJ 07057), in accordance with
the authority of the School Ethics Commission to entertain such complaints under N.J.S.A.
18A:12-21 et seq.
The facts upon which this complaint is based are as follows: (Please print additional
pages as needed. Students should be identified by initials only. )
1. Statement of facts:
i. I (Iranddokht Toorzani, who is a Mathematics teacher at Elmwood Park Memorial High
School) file this complaint against the above-named administrators who under the
influence of the current superintendent and for their personal gain have been placing
false and falsified information on my observation and evaluation reports and in my
personnel file regarding my performance.
ii. I was observed by Mrs. DiMartino (Science supervisor and current director of
curriculum and instruction) for the 2nd year in a row on 2/24/2011, not only Mrs.
DiMartino made up narrative for the first several minutes that she was not even
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present in my class but also she provided a false narrative for the rest of period that
she was present and observed me.
iii. She has placed false and falsified information on my observation and
evaluation reports ( Attachment 1to 5), to injure my professional reputation this
year again ( for her personal gain) under the influence of current
superintendant who has been sued by me because of his constant harassing
and discriminatory conduct since 2003 that he became principal of Elmwood
park memorial high school (as one example of his unethical conduct and
conspiracy, in 2005, the year which I was supposed to get my tenure, current
superintendant who was high school principal at the time, manipulated the
statistical data regarding the result of marking period exam for my classes and
furnished a false report to the superintendent and BOE office to prevent me
from getting my tenure. (Attachment 6)).
iv. In 2009, when I was teaching 5 regular Juniors class and almost 86% of my
students passed the state exam (HSPA) I received an evaluation contained false
and falsified information written by Mrs. Jackter under the influence of the
current superintendent for her personal gain ( Math supervisor and Current
elementary school principal) stating that I was not committed to perform my
job based on the requirements for teachers. In the same year, in one of those
fact finding meeting which I was forced to attend by the current
superintendent, he told me, “Ms. Toorzani, I have said on numerous occasions
that you are one of the best teachers in the Math department” when he had told
one of students (E.H.) who wanted to switch to my class from another Math
class, “Why you want to switch to Ms. Toorzani’s class, Ms. Toorzani is the
worst teacher and even she does not know how to speak English”. They
withheld both of my increments for that school year in retaliation after I
revealed the recorded voice of that meeting to the superintendent at the time
( Mr. Joseph Casapula) and BOE [to explain how the current superintendent
(HS principal at the time) was intentionally and maliciously making false
statements of facts and placing them in my personnel file for his personal
goals] since the current superintendent ( HS principal at the time) had made
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false statements regarding the minutes of that fact finding meeting and used the
local union president as his witness.
v. Additional evidences would be submitted upon request. There are direct physical
evidences including but not limited to recorded voice [since I had been accused of
being extremely deceptive by the current superintendent (HS principal) and
untrustworthy and liar by the rest of them and they had been using school employees
to act as their (fake) witness to falsely accuse me, I had no other way to defend my
professional reputation except recording every meeting which were called fact-finding
meetings and I was forced to attend those meetings to be interrogated and harassed by
them for no reason except hurting me emotionally to either force me to quit or push
me toward a nervous breakdown] which show how intentionally and maliciously they
have been attacking to damage my professional reputation in retaliation, since I had
engaged in protected activity, filed a complaint with EEOC for the second time but
this time with the EEOC New York office in Spring of 2009 and finally on August 20,
2009, as the last resort I filed a law suit based on sex, national origin, race, religion,
disability against a few administrators [ RICHARD D. TOMKO, HS Principal and
current Superintendent of Schools; DAVID WARNER, assistant HS principal and
current HS Principal; ALLISON JACKTER, Math Supervisor and current Principal at
Gantner Avenue School; ANTHONY IACHETTI, Supervisor and current Director of Testing] who had been discriminating and harassing me constantly which is pending in
the appellate for hearing for fraud upon the court.
Date of occurrence:__Ongoing for last several years and last incident June 2, 2011_.
I assert this to be a violation of: N.J.S.A. 18A:12-24.(a,b,d, and e).
2. Statement of facts:
i. Mrs. DiMartino (Science supervisor and current director of curriculum and instruction)
has placed false information in my personnel file regarding my performance (Attachment
7 & 8) for her personal gain under influence of current superintendent to falsely accused
me of disagreeing with the district and state teacher requirements while I have always
believed in efficacy of the professional standards and district and state requirements for
teachers and been committed to meet them in my 24-year teaching career.
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ii. as one example, in an attempt to prevent me from performing my job effectively based on
the NJ standards for teachers which one of them is communicating with parents during
school year, on December of 2010, after I had spent so many hours of my time to make
Academic Progress and Classroom Behavior Reports (Attachment 9) ready again for all
my students to be mailed to their parents (school progress report was not reflecting
enough information since school had not been utilized with real time operating system yet
and I wanted the parents to see the actual grades of their kids ), I was told by Mr. Warner
that school could not spend money to mail those reports to the parents! ( I wanted to send
the st udents’ reports via mail since most of the students had not returned their reports
with their parent s’ signatures to me for the 1st MP.) and in one of those fact-finding
meeting which I was forced to attend, Mr. Warner, current principal told me in the
presence of the local union president that The problem was not just spending money on
stamps, if parents saw those reports they would say that was a good thing and they would
ask other teachers to do the same which would create problems for school and teacher’s
union].
Date of occurrence: ___June 2, 2011________________.
I assert this to be a violation of: N.J.S.A. 18A:12-24. (a,b,d, and e) .
WHEREFORE, I, as Complainant, request that the School Ethics Commission find and
determine that the above-named Respondent(s) has violated the School Ethics Act and that he or
she be subject to such penalty as provided by the Act.
________________________________
Date: June 7, 2011 Signature of Complainant
or his or her Attorney
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ATTACHEMNT 1
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From: Irandokht Toorzani, Mathematics Teacher
To: Mrs. DiMartino, Director of Curriculum
Subject: Respond to the Observation Report Written by Mrs. Dimartino Dated 2/24/11
Cc: My Personnel File
Again this year (like last year ) Mrs. DiMartino knowingly, intentionally and willfully has
recorded false and falsified information on my observation report. I am respectfully writing this
letter in response to the observation report (which was given to me (for the first time) on 3/8/11)
written by Mrs. DiMartino in regard to her observation of my class on 2/24/11 for about 40
minutes (she did not come to my class at the beginning of the period and she missed about 5
minutes of the class. When she entered the class, class had already been started and students
were working on a set of problems in groups, individually and on the board ) which contains
false and falsified information.
Unfortunately this is a continuing pattern of placing false and falsified information in my
personnel file for the last several years to injure my professional reputation and character.
On Thursday 2/24/11, after I entered the school and signed in at 7: 50 and checked my
school mailbox, I found a reprimand letter written by Mr. Warner which had been issued for no
cause, like always. Then I got observed by Mrs. DiMartino during my first period class ( fromalmost 8:10 to 8:50). For last several years I have always being observed unscheduled,
unannounced and walk through but this time in addition to that, I got observed immediately after
I had been reprimanded for no cause again in the early morning (even though, I have notified the
administrators numerous times that getting these reprimand letters continuously for no cause has
been affecting my emotional and physical health but they have intentionally been placing these
reprimand letters in my school mailbox in the early morning to be picked up by me as soon as I
enter the school and sign in. And this part really outrages any human being that they stand in the
main office and watch me when I am picking up these reprimand letters and they enjoy my
suffering).
On 3/24/11, while students were seating in appropriate seating arrangement for group
learning ( each learning group consisted of almost four students which was not so large as to
easily allow individuals to fade away from involvement ) I started my class by checking
ATTACHEMNT 2
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homework and calling 3 students (3 representative from 3 different groups) to the board to go
over 3 homework problems (3 different problems related to same concept which was solving
system of linear equations by substitution) which I had chosen and written on the board to be
solved as “Do Now” and I asked the groups to work with their representatives who were
solving the problem on the board.
While students were working in group and individually, Mrs. DiMartino entered the class
at about 8:10, then several minutes after Mrs. DiMartino had come to the class one of the
students (J.N.) came to the class late (excused ) with a pass from attendance office (she did not
joined any group and she said she preferred to work individually). After while I saw that 4 of the
male students ( J.K., B.M., J. K., and M. A.) were not participating in their groups activities
therefore I decided to intervene. One of those 4 students ( J.k.) had put his head down on the
desk so I told him if he did not feel well he could get a pass to go to the nurses office otherwise
he needed to pay attention and work with his group, and the other 3 students ( B.M., M.A., and
J.K.; M.A. and J.K. were those students who had not also followed the dress code and had come
to the class with plaid shirt despite several notices that I had already given them) were not
contributing anything to their groups, they were talking and distracting the others and they were
waiting for the rest of group to do the job and solve the problems for them which I gave them a
notice regarding this matter.
When students were done with the assigned problems on the board (one group was not ableto finish the assigned problem to them and they asked me to help them) I asked them to explain
to class how they had approached to their answer ( I always ask student to solve the problem by
talking through the reasoning process out loud and I ask other students to listen and try to
understand the reasoning). After students were done with the assigned problems and I completed
the work for one of the groups that was not successful to solve the problem, I decided to re-
arrange two of the groups (which originally they were formed to be balanced in terms of their
abilities), I divided them into 3 groups (1st group, J.K. and B.M.; 2
nd group, M.A. and J.K.; and
3rd
group, the 2 other students who were active in their original group). And then I gave them
one problem (Formative assessment ) similar to the one that we had covered on the board to
assess my students' levels of understanding about that concept which was solving different
systems of linear equations by substitution (to change and use different instructional strategy
and give my students time to pause and evaluate their performances and also send a message to
those 4 students that the assigned tasks were meaningful and not just “busy work.” and make
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them aware that there are no free rides). I also announced that I was going to collect all the
papers and I would randomly mark one paper of each group and that was going to be a quiz
grade for each member of that group therefore each individual member had to work on the given
problem and every member had to understand how to reach the answer ( to prevent of having
issues of under-contribution or over-contribution by individual members and to make group
learning tasks effective and to let group learning promotes interdependence by the use of
individual student roles).
Then all students started working on the given problem in their groups while I was
circulating and walking in the class to monitor for positive interaction, to provide assistance in
case a group did not clearly understand how to solve the assigned problem, and to give praise for
good interaction and intervene if a group activity was not productive.
After given ample time to the students to solve the assigned problem, I collected the papers,
at this time one of the students ( B.M.) started complaining that why I re-arranged their groups, I
asked him to talk to me after the class to not to waste the class time but he started arguing and he
said that he wanted to talk about it then ( I believe he wanted to get the attention of the observer,
Mrs. DiMartino), therefore I explained for him that the purposes of group learning are, setting a
conducive learning environment, enhancing students learning which can also bring many
benefits to students (including higher academic achievement, long term retention, higher level of
reasoning and critical thinking, teamwork skills and Interpersonal communication, group
problem-solving and decision-making, higher self-esteem, and individual empowerment ) and
using group learning as supplement of direct instruction which results a balance of lecture and
small group activities and the goal is not that a student to be awarded a high grade mainly due to
the achievement of others but a student’s grade should reflect his or her own achievement and
then I told him if he wanted to talk about it more he could talk to me after the class.
Then I wrote the problem which students had worked on it individually in their groups on
the board and I called for a volunteer to go over that problem on the board and I also explained
the steps that they needed to take to solve that problem to let them see what mistakes (if any)
they had made and also gave them an instance feedback.
At the end I gave the class a closure question which was “What are the steps that we need
to take to solve a system of linear equations?” which students (M.S. and M.Z.) participated and
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answered this question, and after this question I announced the homework and then bell rang and
students left the class.
As I responded to my last year evaluation, usually students are unable or unwilling to focus
on one thing for any length of time but I have been able to get their attention and encourage them
to actively participate and be engaged in the class activities for the entire 45 minutes of the class
time. During the class my students are so excited to participate actively and eagerly in the class
activities and that is not just limited to a few students. My students enjoy the class time since for
the entire period of class they are engaged in the process of teaching and learning, they help each
other, they correct each other and they have voice when it comes to lesson planning and I
believe, this is a great achievement for me as a Math teacher. Even based on my students’ words,
my class is the only class during the day that they are engaged in class activities and they don’t
just sit in their chairs and copy the notes and get bored.
My philosophy has been that students need to explore and discover, to be able to formulate
their own answers. I have been engaging them and meeting them where they are at and taking
them farther by guiding them to find the answers for themselves, this way not only they learn
what the correct answer is but also they learn the actual process which makes the learning more
existing.
I have not been telling my students what they need to know and then expecting them to
recall them, my students have being challenged to think for themselves in my classes (which is
real learning and not just recalling the facts) and I have been helping them to become problem
solvers and skillful thinkers and for doing all these I have always being appreciated by them.
I use different types of assessment to evaluate the strategies which I take for the instruction,
if the results were good I could take the same strategies for teaching and if they were not
satisfactory I could change those strategies, I have always evaluated my work and looked for
errors (if any) and adjusted my work based on my students’ needs, but unfortunately again Mrs.
DiMartino has chosen not to see any of these, which I have been doing in my classes and she
has chosen to provide false and falsified information in regard to my performance in my class
during her observation to injure my professional reputation, make me disappointed and destroy
my self-esteem.
Teacher get observed and evaluated for the following goals:
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A. To foster a cooperative and collaborative professional atmosphere.
B. To promote teacher self-esteem.
C. To objectively and fairly assess the performance of the teacher.
D. To support the teacher in the development of teaching and classroom management
skills.
E. To assess student performance and progress.
F. To monitor the implementation of the school’s and district’s policies.
G. To provide an environment which fosters growth on the part of the supervisor and the
teacher.
H. To fulfill the state mandate for teacher evaluation.
but unfortunately Mrs. DiMartino has disregarded all the above goals one more time this
year by recording false and falsified information on the report of her observation of my class, on
this observation report she has stated:
1. The bell rang and students were instructed to take out their homework. Three
students were called to the board to demonstrate how they solved the homework problems.
Ms. Toorzani asked each student to explain why they solved the problem they way they did.
a) Not only Mrs. DiMartino was not in the class when the bell rang (she came to the
class late (about 8:10) and she missed the first five minutes of the class ) but also when I calledthe students to the board she was not in the class yet, she came to the class while students were
working on the problems on the board.
b) I did not asked why students solved the problem the way they did as I explained
above I asked them to explain how they approached to their answer. I always ask student to solve
the problem by talking through the reasoning process out loud and I ask other students to listen
and try to understand the reasoning and provide suggestion if needed.
2) After reviewing the homework, students were instructed to solve the following problem
with their group partners. x + 2y = - 6 2x-y = 8 Ms. Toorzani told students she would
randomly collect the solution from one person in the group and grade it as a quiz.
Therefore, students had to ensure each group member had the correct solution and
understood how to solve the problem.
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As I explained above I announced that I was going to collect all the papers and I would
randomly mark one paper of each group and that was going to be a quiz grade for each member
of that group therefore each individual member had to work on the given problem and every
member had to understand how to reach the answer to prevent of having issues of under-
contribution or over-contribution by individual members and to make group learning tasks
effective and to let group learning promotes interdependence by the use of individual student
roles.
1) Although, Ms. Toorzani encourages students to come to the board to solve problems, she
never instructs the rest of the class to solve the problems individually in their notebooks.
This prevented students from being on task and engaged in the lesson. Ms. Toorzani must
provide time for students to think, process the information and solve the problem before
eliciting students to solve the problem on the board. It is also recommended Ms. Toorzani
engage the students in discussing math so that the class can share and compare solution
strategies. This allows students to discuss what is done, but also why it is done, and why it
is correct or incorrect.
a) These are false statements of facts which have been recorded knowingly,
intentionally, willfully, and maliciously on the observation report by Mrs. DiMartino.
b) Mrs. DiMartino’s statements in this Part (#3) even contradict her own statements
in part #2.
c) The students had ample time for the first 3 questions since those questions had
been assigned to the students the day before as their homework, so they had time form 2:45 PM
to 8:00 AM to think and solve those problems. In addition to that time they were given time to
work individually and together on those problems again in the class to reinforce the concept.
I spent 45 minutes of the class time for the 2nd day in a row to just reinforce the concept of
solving system of linear equations by substitution, which this amount of time is more than
enough to spend for teaching this concept.
We spent 40 minutes of the class for 4 problems, which means we spent 40/ 4=10 minutes
for each question (if we divide the 40 minutes evenly by 4 for all of those 4 questions).
d) Since I do not want to make this rebuttal lengthy by repeating the facts, in
response to the other false and falsified information of the above paragraph, please refer to the
narrative of the lesson that I have stated above which clearly shows how Mrs. DiMartino
willfully and maliciously has manipulated the facts.
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2) Ms. Toorzani then wrote another problem on the board and called for a volunteer to come
to the board to solve the problem. The bell rang shortly after the student demonstrated the
solution. Ms. Toorzani announced the homework as students left the classroom.
All the statements of this paragraph are false and falsified. I did not write another problem
on the board (as the students’ notes is a physical evidence for that ), I wrote the same problem on
the board which I had given them to work on it individually in their groups, and then I called for
a volunteer to go over that problem and I also explained the steps that they needed to take to
solve that problem to let students see what mistakes (if any) they had made and also give them an
instance feedback.
Then I told the class lets close the lesson with a closure question and I gave them the following
question “What are the steps that we need to take to solve a system of linear equations?” Then
students raised their hands to respond the closure question and I called two students (M.S. and
M.Z.).
After closure question was responded by these two students and my explanation, I
announced the homework and in contrast with what Mrs. DiMartino has stated, students were not
leaving the class but they were in their seat when I was assigning the homework for the day and
after that the bell rang and I dismissed the class.
3) Ms. Toorzani must stand by her classroom door during passing time in order to
monitor the hallways between classes.
Mrs. DiMartinto came to my class at about 8:10 when class had already been started so I
am wondering how she could have known whether I had been standing by the door or not?!
Not to mention that based on Mr. Tomko’s and Warner’s orders, teachers must prop the
door and keep the door open only and only with their bodies and nothing else to not to damage
the doors (this order was issued after I was assaulted by Mr. Frietag, custodian, when I was
teaching in my class, with the excuse that I was damaging the door by propping it, when other
teachers were propping the doors of their classrooms in the same way. As the result of reporting
that assault to the administrators I was reprimanded and the order regarding not propping the
doors was issued ).
4) Ms. Toorzani must display the lesson objective and do now for her students to see as soon
as they enter the classroom.
a) Mrs. DiMartino did not come to my class at the beginning of the period and she
missed about 5 minutes of the class. When she entered the class, class had already been started
and students were working on a set of problems (Do Now) in groups, individually, and on the
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board. Therefore when she was late for class how she could have known whether there was “Do
Now” on the board or not (I had written 3 homework problems (assigned the day before) on the
board as “Do Now” for that day).
b) I always display the lesson objective on the board. The objective of lesson for the
day before (which was the same lesson) was still on the board (but the date was reflecting
the day before) as Mrs. DiMartino saw it when she entered the class. But as I explained in
the post conference to Mrs. DiMartino due to being reprimanded for no cause by Mr.
Warner exactly before she came to observe me I had forgotten to update the objective that I
had on the board.
5) Ms. Toorzani must check students for dress code violations.
Several students were violating the dress code policy. Two boys had plaid shirts over
their polo shirts and two females were not wearing polo shirts with collars. In addition, a
student put his hat on as he left the classroom. Ms. Toorzani should have sent those
students immediately to Mr. Rhodes.
Again Mrs. DiMartino willfully and maliciously has made false statements and
manipulated the facts, since there was no girl who violated the dress code policy in the class ( my
students are witness of this fact ).
But regarding two boys with the plaid shirt (M.A. and J.K.), despite the fact that the
students who violate the dress code policy pass through the hallways and pass by morning hall
monitors and the administrators and they do not get any notice before coming to my class for
violating the dress code, I still send these students to Mr. Rhodes’ office at the end of the 1st
period and during the homeroom (as I had informed Mr. Rhodes (assistant principal) and he
had been aware of this matter ) for two reasons 1) not to let these students waste the time of the
class by arguing about their dress and 2) I do not want them to miss part of the lesson and lag
behind the other students.
I always send students who violate the dress code to Mr. Rhodes’ office at the end of the 1st
period, during homeroom and I ask them to comeback with a pass from Mr. Rhodes, if they do
not return to homeroom with a pass, I immediately inform Mr. Rhodes about the situation.
6) Ms. Toorzani must ensure students have a student ID and agenda in order to use the
restroom. Another student during the lesson asked to use the restroom. Ms. Toorzani
allowed the student to use the restroom without asking the student to provide her student
ID or agenda. Ms. Toorzani must adhere to the school's policies.
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Again Mrs. DiMartino willfully and maliciously has made false statements of facts, since
no student left the class for any reason during whole period and my students are witnesses of
that.
7) Ms. Toorzani must provide her students with enough time to solve problems on their
own.
We spent 40 minutes for 4 problems which means we spent 10 minutes for each problem if
we divide the 40 minutes evenly between 4 questions. Not to mention that 3 of those 4 questions
had been assigned to the students the day before as homework and the students had ample time
from 2:45 PM to 8:00 AM, in addition to the time which was given to them in the class.
8) Ms. Toorzani must continue to improve her differentiation strategies.
This school year 2010-2011, because of the state monitoring and corrective action plans
teachers have been required to differentiate the instruction but I should say that I have been using
differentiation of instruction since I have started teaching years ago.
9) Ms. Toorzani must communicate in a professional and timely manner with parents and/or
coworkers.
Mrs. DiMartino willfully and maliciously has accused and defamed me that I communicate
with parents and/or coworkers unprofessionally and untimely which I strongly deny it and by
making such a false statement Mrs. DiMartino is abusing her authority to defame me (a teacher)
on the observation report without indicating to any specific incident to injure my character and
my professional reputation.
10) Ms. Toorzani must provide closure for each lesson. Closure is necessary to provide
feedback to students to correct their misunderstandings and reinforce the learning.
Therefore, Ms. Toorzani must allot time at the end of each lesson for closure.
Again Mrs. DiMartino willfully and intentionally has made false statements and
manipulated the facts, since at the end of lesson, I told the class lets close the lesson with a
closure question and I gave them the following question “What are the steps that we need to take
to solve a system of linear equations?” then students raised their hands to respond the closure
question and I called two students (M.S. and M.Z.).
After closure question was responded by these two students and my explanation I assigned
homework for the day after.
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ATTACHEMNT 3
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Saturday, March 26, 2011 10:10 AMTo: High School and Central Office Administrators; Mr. William Moffitt, Board Secretary/Business
Administrator From: Irandokht Toorzani (High School Mathematics Teacher)
RE: Reprimand letters
Date: March 26, 2011 Cc: My Personnel File
I have been receiving deluge of reprimand letters contains false and falsified information
during last several years from a few administrators which have caused me to get injured
emotionally and physically. The last reprimand letter has been issued on 3/25/11, by Mr. Tomko
in response to my rebuttal to the observation report written by Mrs. DiMartino! On this
reprimand letter issued by Mr. Tomko, I have falsely been accused and defamed by more
defamatory terms and statements (since I am sending this email to all administrators and not all of
them have got a copy of this reprimand letter (unlike last several years) I am not willing to repeat those
defamatory terms and statements to be defamed one more time) when the only thing that I have done
is following the law regarding my rights to write a rebuttal to Mrs. DiMartino’s observation
report which contains false and falsified information to disclose the facts ( please see the
attachments).
Since it seems there is no stop for issuing these reprimand letters, I am writing this email
to respectfully ask all administrators who feel/decide to reprimand me, to send a copy of
reprimand letter to me via email instead of leaving the copy of reprimand letter in my school
mailbox since I am not able to bear all these pressure anymore and I am continuously having
chest pain.
Thank you, in advance, for your consideration of this matter.
ATTACHEMNT 4
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From: Toorzani
Sent: Sat 1/8/2005 9:19 PMTo: hsprincipal
Cc: Superintendent; curric2; STIER
Subject: RE: Item Analysis of Mathematics Unit Test 1(MP1)
Dear Mr. Tomko,
Please be advised that I have received a copy of Item Analysis of Mathematics Unit Test
1(MP1). Unfortunately the statistical data about the results of these tests do not appear to be
accurate.
I have already scanned the scantron forms by the scan machine in high school and my statistical
results are substantially different from yours. And please also note that the report that was
provided by your office include following errors:
1. On page #14, the name of course should be Pre-Calculus Honor instead of
Pre-Calculus and the teacher's name also should be Toorzani instead of Mr.Stier. (Mr. Steir does not have Pre-Calculus in his schedule.)
2. If the pages of the report are in accordance with the order of periods, thatit seems to be, on page #16 the name of course should be Geometry instead of
Algebra 1 because I am teaching just one section of Algebra 1 which is on
page #15.
The attached file contains the statistical data that I have in comparison to the statistical data in
the report furnished by your office.
Due to the fact that the statistical report was furnished to Mr. Casapulla, Superintendent of Schools, and Dr. Durante, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, I hope that I
am allowed to send a copy of this e-mail to central office as well.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,Irandokt Toorzani
The following are the statistical data that I have in comparison to thestatistical data in the report furnished by your office.
ATTACHEMNT 6
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Page #14(Pre-Calculus Honor):
Question #
% of
correctanswers
based onreport
% of correct
answer on ItemAnalysis sheet
that has beendone in High
School
Question #
% of
correctanswers
based onreport
% of correct
answer on ItemAnalysis sheet
that has beendone in High
School
1 94.4% 94% 11 72.2% 72%
2 0 % 89% 12 72.2% 72%
3 11.1% 72% 13 77.8% 78%
4 5.6% 78% 14 11.1% 89%
5 0 % 83% 15 77.8% 78%
6 88.9% 89% 16 11.1% 56%
7 0 % 89% 17 0% 100%
8 44.4% 44% 18 5.6% 94%
9 0 % 89% 19 88.9% 89%10 72.2% 72% 20 50% 50%
Page #16(has been titled as Algebra 1 that it should be Geometry)
Question #
% of
correctanswersbased on
report
% of correct
answer on ItemAnalysis sheetthat has been
done in High
School
Question #
% of
correctanswersbased on
report
% of correct
answer on ItemAnalysis sheetthat has been
done in High
School
1 45% 44% 11 21.1% 56%
2 10% 72% 12 0% 89%
3 55% 56% 13 10% 72%
4 25% 22% 14 10% 89%
5 5% 89% 15 78.9% 72%
6 5% 33% 16 26.3% 22%
7 5% 61% 17 10% 22%8 5.3% 78% 18 50% 44%
9 12.5% 56% 19 10% 83%
10 15% 89% 20 5% 72%
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Page #17(Calculus)
Question #
% of correct
answers
based onreport
% of correctanswer on Item
Analysis sheet
that has beendone in High
School
Question #
% of correct
answers
based onreport
% of correctanswer on Item
Analysis sheet
that has beendone in High
School
1 100% 94% 11 0% 72%
2 40% 89% 12 60% 72%
3 100% 72% 13 100% 78%
4 40% 78% 14 40% 89%
5 20% 83% 15 100% 78%
6 80% 89% 16 100% 56%7 60% 89% 17 60% 100%
8 40% 44% 18 60% 94%
9 60% 89% 19 20% 89%
10 100% 72% 20 40% 50%
Page #15(Algebra)
Question #
% of
correctanswers
based on
report
% of correct
answer on ItemAnalysis sheet
that has been
done in HighSchool
Question #
% of
correctanswers
based on
report
% of correct
answer on ItemAnalysis sheet
that has been
done in HighSchool
1 20% 18% 11 60% 64%
2 80% 82% 12 70% 64%
3 80% 73% 13 33.3% 36%
4 50% 55% 14 90% 82%5 90% 91% 15 80% 82%
6 60% 55% 16 55.6% 55%
7 70% 73% 17 30% 36%
8 50% 45% 18 77.8% 64%
9 90% 91% 19 70% 73%
10 44.4% 45% 20 80% 73%
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Page #13(Geometry)
Question #
% of
correct
answersbased on
report
% of correct
answer on Item
Analysis sheetthat has been
done in High
School
Question #
% of
correct
answersbased on
report
% of correct
answer on Item
Analysis sheetthat has been
done in High
School
1 70% 70% 11 55% 55%
2 90% 90% 12 85% 85%
3 75% 75% 13 90% 90%
4 25% 25% 14 100% 100%5 100% 100% 15 61.1% 55%
6 50% 50% 16 35% 35%
7 55% 55% 17 30% 30%
8 78.9% 75% 18 5% 5%
9 55% 55% 19 31.6% 30%
10 80% 80% 20 50% 50%
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ATTACHEMNT 7
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TO: Mrs. Corinne DiMartino, Director of Curriculum and Instruction
From: Irandokt Toorzani, Mathematics teacher
Date: June 2, 2011
RE: Reprimand letter dated June 2, 2011
Surprisingly after I talked to Local Union yesterday that I wanted to file a complaint
with the Department of Education regarding your conduct (placing false and falsified
information on my observation and evaluation reports), I am in receipt of your (reprimand)
letter dated June 2, 2011, in regard to Self Evaluations/PDP Forms (while I had given it to you
21 days ago1).
1 From: DiMartino, Corinne
Sent: Friday, May 13, 2011 3:51 PM
To: Toorzani, Irandokht
Subject: Summative evaluation
Ms. Toorzani,
As of 3:50pm on Friday, May 13th, I still have not received your revised self evaluation/PDP as I
requested. Please submit these forms to me immediately.
Corinne DiMartino
Director of Curriculum and Instruction
From: Toorzani, Irandokht
Sent: Sunday, May 15, 2011 12:47 PM
To: DiMartino, Corinne
Subject: RE: Summative evaluation
I placed my PDP (as you asked) on your mailbox on Friday (May 13, 2011) at 2:55 PM and as you had
asked me:
1. I checked the spelling; I could not find any error.
2. I checked the font, the font for all paragraphs is the same and it is Times New Roman.
3. I added the name of the standards to my responses.
4. that “You must specify 3 areas of growth from standards” on my self evaluation, I went through all thestandards but I could not find any of them which matches with the area that I feel I can choose as the
Areas of Growth. But to have something as the areas of the growth on my self evaluation, I mentionedthem.
5. To not to use Pre-test and Post-test as my evaluation methods since I have used them before and use
something new, to satisfy your request I added the other evaluation methods which I have been using in
my classes for years even though pre-test and post-test are good evaluation methods and I want to
continue using them.
Ms. Irandokht Toorzani
Teacher of MathematicsElmwood Park Memorial High School
375 River Drive
Elmwood Park, NJ 07407
ATTACHEMNT 8
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Mrs. DiMartino, "School Ethics Act" N.J.S.A. 18A:12-22 states that:
“a. In our representative form of government it is essential that the conduct of members of local
boards of education and local school administrators hold the respect and confidence of the
people. These board members and administrators must avoid conduct which is in violation of their public trust or which creates a justifiable impression among the public that such trust is
being violated.
b. To ensure and preserve public confidence, school board members and local school
administrators should have the benefit of specific standards to guide their conduct and of some
disciplinary mechanism to ensure the uniform maintenance of those standards among them.”
Based on the Code of Ethics of American Association of School Administrators, the
educational leader:
“1. Makes the education and well-being of students the fundamental value of all decision
making.
2. Fulfills all professional duties with honesty and integrity and always acts in a trustworthy
and responsible manner.
3. Supports the principle of due process and protects the civil and human rights of all
individuals.
4. Implements local, state and national laws.
5. Avoids using his/her position for personal gain through political, social, religious,
economic or other influences.
6. Accepts responsibility and accountability for one’s own actions and behaviors.
7. Commits to serving others above self.”
In 2009, in one of the meeting Mr. Tomko told me that I was one of the best math teachers in
the Math Department therefore once I asked him if I was a good teacher why they have been
treating and harassing me like that, from that point forward I have been receiving awful
observation and evaluation reports which have been stating that I do not know how to perform
my job! [I have always been wondered if I have suddenly become a bad teacher who has not
been able to meet any of the NJ professional standards (based on your observation and
evaluation reports) how during last few years I have been given the courses to teach which have
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been determining the district reputation (AYP, Adequate Yearly Progress). For last two years
(that I have been given awful evaluations) I have been given five Algebra 1 classes to teach
while it has been proven that this course is an important gateway course towards more
challenging math course in high school specially in this district that has many students who do
not have good math background as the result of state exams show!]
On your letter (reprimand letter dated 6/2/11) you have stated that:
a) “The annual performance evaluation information packet you submitted only reflects the
directive to utilize the original template”
I do not know what exactly you are referring by the above statement. I responded to all parts of
the Self Evaluations/PDP Forms and I sent it to you by the deadline, you asked me to make some
corrections and I did so (my email to you dated May 15, 2011, footnote 1).
b) “Your portion of the annual performance evaluation still contains spelling and
grammatical errors; more than 3 areas of strength; no areas to strengthen; and a
professional development plan that still needs clarification.”
The Self Evaluations/PDP Forms which you sent to all teachers contained two parts,
i) PDP, which I completed and sent it to you by the deadline, later you
ordered me to make some changes (adding the name of standards, checking
the font and spelling) which I did so, and
ii) Self Evaluation which I think is the part that needs to be done by me and
should reflect the facts and my point of view regarding my strengths and
weaknesses. If I believe I have met all the NJ professional standards, it does
not mean that I disagree with them, or I am not committed to meet them, or
I am not committed to grow professionally (as you have stated on your
letter dated 6/2/11) but on the contrary it means that I have believed in
efficacy of these standards from long time ago and I have been committed
to meet them in my 24-year teaching career.
c. “ As an educator, you must be cognizant of your weaknesses and committed to growing
professionally in order to provide high quality instruction and promote students' academic
success.”
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As I have said before even though I am an experienced teacher but I still learn something new
every single day and I am committed to provide high quality instruction and promote students’
academic success as I have been committed by now. Except the observation and evaluation
reports that contain false and falsified information provided by some of the administrators of
Memorial High School, I have been observed by other educational experts from the Memorial
High School and also other districts ( principals and supervisors who have been in education for
very long period of time) and I have been commended by them for my professionalism, class
management, performance, providing safe environment (emotionally and physically) for my
students, my knowledge, and etc.
d. “Furthermore, you must adhere to district and state teacher requirements regardless of
whether you disagree with them”
This has always been my complaint that you (some of administrators) have been intentionally
and maliciously creating barriers to prevent me from doing my job. I have always adhered to
district and state teacher requirements and I have never stated that I disagree with them. These
words that you have attributed to me are not my words, but they are yours which falsely and
maliciously have been attributed to me and placed in my personnel file by you.
e. “Please follow the directives and resubmit immediately.”
Mrs. DiMartino, last year after you talked to Mr. Tomko (to get permission to accept my PDP),
you forced me to change my PDP several times while other science and math teachers (as they
told me) had given the same PDP as the year before.
This year, several times you criticized my lesson plans (which are just outline) and ordered
me to add more details. I followed your orders and I made those changes in the way that you had
ordered, by the time that I saw whatever I was doing you were asking for something else. At that
time I spoke to my colleagues in math department to find out what you were exactly looking for
and I asked them to give me their lesson plans which had not been commented by you. When I
reviewed those lesson plans and compared those plans with mine, I realized that your intention
has been nothing but harassing me constantly.
This year, in the post observation meeting, you criticized me and told me that I should not
have placed a new problem on the board to assess the students at the end of lesson, when I told
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you that I had not placed a new problem and I had given them the same problem which they had
worked on it, then you told me that I should not have given them same problem, I should have
given them a new problem!
Mrs. DiMartino facts are facts and falsifying the facts cannot be justified by calling them asopinion. During post-observation and evaluation meetings that I have had with you, every time I
pointed out to the facts regarding my performance either during the school year or during your
observation of my classes, you stated, “These are your opinions, not mine” and also every time
you criticized me regarding my performance you were not even able to determine specifically
why I was criticized and what exactly you were looking for and expecting me to do. Therefore
when I got your letter today (6/2/11), I spoke with Mr. Warner as the principal of the building
and asked him to arrange a meeting with you since, sincerely the only thing that I have received
from you by now has been destructive criticism nothing else.
Cc: My Personnel File
Mr. William Moffitt, Board secretary and business administratorsMr. Richard D. Tomko, Superintendent of Schools
Mr. David Warner, Memorial High School Principal
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