Frank Sanchez has been fully EXONERATED!

For immediate release 

June 13, 2024

The Grand Jury has reached a decision of “no true bill.” This means that the Grand Jury concluded that there is no criminal case against Frank Sanchez. 

Friends of Frank said from the beginning that Frank should be exonerated. We are gratified that the Grand Jury agreed that the case against him was without merit.

We thank the community members who joined together to donate needed funds and make our voices heard in a unified cry for justice–for Frank, for all students, and for public education.

On behalf of the SOMA community, we apologize to Frank and his family for the torment they have been through at the hands of some of our neighbors, who weaponized the criminal legal system against him. 

Until this correct Grand Jury decision, this case had been a travesty. It began with the exploitation of a minor, who had been led astray by people with a self-serving agenda. It continued with an unethical action by a BOE member (leaking a flawed draft report) and a shirking of responsibility by our local police department (which overstepped by taking on the case, then failed to properly investigate). It landed in the Essex County Prosecutor’s office, which then wrongly used its power to pursue a criminal case that had been trumped up. 

This case has damaged a venerated public high school, thrown a community into turmoil, and threatened a good person’s liberty. Perhaps most importantly, it has done NOTHING to support students, including the accuser. 

It is a great shame on our community that this horror is what a talented and caring educator got because we did not stop wrongdoers earlier, and even elevated some of them to power. 

We do not know what Mr. Sanchez will choose to do professionally moving forward. We do know that students in places like SOMA need educators like him. 

Frank Sanchez’s good name has been restored. Now, it is up to us, the people of SOMA, to restore our reputation as a place where good and decent educators can thrive rather than be persecuted. 

We must seek full transparency and accountability for people who did wrong, and elect ethical people to represent us. Let the work begin.  

Update from Friends of Frank

May 7, 2024

Our work with Frank continues. 

Frank and his family would love to read your messages of solidarity and your testimonials about his character. Please click here to send those messages, and we will make sure they get to Frank.

Teachers: We know you and Frank share deep concerns about climate, culture and attrition. We ask that you share testimony about your current working conditions at Public Speaks on May 9th. The public and the BOE desire to hear from you. Your voice matters.

Parents: Make a list and paint a portrait of the school environment you would like to see for your child and communicate that to the BOE at Public Speaks on May 9th. This is not over: the vision we have for an inclusive and thriving school environment must be made and remade. Your voice matters.

URGENT

Call ECPO and tell them drop these baseless charges! 

973-621-4700 / 973-621-4021 

973-266-7220

email: theodore.stephens@njecpo.org

The prosecutor is reviewing Frank's case RIGHT NOW! If the charges are not dropped now, Frank will lose his job when his renewal comes up this Thursday May 9th. 

Say: 

“I am calling because our principal, Frank Sanchez will likely lose his job on Thursday, unless these charges are dismissed. I believe these charges are unjustified and am asking you to drop them now."

We appreciate the nuanced way that NYT reporter John Leland narrated recent events in our community that have led to criminal charges against a respected educator. We care about Frank Sanchez, who we believe has been wrongly charged in a trumped up investigation. As a multi-racial coalition of mothers led by Black women, we are just as concerned about the child referenced in the article – and all our kids. We demonstrate our care through hundreds and hundreds of hours of volunteering: raising money to make Prom free, grocery drives for vulnerable student-families, staff and student appreciation events, PTA meetings, paying off the balance of student lunch and library accounts to reduce harm and humiliation, attending choir recitals and musicals, etc. We understand this community because we labor to support it every day.

Not only are these allegations against Mr. Sanchez wrong, they will not accomplish getting the child in question any of the support she may need. We refute in the strongest terms the language used by James Davis, the head of the misleadingly named Black Parents Workshop, who claimed–without providing evidence–that supporters of Mr. Sanchez consider the child a “thug.” We have never, nor will we ever, refer to this child or any child with that kind of dehumanizing language. Our support of Mr. Sanchez and our care for the child both come from our strongly held values: that students should neither be criminalized nor exploited in service of the agendas of adults, and that restorative justice and education, not the summoning of armed police, should be the methods by which conflict is resolved inside schools. 

This case should be understood in a political moment where the Trumpian tactic of weaponizing identity politics to undermine civil discourse takes focus off of those who are materially and politically impacted by real structural inequality. All of us who came together as Friends of Frank know each other from community organizing to support racial justice in our district. Do not be fooled by simplistic narratives. SOMA – the world is watching! 

We must keep asking the Essex County Prosecutor to drop the charges against Frank Sanchez, and remain committed to dignity for the child so she can move forward with the privacy, respect and care that she, and every child, deserves. Then we can continue the needed work of undoing structural racism in our schools and making our school district a place of inclusion and justice. This work is accomplished through democratic means rather than through the criminal legal system. 

Positive News!

Thanks to our community’s commitment to justice, Frank has been able to retain an excellent attorney, John J. McMahon, Esq. John was an attorney at the Office of the Public Defender where he rose to become the Chief Trial Attorney, receiving the Public Defender's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017. He has been a member of the faculty of Rutgers Law School for 20 years, where has taught Evidence to generations of NJ lawyers.In private practice since 2018,  he represents his clients with the same dedication as he did to the OPD. Throughout his almost three decades of defending those accused of crimes, John understands that anyone can be accused and when that time comes they need an advocate on their side as they fight for justice.

We are confident that his work will lead to Frank’s exoneration–but he needs our help.

There are two ways to help Mr. McMahon help Frank:

1. 1. Please send any relevant information you have to Mr. McMahon at jmc@jjmcmahonlaw.com. His team will follow up on all useful leads to uncover how this injustice occurred!

1. 2. Donate to Frank’s defense fund and spread the word. Let’s persist in the struggle against this insult to justice!

We recently learned the term “participatory defense”. It’s “a community organizing model for people facing charges, their families, and communities to impact the outcomes of cases and transform the landscape of power in the court system.”

SOMA: We are engaged in participatory defense for our high school principal. Let’s keep the work going until justice is done!

Read the Finalized Affirmative Action Report that was provided to the district on March 7, 2024. 

Frank Sanchez is a beloved teacher, principal, father, husband, and member of our community. 

Please stand up for Frank! 

We cannot allow him to be railroaded by unethical actors.  

In March 2023 Frank intervened in a female student's attempt to begin an altercation. As a Principal with 15 years experience, Frank did not hesitate to intervene. He took an in-the-moment action that he believed was preferable to involving the police on school grounds, or to allowing the student to engage. As a matter of standard protocol, the matter was referred to the NJ Division of Child Protection & Permanency (DCP&P) who found no substantive cause for the complaint and declined to investigate. A local attorney who has sued the school district in the past, somehow got wind of this and guided the family in filing an affirmative action complaint against Frank. Fast forward, on the same day Frank is told by his Union lawyer that a finalized investigative report has cleared him, an arrest warrant is issued based on the report's earlier incorrect version. He expected to return to the CHS community, but that’s not what has happened.

 Read former BOE member Courtney Winkfield's FB post of the injustice that did happen.

To our shock and dismay, on Friday March 8, 2024 the Essex County Prosecutor's Office issued a warrant for Frank's arrest, alleging second degree felony assault and child endangerment. In observance of the law, Frank presented himself on the warrant on Monday March 11, 2024. He was remanded into custody and held overnight in a jail cell. His family is understandably distraught because of the horrendous accusation he faces, which can bring a maximum of ten years behind bars. 

Frank's life and career are in serious jeopardy and at the same time -- he rejects any attempt to smear or question one of his students (the vulnerable student involved in this episode) -- so don't go there! 

THIS IS ABOUT THE ADULTS

Frank needs your help so he can get back to doing what he loves -- being an educator and supporter of all our kids. He is being railroaded by unethical actors who are sowing unwarranted chaos in our district and harming our community and our children. We are better than this and we all deserve more.

Take Action!