CAIR-NJ files ethics complaint against Columbia High School principal over Israel trip

The New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations has filed an ethics complaint against Columbia High School Principal Frank Sanchez, alleging that he violated state ethics rules by accepting an all-expenses-paid trip to Israel.

CAIR-NJ said Sanchez traveled to Israel in January 2024 as part of a privately organized trip for state legislators, educators and community leaders.  The group said records obtained under the Open Public Records Act described the travel as fully reimbursed.

The complaint asks the New Jersey School Ethics Commission to investigate whether Sanchez’s acceptance of the trip violated the School Ethics Act, which restricts school officials from accepting gifts intended to influence their official duties.

“Under New Jersey’s School Ethics Act, a school official’s acceptance of substantial privately funded benefits from an organization whose advocacy interests bear directly on matters within the official’s authority raises a serious concern of an ethics violation and warrants the Commission’s review,” CAIR-NJ said in its letter.

The group also asked state officials to determine whether any ethics or disclosure requirements were violated and to issue statewide guidance governing similar privately funded trips by school officials.

CAIR-NJ Public Affairs Director Naureen Akhter argued that Sanchez’s position gives him influence over how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is addressed at Columbia High School, which serves students from South Orange and Maplewood.

“When an administrator with that level of influence allegedly accepts an all-expenses-paid trip to Israel organized and funded by an organization with a clear goal of shaping public opinion in favor of Israel, the public has every right to ask whether that judgment has been compromised,” Akhter said.

Akhter characterized the travel as a “propaganda trip” and said education officials should not accept trips intended to shape how Israel and Palestine are discussed in public schools.

The complaint was addressed to Brigid Martens, a director at the New Jersey Department of Education; School Ethics Commission Chairman Dennis Roberts; and other commission members.

Sanchez did not immediately respond to an email.