Ethics Commission recommends 6-month suspension for school board official, report says

Elected and appointed officials should be aware that the answer to the question “do you know who I am” is almost always no.

The State Department of Education’s Ethics Commission recommended South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education member Stephanie Lawson-Muhammad be suspended for six months for violations of the state’s ethics code during a traffic stop last year, according to a report in the Village Green.

Like former Port Authority Commissioner Caren Turner, Lawson-Muhammad attempted to foist her position on the school board over a South Orange police officer who pulled her over last May.

Unlike Turner, who resigned from her job at the Port Authority following her incident’s publication, Lawson-Muhammad hasn’t signaled and intentions of leaving.

She has up to 30 days to file an appeal, and current BoE President Annemarie Maini told the Village Green the board’s attorney is exploring next steps.