Superintendent of Schools who attacked 14-year-old suicide victims’ reputation used to be a councilman

A dolt New Jersey schools superintendent who villainously went negative on a fourteen-year-old suicide victim who was bullied at her school briefly held public office in Ocean County.

Triantafillos “Tom” Parlapanides was appointed to the Seaside Park Borough Council in January 2004 after Republicans picked him to replace Robert Matthies, who resigned to become mayor.

The 31-year-old was the principal of the Central Regional Middle School at the time.

But less than four months later, Parlapanides resigned from the council, citing time constraints from his full-time job, a part-time teaching gig at Monmouth University, and his bid to seek a Ph.D. at Seton Hall.

Parlapanides’ resignation was unexpected and came weeks after the filing deadline for the June primary.

Too late to get off the ballot, Parlapanides ran unopposed in the Republican primary and ran on a ticket with another incumbent, Douglas Fairchild.  He ran 12 votes behind his running mate.   He dropped out and was replaced on the ballot by another Republican, former Councilwoman Sue Maday.  In the general election, Maday, who had been appointed to fill Parlapanides’  seat, defeated Democrat Jack Shenloogian by 12 votes.

Parlapanides graduated from the Central Regional School District in 1991 and began working there five years later as a science teacher and coach.  He spent two years as an assistant principal in Egg Harbor Township before returning to Central Regional in 2002.

His father, Wallace Parlapanides, worked at the Ocean County Department of Weights and Measures and was elected as a Seaside Park councilman in 1984.  He lost his bid for a third term in 1990 by about 35 votes to Maday, who was a Democrat at the time.

The student, Adriana Kuch, took her own life on February 3, soon after being bullied and assaulted at Central Regional High School in Berkeley Township.

Parlapanides went on the offensive, alleging that Kuch was a drug user – her father said she had simply experimented with a Cannabis vape – claimed her grades had declined, disclosed that her mother had committed suicide, and outed her father for marrying a woman with whom he allegedly had an affair.

In the Ocean County school district, parents and students have expressed outrage over Parlapanides’ behavior.  Parlapanides resigned last week, but the community expressed outrage at a school board meeting last night when they were informed that he remained on the payroll.

Matthies, the former mayor, currently serves on the Central Regional School District Board of Education.