US: Abused students to receive $2.35 million

A settlement of $2.35 million will be paid to three former New Jersey high school students allegedly molested by an administrator, lawyers said. The students charged in a civil suit that the Englewood Board of Education and the Bergen County Vocational and Technical School Districts were "grossly negligent" in their supervision of the administrator, The (Bergen, N.J.) Record reported. School officials should have realized that a high-ranking administrator like Roy Hermalyn shouldn't have been tutoring the boys behind closed doors in 2002 to 2004, the suit said. At the time, Hermalyn was an assistant superintendent in Bergen County on loan to Englewood Schools where the alleged abuse took place. Neither district admitted liability, attorneys said. Hermalyn's criminal case remains unsettled. His conviction on four counts including criminal sexual contract was reversed on appeal after it was revealed a courtroom officer had given improper instructions to a juror. A May 30 hearing is scheduled to determine whether rules against double jeopardy prevent him from being retried on one count of official misconduct.