Princeton School Board Member May be Ineligible to Serve

A member of the Princeton Regional Board of Education may be declared ineligible to serve by the state Department of Education because he failed to complete a required criminal background investigation.

Charles Kalmbach was on a list released Thursday by the New Jersey Department of Education of 186 school board members and charter school trustees statewide who did not complete the background exam by the Dec. 31 deadline.

Kalmbach said Thursday he knew there was an issue with his background check, because an unforseen delay made him unable to complete the check until Monday, Jan. 9. 

"I was told by the Department of Education that within 24 hours of the company finally scheduling me, I would be reinstated," he said. 

The Department of Education could not be reached to confirm Kalmbach's reinstatement.

Princeton Schools Superintendent Judy Wilson also could not be immediately reached to confirm Kalmbach's reinstatement.

The school board members/charter school trustees must vacate their positions immediately, according to state Dept. of Education spokesperson Allison Kobus.

Additional school board members or charter school trustees may yet have to forfeit their positions, according to Kobus. Some board members or trustees filled out the forms improperly or failed to pay the required fee, she said in a news release. 

Kalmbach, who chairs the school board's finance committee, said he has had two background check over the past two years through his work as a minister at Witherspoon Street Presbyterian, but the state still required another. 

He was on his way to the appointment for a third background check in December when a rock hit his windshield, shattering it. The police advised him to go home. Kalmbach said the next available appointment was Jan. 9.

The background checks were required by the New Jersey general assembly in legislation passed last year, to require school board members and charter school trustees to meet the same standards required of school teachers. If board members or trustees show up for meetings, they could be charged with a fourth degree crime.

New Jersey is apparently the only state to require the background examinations.