On March 11, 2014, an eighteen year old former student at Sayreville War Memorial High School (Middlesex County) sued his auto mechanics teacher of racially discriminating against him.
According to the lawsuit, which is on-line here, Isaiah Roberts claimed that teacher Richard Bates called him a “gang banger” who doesn’t “need a gun range, you shoot at Winding Woods” and “steal cars in Newark.” Bates also allegedly told Roberts that “I hate your f*cking guts” and that he would “be dead before you’re 21.”
Roberts claimed that Bates later apologized and admitted that he had been called a racist and a skinhead in the past. He also claimed that Vice Principal Richard Gluchowski told him that Bates had admitted making some of the comments.
Roberts said that he was told to “forget about the situation” and that no disciplinary action has been taken against Bates.
