A Jersey gym teacher allegedly forged a doctor’s note to try to avoid the statewide coronavirus-related mask mandate in schools, authorities said Monday.
Gayle Hadley, 53, of Toms River, was arrested on Thursday and charged with one count of uttering and one count of falsifying medical records, according to the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office.
The district flagged the doctor’s note submitted by Hadley to local authorities, which determined the teacher had tried to claim a fake medical exemption from the mask policy earlier this month, prosecutor’s said.
Face coverings in New Jersey schools are mandatory with few exemptions, such as “documented medical condition or disability,” according to Gov. Phil Murphy’s executive order issued in August.
Hadley, a physical education teacher of 22 years at Lynn Crest School in Woodbridge, NJ, has an annual salary of nearly $106,000, according to state records.
The superintendent for Woodbridge School District, Joseph Massimino, would not say if Hadley had been suspended.
“As much as I would like to discuss this matter with you, we are prohibited from sharing details of sensitive personnel matters,” Massimino wrote in a statement.
The link to enter Hadley’s class information had been taken down as of Monday afternoon.
Hadley could not be reached for comment.