dubbed \u201cNipplegate\u201d in October<\/a>, appeared to show former board candidate Scott Semaya typing during a public meeting, \u201cBellomo must be cold \u2014 her nips could cut glass right n,\u201d with his finger positioned to press the \u201co\u201d key on his phone.<\/p>\nThe husband of a school board member allegedly referred to Bellomo as \u201ca lying c\u2014\u201d and said, \u201cMission is to just let her die by herself lol.\u201d Obtained by the NY Post<\/p>\n
Bellomo, who has volunteered in various capacities in Marlboro Township schools for more than a decade, said she ran for the board to make a difference in her community and support parental rights, not to become a target over petty political differences.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got involved in the school boards because I\u2019m an active volunteer in our community. I\u2019ve been involved with the parent organization that I account for going on 12 years,\u201d she told the outlet.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I saw the school board as the next step in furthering my involvement in the community, and I wanted it to enhance my children\u2019s educational experience while they were in the K-3 district. I never imagined that it would have led to this.\u201d<\/p>\n
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She said the threats particularly unsettled her children, who have grown fearful for her safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy son is almost a teenager. He used to go places with his friends \u2014 now he asks if someone is going to come to our house,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy 8-year-old cries if she thinks I have a board meeting. My youngest keeps asking if I\u2019m safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former public-school teacher Lenny Thor, board Vice President Chad Hyett and Mitesh Gandhi, the husband of a sitting board member, were allegedly in the group chat. Chad Michael Hyett\/Facebook<\/p>\n
She said her oldest son, a middle-schooler, was humiliated upon seeing the screenshots of grown men lewdly speaking about his mother\u2019s body on social media.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was humiliating for him,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019s a middle-schooler. His friends saw it. It has affected every part of our life.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said online sniping happens in the midsize town about 40 miles southwest of New York City, but that the widely publicized text exchange takes things to new and disturbing heights.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was humiliating for him,\u201d Bellomo said about her son seeing the comments about her body. Danielle Bellomo\/ Facebook<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cWhen I realized that there wasn\u2019t just one but two different communications and possibly, you know, who knows how many more where one communication is a group chat that was titled, \u2018This B\u2014- needs to die,\u2019 and then the other is actually plans and that there\u2019s a mission and the mission is to watch me die or to have me die alone\u2026. It really just takes it to a whole different level. It\u2019s like, this is not just normal disagreement,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Bellomo had a sympathetic judge rule in her favor on the protective order but had no such luck on the criminal side of things.<\/p>\n
She said the Marlboro Police Department referred the case to county prosecutors, who declined to press charges.<\/p>\n
Gandhi lost his bid to have the protective order tossed against him. Mitesh Gandhi\/Facebook<\/p>\n
\u201cI was disheartened but not surprised,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have a Democrat prosecutor. The police recommended charges, but he didn\u2019t follow through.\u201d<\/p>\n
Monmouth Prosecutor Raymond Santiago\u2019s office previously told The Post in a statement that the allegations didn\u2019t rise to the level of an \u201cindictable\u201d offense.<\/p>\n
Bellomo also voiced disappointment over the actions \u2014 or lack thereof \u2014 of district principal Dr. Michael Ballone and Board President Brian Cohen, who she said \u201cdid nothing\u201d about the situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Marlboro Township Public Schools (MTPS) takes the safety and security of all board members, staff, students, and families extremely seriously,\u201d Ballone wrote in a statement to Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n
School board candidate Scott Semaya quit the race after someone posted a screen grab of the vicious and crude texts he allegedly sent during a public meeting about Bellomo, whom he was running against. Scott Semaya\/ Facebook<\/p>\n
\u201cAdministration has responded accordingly to Mrs. Bellomo\u2019s concerns, including her expressions of feeling unsafe by working with the Marlboro Police Department, the entity responsible for ensuring all Marlboro residents (including Board members) are protected,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also added to our internal safety protocols which cannot be disclosed publicly. \u2026 MTPS believes in maintaining a secure environment for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bellomo said the horrifying incident has led to an outpouring of messages from women who said it\u2019s discouraged them from pursuing public service.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey say, \u2018I could never go through what you\u2019re going through,\u2019\u201d she told the outlet. \u201cThat\u2019s heartbreaking. Local government should not require you to put your family at risk.<\/p>\n
\u201cI used to go to every school event, every community activity,\u201d she said. \u201cNow I keep the kids home from things. I send my husband inside first to check if people are there who shouldn\u2019t be. My life changed overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, despite it all, Bellomo said she has no intention of leaving the board.<\/p>\n
\u201cI absolutely want to continue,\u201d she said. \u201cThis mission is too important. And I hope the district eventually implements the policies that are supposed to protect us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Trump-supporting New Jersey school-board member says she was shocked to learn her conservative politics led to a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[970,5342,57,1066,9,11,10,4371,6094,58],"class_list":["post-49622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-board","tag-conservatives","tag-metro","tag-new-jersey","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-scandal","tag-texting","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}