The State Monitor has once again rejected the Lakewood Board of Education's award of general counsel firm to Michael Inzelbuch, FAA News has learned.
Inzelbuch was hired in 2017 through a public bidding process known as a Request for Proposals (RFP). However since then, each year the Board renewed his annual contract without any RFP process.
The Board was turned into turmoil in February 2025 when they voted to renew Inzelbuch's contract for the 2025 - 2026 fiscal school year (effective July 1, 2025) and State Monitor Louise B. Davis overturned the vote, stating the Board was required to first solicit bids for the contract position.
At that point, instead of soliciting bids, the Board shifted gears and initiated an appeal of Davis's action with the New Jersey Department of Education. That appeal has been transferred as a contested matter to Administrative Law Justice (ALJ) Susan Scarola and it remains pending. Days ahead of the pending June 30, 2025 expiration of Inzelbuch's contract, the Board requested an immediate stay pending appeal. ALJ Scarola denied the stay - effectively indicating the Board had no other choice but to solicit bids for the counsel position.
The Board did finally publish a RFP in July. However, since then the saga has only gotten bumpier.
On July 10, 2025, the State Monitor stated the RFP was craftily written in ways to ensure Inzelbuch would win. She demanded that the RFP be redrafted to ensure it was more open to the broader public.
The Board ignored her concerns and on August 8, 2025 awarded the contract to Inzelbuch.
The State Monitor wasted no time in overturning the award and demanding a brand new RFP be drafted in a way its open to the whole public.
A new RFP was issued. 5 law firms submitted proposals. Inzelbuch's hourly rate came in 4th place.
The Board's Contract Selectment Committee did hold some interviews of the various firms, which resulted in "positive assessments" of the some of the firms with lower hourly rates.
At a special meeting held last week, the Board again awarded the annual General Counsel position to Inzelbuch.
The State Monitor today again overturned the award.
As shown in the letter below, the Monitor stated that the Board showed "no justification" for awarding the contract to Inzelbuch despite that his hourly rate is $350 whereas 3 other firms submitted bids in the $150-165 rate.
"The monitor claims we didn't state reasons why we chose Mr. Inzelbuch, but that's not true. We stated he doesn't need a learning curve to help the district and can hit the ground running on day 1. None of the other firms that submitted responses to the RFPs can claim to be able to do so. Lakewood is a district with unique needs, and the monitor is ignoring this reality," BOE Member Moshe Raitzik told FAA News.
The future of this saga remains to be seen. ALJ Scarola has not yet scheduled a hearing on the Board's appeal.
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1 comment:
The state doesn't realize this one small issue. Inzelbuch is not just the attorney for the BOE, he RUNS the BOE. Just need to watch one meeting to realize. The board members are just there to vote. Unfortunately without inzelbuch at the helm, the board members are lost.
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