A former Hudson County Prep school psychologist is suing the Hudson County Schools of Technology, alleging her termination was the result of racial discrimination, harassment, breach of contract, tortious interference, and more.

By John Heinis/Hudson County View

Marisol Lopez, who is Dominican and received a non-renewal notice from the district back on April 7th, as only HCV reported, filed an eight-count lawsuit against her former employer in Hudson County Superior Court on January 13th.

She alleges that while her supervisor, Child Study Team Director Ann Gherardi, gave her exemplary marks in 2021, 2022, and 2023, that changed when she began reporting to Student Support Services Director Allyson Krone.

“When Ms. Krone did interact with Ms. Lopez, Ms. Krone treated her in a curt and unfriendly manner.  Ms. Lopez would then note that Ms. Krone was the complete opposite in her interaction with Caucasian employees, ” the lawsuit says.

” … Finally, Ms. Lopez had had enough and she confronted Ms. Krone and asked her why she treated her so differently from the other members of the team … Ms. Lopez added that she was the only employee of the team who could translate for some of the Spanish population that does not speak English … Ms. Krone responded, ‘That’s the problem with Hispanics. They don’t speak English.’”

Through her attorney, Hyderally & Associates, P.C. owner Ty Hyderally, Lopez said she was extremely offended and told Krone that her remarks were racist, which she did not acknowledge before walking away.

When she ultimately received her non-renewal notice from then-Interim Superintendent of Schools Dr. Joseph Sirangelo last spring, she asked to speak to the district’s school board.

The next day, April 9th, “Krone emailed Ms. Lopez a fabricated evaluation that was replete
with falsehoods and had a date of April 1, 2025 on it,” according to the court filing. Then on April 10th, Krone allegedly told Lopez she had no remaining Learning Lab hours.

Lopez took issue with this since she says she had 88 Learning Lab hours remaining and Child Study Teams, which she was a part of, are compensated $40/hour. Therefore, she lost out on $3,520 in this instance, the suit says.

On April 10th at approximately 2 p.m., Lopez alleges that she, her husband Kirk Stadnika, and NJEA Union Representative Irma Noel met with Sirangelo and he ultimately decided he would be pulling her non-renewal notice from the board agenda, the court filing contends.

Despite further friction with Krone, Sirangelo ultimately concluded that Lopez could work with her and other administrators and planned to put together a corrective action plan. Therefore, Lopez was expecting to receive tenure on May 15th.

While a meeting to discuss the corrective action plan was set for May 7th, it was cancelled about 70 minutes before it was supposed to occur, and Sirangelo said he was told to cancel the meeting, the suit says.

The lawsuit further claims that Sirangelo resigned on May 12th since “he was not going to be involved in firing Ms. Lopez for an invalid reason.”

The next day, the HCST board named Dr. Timothy Fredericks the acting superintendent, as only HCV reported, and he sent Lopez a letter on May 14th indicating that she would not be renewed as an employee.

Lopez alleges this cost her a job at the Little Ferry Public Schools, since she delayed in sending them documentation when Sirangelo said her job at HCST was secure.

“Ms. Lopez was thus harmed by Defendants’ representations due to actions that occurred on May 14, 2025. Further, Defendants are estopped from failing to give Ms. Lopez tenure due to the contractual representations they made.  Defendants’ refusal to give Ms. Lopez tenure breaches their legal obligations to the contrary,” the suit states.

“Defendants engaged in numerous additional breaches of contract with regard to their failure to comply with the Agreement between the Hudson County Area Vocational-Technical Education Association and the Board of Education of the Hudson County Schools of Technology, dated July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2028.”

Overall, she is seeking at least $575,000 in compensatory damages, damages for lost wages, benefits, back pay, and front pay (or reinstatement), damages for humiliation, mental and emotional distress, statutory and punitive damages, attorneys’ fees and costs of suit, as well as any other relief the court deems just and equitable.

School officials did not return an email seeking comment, though the district typically does not comment on pending litigation.