The president of the Camden Advisory School Board, Wasim Muhammad, is taking a leave from the board after sexual assault allegations from a former student surfaced and Gov. Phil Murphy called for his resignation last week.
Muhammad has denied the allegations and did not resign, but had his attorney send a letter to Camden City School District Superintendent Katrina McCombs saying he would have no contact with the board while he is on leave.
“Mr. Muhammad professes his innocence and indicates that the pending lawsuit lacks evidence and is completely frivolous,” Muhammad’s attorney, Troy A. Archie, wrote to McCombs on Jan. 18.
“Out of respect for you, the Camden School District, the City of Camden, Mayor (Victor) Carstaphen and Governor Murphy, Mr. Muhammad is going take leave from the Advisory Board until the pending civil case is resolved and rectified,” the letter read.
“He respects the district and does not want to cause a distraction to the business of educating the children of our great city.”
NJ Advance Media first reported on a lawsuit claiming sexual assault against Muhammad on Jan. 11. A summary judgement hearing is scheduled for Jan. 26 and a trial date is set for Feb. 5. Murphy’s office previously called for Muhammad to resign.
“While we understand litigation is ongoing, the appalling and heinous nature of these allegations casts doubt on Mr. Muhammad’s ability to effectively serve the Camden City School District,” Maggie Garbarino, a spokeswoman for the governor’s office, said last week. “The Governor believes he should immediately resign.”
Garbarino pointed back to her original statement when asked if Gov. Murphy believed Muhammad taking a leave was sufficient.
The New Jersey Department of Education declined to comment on Muhammad’s continued membership on the board, stating the agency does not comment on pending litigation.
The Camden school district has been under state control since 2013. McCombs, an alumnus of the Camden school district, was appointed by the New Jersey Commissioner of Education to lead the district in 2019 after serving as acting superintendent in 2018 and deputy superintendent from 2013 to 2017.
Under state control, the Camden Advisory Board acts only in an advisory capacity on district matters with McCombs officially running the district.
Muhammad won re-election to the advisory board in November’s general election and was reappointed unanimously by the rest of the board to serve as president at the Jan. 4 reorganization meeting. The district said vice president N’Namdee Nelson will serve as the interim president of the board.
The advisory board has two vacancies in addition to Muhammad’s leave. Clayton Gonzalez resigned from the board in December after his arrest on gun and domestic violence charges in November. Gonzalez was re-elected to a three-year term earlier in November’s general election.
Falio Leyba-Martinez resigned from the advisory board after she won the election to city council in the third ward last November.
The lawsuit against Muhammad was filed in late 2021, and alleges Muhammad sexually assaulted a girl while she was an eighth grade student at Cooper B. Hatch Middle School starting in 1994.
“Like most survivors of child sexual abuse I was only recently (in 2020) able to come forward to seek help and justice for the horrific crimes against me,” the woman said in a statement through her attorney earlier in January. “I brought this case for my personal justice and to make students safe against predators in schools both in Camden and throughout New Jersey.”
The woman accused Muhammad of giving her special attention, groping her in his classroom and at one point, taking her to The Feather Nest Inn in Cherry Hill to sexually assault her. Muhammad allegedly continued sexually assaulting the student into her freshman year in high school, and traveled out of state to sexually assault her when she and her family moved to another state.
Muhammad allegedly convinced the victim to move back to New Jersey once she graduated from high school. The lawsuit claims Muhammad forced her to have sex with him and his wife on one occasion and have sex with a stranger in the bathroom of a pornographic movie theatre on another occasion.
The lawsuit alleges no one did anything to stop Muhammad’s behavior and cites a former teacher in the district who was also a neighbor of Muhammad’s that witnessed the student and then-teacher exiting his home together.
Muhammad claimed in a deposition from August 2023 the former student was his religious wife when she was 18. He also claimed to have many religious wives and one legal wife.
An arbitrator assigned to the case suggested a $1 million settlement last August with Muhammad covering 60% and the Camden school district covering the rest. All parties declined the compromise at the time.
Stories by Matthew Enuco
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