Jersey City Board of Education (BOE) Vice President Dejon Morris said he has accepted responsibility and moved forward from the local police department after details came to light about his “neglect of duty” incident in the 2025 Annual Major Discipline Report.
By Dan Israel/Hudson County View
The discipline report states that on October 8th, 2024, Morris “failed to respond to a call for service, disobeyed a supervisor’s order, and failed provide police services to a victim.”
Additionally, the report says that he failed to submit an investigation report in a timely manner as ordered by his supervisor and was found to have “submitted an untruthful report” and is also said to have lied during the internal affairs investigation.
“This was an internal affairs matter involving case-sensitive information. I am not in a position to provide commentary,” Morris said today, calling the incident “old news” since he resigned in February 2025, as HCV first reported.
Morris confirmed that the matter was “administrative in nature” and that charges were sustained. He told HCV that he acknowledged his error in the incident and is forging a new path ahead.
“I have always maintained that no one is above the law, and I took the process seriously. While mistakes were made, I accepted responsibility within the administrative framework and have since moved forward. At this time, my focus remains on continuing my personal growth beyond that chapter.”
He also received a 90-day suspension from the department shortly after being elected to the school board in November 2023 for what he described as “an administrative oversight,” part of a separate incident.
The Jersey City PD’s 2023 Annual Major Discipline Report indicated that he failed to secure video evidence of a crime, failing to notify his supervisor and also failing to provide transportation to the alleged crime victim.
Beyond that incident from February 19th, 2022, there is no public record of Morris being reprimanded in his two-decade career in law enforcement.
All new Jersey law enforcement agencies are required to post a public report of police officers who are suspended for more than 10 days, including a brief description of the situation.
Prior to the ordeal, Morris was the school board president for most of 2024 as of the result of what was essentially an impromptu reorganization meeting that drew controversy.
Afterwards, he had floated the possibility of running for state Assembly in the 31st Legislative District or the Ward A city council seat, but ultimately thought better of it in 2025.
Morris ran on the “Education Matters” slate backed by the Jersey City Education Association in 2023. His three-year term on the volunteer board expires on December 31, 2026.
Earlier this week, Commissioner Bill O’Dea (D-2) waded into the ongoing beef between BOE officials including Morris against 8th District congressional candidate Mussab Ali at Sunday’s youth-led anti-ICE rally.
At the time, O’Dea stated he would wear any ban imposed by the board like the one placed against Ali as a “badge of honor” and dared them to do the same to him, exchanging words with Morris.
Ali, a former BOE president was prohibited from entering school buildings after the board accused him of helping students organize a walkout demonstration last month among four Jersey City high schools against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions.
People who voted for this individual should be ashamed of themselves.