CEO accused of sexual assault resigns due to massive public pressure

The embattled chairman of the Camden School Board, Wasim Muhammad, resigned from his post on Friday.

Muhammad sent a letter of resignation to the district's state-appointed superintendent, ending a nine-month period of turmoil within the board and school district after allegations of sexual assault against Muhammad became public and Governor Phil Murphy called on him to resign.

Muhammad, 56, sent the letter to Superintendent Katrina McCombs, who last week joined the community's calls for his resignation. In the message, Muhammad explained his intention to resign from the board and acknowledged that his continued presence is a distraction.

“It is with a heavy heart that I write to inform you that I will be resigning from my position as Chair of the Camden School District Board of Education,” Muhammad said in a statement sent through his attorney on Friday. “I will no longer serve on the Board of Education or as Chair of the Board of Education.”

In his letter, Muhammad reiterated his protestations of innocence against the allegations made by the woman who accused him of sexually abusing her for years beginning in the 1990s when she was a student at Cooper B. Hatch Middle School, where Muhammad also worked as a teacher.

He was known as Don Walker at the time and the lawsuit was filed under his former name and included the Camden School District as a defendant in September 2021. Muhammad left the district in 2000.

The school district confirmed receipt of Muhammad's letter, which is considered an immediate resignation, and said the board will vote on a new board president at its Sept. 19 work meeting.

“As we recently welcomed students back to school for their first day of school, I want to assure our students, families and staff that the district remains committed to providing a safe and nurturing learning environment for all,” McCombs said in a statement. “We hope today's news will help our community come together and heal as we refocus our efforts and priorities on what matters most – providing a better future for our students.”

A spokesman for the governor's office said he was “pleased” with Muhammad's resignation.

“The governor called on Wasim Muhammad to resign back in January and is pleased that he has now resigned,” spokeswoman Maggie Garbarino said Friday afternoon. “He encourages the Camden School Advisory Board to do the hard work necessary to regain the trust of the school community by putting the needs of students first.”

The New Jersey Department of Education did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

The civil case against Muhammad went to trial in May. A complex ruling found that Muhammad did not commit the worst of the alleged sexual assaults, but found Muhammad liable for “extreme and outrageous conduct” and the district negligent for failing to prevent the alleged harm.

The district was ordered to pay the victim a civil penalty of $1.6 million and an additional $500,000 in punitive damages.

“I believe my presence distracts from the incredibly important goals of educating our students and improving outcomes for the children in the school district,” Muhammad said in his letter. “I will continue to serve our city as a resident and as a member of the clergy and as a community leader, I will continue to work hard to improve our neighborhoods.”

Muhammad took a leave of absence from the school board in January, just days after NJ Advance Media first reported on the existence of the lawsuit and details of the allegations.

Muhammad had just been unanimously re-elected as chair of the advisory board by the other school board members at the school district's annual reorganization meeting on January 3, and Muhammad had just won a new three-year term on the board in the November 2023 general election.

Muhammad did not attend board meetings during the trial and would not say whether he would remain on the board after the trial ended in May. When he returned to the board at a work session in August, public outrage boiled over as members of the public interrupted the meeting with calls for his resignation, according to a report in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The former student's attorney, Jeffrey Fritz, said Friday that Muhammad's resignation was a first step to protect Camden students, but more needs to be done.

“We need to make sure that the Camden City School District’s policies and training are updated and followed to keep children safe so this doesn’t happen to another student in Camden,” Fritz said.

Before the school board's regular meeting on August 27, Camden residents and parents held a press conference and chanted that the community was “fed up and eager” to force Muhammad to resign from the board.

During the meeting, Muhammad was criticized in public comments for continuing to serve on the board. From the moment Muhammad spoke into the microphone to open the meeting, he was interrupted by boos and calls for resignation from the audience.

About three dozen members of the public spoke during the public hearing, with each calling for his resignation, while others pointed out that Muhammad could be viewed as a liability to the board because he has already cost the district money.

The meeting descended into chaos after one of Muhammad's wives, Chabree Robinson, spoke to the board on his behalf. As Robinson spoke, those in attendance began shouting and whistling to drown out her statements.

Muhammad, a Muslim cleric at Muhammad's Temple of Islam No. 20 in Camden, admitted in court documents to having one lawful wife and multiple religious or spiritual wives.

The lawsuit, filed in 2021, accuses Muhammad of sexually abusing the woman for years, beginning when she was a 14-year-old middle school student in Muhammad's class. She claimed Muhammad lavished her with compliments and special attention.

She accused him of taking her to his home in Camden and to the Feather Nest Inn in Cherry Hill for sex. She claimed the sexual assaults continued into high school and that Muhammad traveled to her home to have sex with her after she and her family moved to Georgia.

She admitted to briefly returning to Camden after graduating high school. Muhammad claimed she became his spiritual wife when she was 18, but denied assaulting her before then. During that time when she briefly returned to Camden, the woman also accused Muhammad of forcing her to have sex with a stranger at a porn theater.

An arbitrator's proposed settlement in August 2023 called for $1 million in damages, which all parties rejected. The jury's decision to award the victim more than $2 million was reportedly paid for through the county's insurance company and from the county's operating budget.