It’s a school district known for political patronage. What happens when there’s an alleged illicit affair too?

It’s a scriptwriter’s dream.

An 18-year workplace affair involving hotels trysts and thousands of dollars in payments that only becomes public once it combusts.

At the center of the story, which is all alleged in a fiery lawsuit, is an employer wrapped up in the world of Hudson County patronage politics. Yes, the alleged affair took place between administrators of a school district that educates thousands of children annually.

The Hudson County Schools of Technology administrative offices have also long been a place where North Bergen politicians help their friends get jobs.

And there’s plenty of work to go around the entire county. The district includes High Tech High School in Secaucus, County Prep High School and Explore Middle School in Jersey City, as well as adult high school and technical, adult and community programming. A new facility, Bayonne Academy, is expected to open in September 2025.

Now, within a week of the board secretary suing the superintendent he says he dated secretly for nearly two decades, both have been suspended, leaving two prized seats open to the whims of those rarely shy to engage in political patronage.

And what happens next will likely show just how much influence North Bergen has ― or how much it has lost ― in the blood sport of Hudson County politics.

Front and center in the drama are Hudson County Schools of Technology (HCST) Superintendent Amy Lin-Rodriguez and Board Secretary Joseph Muniz, who were officially suspended Thursday through a Board of Education vote.

What preceded that, Muniz alleges, was an 18-year adulterous affair followed by months of verbal abuse from Lin-Rodriguez at work after they ended the relationship in April. During their 18 years together, Muniz and Lin-Rodriguez had “trysts” at hotels as well as trips to places like Florida and Pittsburgh, outings Muniz paid for first in cash and later on a personal credit card, the lawsuit said.

In his lawsuit, Muniz is open about a history in which Lin-Rodriguez was promoted from a principal to superintendent and never disclosed their relationship “even though she was about to become (his) superior and supervisor.”

Lin-Rodriguez also asked Muniz for money, a move the lawsuit calls coercive and resulted in him giving her $42,000 over the course of four years, it says.

It was in April that Lin-Rodriguez was asking Muniz to leave his wife and the two had an “explosive personal argument” after which Muniz ended the romantic relationship, according to the lawsuit.

That’s when the harassment began, he says. The counts in the lawsuit include discrimination and unjust enrichment, the latter referencing the $42,000 because “Lin-Rodriguez was not entitled to these monies and therefore was unjustly enriched by these funds.”

Muniz’s lawsuit, filed Dec. 6, is currently the only side of the story that is public. Lin-Rodriguez declined to comment, deferring to the school board attorney.

After suspending the pair, the school board appointed a former and sitting administrator to immediately and temporarily take their place. Joseph Sirangelo is now acting superintendent after retiring as director of planning, research and evaluations. Joseph Cossolini, a Board of Education trustee, is acting board secretary.

Sirangelo will be making $120 an hour on a part-time schedule, according to his contract. Cossolini was appointed to the board in January. He is a Jersey City police officer and president of Jersey City’s Police Officers Benevolent Association.

Patronage in the school district is a long-documented practice.

The employee roster reads like a who’s who of Hudson County politics. Guttenberg Mayor Wayne Zitt is the facilities director at two campuses. A transportation official also happens to be a commissioner for the North Bergen Municipal Utilities Authority.

Jersey City Councilwoman Amy DeGise, daughter of longtime county executive Tom DeGise, works at County Prep in Jersey City ― she was an HCST employee before an elected official.

Board members, who are appointed, include Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop’s chief of staff, John Minella (the HCDO called him a “political mastermind” in an Instagram post), and Assemblywoman Barbara Stamato.

Assistant Business Administrator John Shinnick was the subject of a 2008 profile that described him as “the busiest man in Hudson County” because he simultaneously held two executive-level county jobs while serving as a Secaucus councilman, softball coach, secretary at Hudson Cradle and county photographer.

For years, former North Bergen Commissioner Frank Gargiulo ran the district as superintendent and retired with the new High Tech High School campus named after him. North Bergen Mayor Nick Sacco was the source of that clout, but for the past several years Sacco has been gradually losing his political sway as a rivalry with Union City Mayor Brian Stack has taken its toll.

Now, a political partnership between Stack and County Executive Craig Guy, who chairs the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO), has only bolstered Stack’s strength and chipped away at Sacco’s.

Stack helped Guy assume the chairmanship of the HCDO, in the process ousting Sacco ally Anthony Vainieri, a North Bergen township commissioner and former member of the Hudson County Board of Commissioners.

Stack hasn’t shied away from publicly throwing barbs at Sacco, calling him an “outdated political boss” and “a joke.”

The drama hit the county school district this fall with the ousting of North Bergen Commissioner Hugo Cabrera from the district Board of Education. He was replaced by Denise D’Alessandro, who serves under Guy as director of the Hudson County Department of Roads and Public Property.

As for whether North Bergen is losing its grip on the HCST, one political insider says it already has.

“Craig Guy and Brian Stack had clearly months ago taken much more control over the school district,” they said.

Neither Stack nor Sacco could be reached for comment.

But Stack is not done, apparently. It seems he’s teaming up with a candidate who three times challenged Sacco for mayor, Larry Wainstein, which the insider says may be an effort to oust Sacco ally Julio Marenco from the state assembly.

Only time will tell how much Stack uses the fallout of an alleged 18-year affair among school officials to flex his muscles in the countywide school district.

“I think there was a lot of shock about the lawsuit,” the insider said. “It was already a politically charged situation and now you add this other element with all this personal relationship stuff on top of it, and it’s really just a mess.”