Toms River Board Member Refuses To Resign Over Facebook Posts

TOMS RIVER, NJ — The president of the Toms River Regional Board of Education is calling for the resignation of a board member whose social media posts about two Muslim-American congresswomen have sparked controversy and gained national attention.

Joseph Nardini, president of the board, issued the call for Daniel Leonard to step down from his seat on the school board less than a day after a heated school board meeting where parents and residents along with members of the Muslim-American community in New Jersey criticized Leonard over Facebook posts he made in April about Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.

The post about Tlaib in particular, where Leonard wrote "My life would be complete if she/they died ..." above an article where Tlaib suggested a hunger strike to protest actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, prompted the most anger. Critics at the meeting called it a threat to Muslims.

Leonard said his comment on the Tlaib post was not a death threat, but a reference to the hunger strike. "She's trying to shut down a federal agency. Let her starve to death, who cares," he said at the meeting in response to criticisms of his post.

Leonard on Wednesday night rejected the calls for him to step down and insisted his posts had been taken out of context. On Thursday, he reiterated his stance. "Nope. Still not resigning," he said in a message responding to a request for comment.

Nardini, in his statement issued late Thursday afternoon, said he denounces bbquhhthe posts. "The reasons for my great dissatisfaction with these messages should be evident and obvious," he said.

The statement, he said, was in response to the school board meeting and the comments and criticisms shared of both Leonard and the school board. "I feel we must expound upon our position as the board," Nardini said. Read more: School Board Member's Anti-Muslim Facebook Posts Stir Anger

He said the controversy surrounding Leonard's posts was "distracting the board from its mission and purpose. We must lead by example and set an example to our students and community that reflect our goals, ideals and vision for the future of this district."

Nardini additionally said he was removing Leonard from the district's the Safety, Security, and Transportation Committee, effective immediately.

"I am asking Mr. Leonard, for the sake of the students in this district, to consider the far-reaching effect of the events of the past few days and the effect upon the district and the students, and to
consider tendering his resignation from his position as board member," Nardini said.

"We, as the board, cannot act to remove a sitting board member based upon the allegations related to Mr. Leonard’s Facebook postings," he said. "However, Mr. Leonard is in a position to remove this distraction from the board’s mission, and we implore him to consider the impact his continued service on the Board has had, and continues to have, upon the student body of the Toms River Regional School District."

"It is with a heavy heart that I make this statement. I greatly appreciate Mr. Leonard’s service to our country. I have had respect for his dedication to the work of the board and his tireless service to this community. I also have a great respect for the right of free speech and Mr. Leonard’s individual right to express his personal opinion. However, when such personal opinions impinge upon the ability of this board to act on the many pressing issues facing this district, and indeed become an obstruction to the board’s message and duties, those opinions do not remain personal to Mr. Leonard but are opinions and statements which the board must disavow as not reflective of the board or this district."

"I implore Mr. Leonard to reflect upon our statement and choose to act in the best interests of the district," Nardini said.

Nardini's statement followed one issued a few hours earlier by Superintendent David M. Healy, who also rejected Leonard's Facebook posts.

"It is important for me to express that neither I nor this school district support or condone the content and spirit of these messages and the opinions they reflect," Healy said. "It is equally important for me to remind our community what our school district stands for."

"One need look no further than our mission and vision to understand that we value the respect and dignity of every single person we serve and employ; that we work tirelessly to ensure the safety of our students and staff — not only their physical safety, but their social and emotional well-being within a welcoming and nurturing environment; and that we embrace the diversity of our student body and firmly believe that such diversity is a critical mechanism for teaching and learning the enduring virtues of respect, tolerance, and love for one another," Healy wrote.

"It is my sworn duty and distinct honor to uphold that mission and vision," Healy said. "Rest assured that, despite the recent attention given to these unfortunate messages, I will continue to ensure that Toms River Regional Schools embodies strong character, integrity, and the best that public education has to offer."

The controversy was being picked up by national outlets by Thursday afternoon. Leonard's posts, now deleted, have been decried as hateful and anti-Muslim by the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the group Muslim Advocates. Leonard was elected to the board in 2016, and his seat is up for election this November.

Toms River school district parents and residents, along with Muslim-Americans from both Toms River and other parts of the state, spoke out at Wednesday's Board of Education meeting, demanding Leonard resign over the posts, which he made on Facebook in April. Several called Omar a terrorist. Another shared a meme with a Barbie doll dressed in a hijab, with a black eye and the phrase "Stoning accessories sold separately," which was labeled "Sharia Barbie." And the post about Tlaib garnered the most attention, both at the meeting and in national headlines.

"The bigoted, hateful and threatening social media posts shared by this elected board of education official serve to disqualify him for any position that has responsibility for the safety, security and well-being of New Jersey's diverse student body," said James Sues, executive director of the New Jersey chapter of CAIR, who appeared at the meeting and shared similar remarks. "The bigoted views expressed by Mr. Leonard have no place in an educational system that seeks to celebrate diversity and encourage students of all faiths and backgrounds to excel scholastically and to make positive contributions to our society. This is just a painful reminder of the extreme divisiveness that characterizes the current political climate at the national level."

Board Attorney Melanie S. Appleby said the school board as a group did not have the legal authority to remove Leonard over the posts but said the decision lies with voters at the ballot box. She said individual board members and the community at large did have the ability to file ethics complaints with the state Department of Education.

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