Toms River 2022 Election Results: School Board

Updated, 11:45 p.m.

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Newcomer Melissa Morrison appears to have won a seat on the Toms River Regional Board of Education, according to unofficial results from Tuesday's election.

Morrison was the top vote-getter for the hotly contested seat representing Beachwood on the board, and would join incumbents Kathleen Eagan, who won a Toms River seat, and Kevin Kidney in Pine Beach, on the school board, according to the unofficial tallies. Seats on the school board are three-year terms.

Morrison had received 1,108 votes with all districts reporting; Lisa Magovern was second with 940 votes and Reuven Hendler received 329 in the Beachwood race, according to the unofficial tallies. Alex Mizenko did not seek re-election.

In Pine Beach, Kidney, a teacher in the Brick Township Schools, received 426 votes, according to the unofficial results. Arley Kuehl, an artist and art educator who filed a candidate petition but did not appear to actually campaign for the seat, received 194 votes.

In Toms River, Eagan, a former teacher and former president of the Toms River Education Association, was ahead of challenger Daynne Glover by 948 votes, 10,767 to 9,819, for a seat representing Toms River. Glover works for a nonprofit that supports early childhood education; she had run for the board previously but was defeated.

The results are unofficial until certified by the Ocean County Clerk.

Morrison is a teacher in another school district. Magovern just returned to teaching for the 2022-23 school year. Hendler, who ran against Andy Kim in the 3rd District Democratic primary in June, did not respond to Patch requests for information.

The campaign has been heated in Beachwood, with sitting board member Lisa Contessa publicly attacking Morrison. Morrison has been a persistent presence at board meetings, questioning the political motivations of Contessa and Ashley Lamb in the district's lengthy and publicly ugly search for a new superintendent, before Michael Citta was hired earlier this year. Contessa also publicly endorsed Eagan and Magovern for election.

Morrison also has been visibly involved in the fight against the S2 legislation that has stripped Toms River of millions in state funding, testifying at state budget hearings.