Toms River School Board Members' Feud Spills Into Public Meeting

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A growing feud between Toms River Regional school board members took an ugly public turn on Wednesday when one accused the other of threatening him in the middle of the school board meeting.

"I've been threatened just now," Robert Onofrietti said, interrupting as school board President Ben Giovine as he addressed a resident's comments about media reports about the conflict between Onofrietti and Daniel Leonard. "He called me a little b----," Onofrietti said, spelling out the profanity, "and threatened to come to my house and beat me up."

Leonard told the Asbury Park Press that he called Onofrietti "a snitch."

The two sit next to each other at the school board meeting, and because microphones are generally turned off unless someone is speaking, it's unlikely the exchange was caught on tape.

The public exchange, however, was simply the latest salvo in an ongoing conflict between the two that includes a police report from Saturday, July 15, where Onofrietti says Leonard sat in his pickup truck in front of the Onofriettis' home until Onofrietti's wife walked out to walk the family dog.

According to a copy of the Toms River police report obtained through an Open Public Records Act request, Onofrietti said Leonard sped off in a 2016 gray Toyota Tundra pickup truck when Onofrietti's wife came out, then a short time later sent a pair of text messages to Onofrietti, one simply a semicolon and a closed parenthesis, which is read as a "wink" in text messaging, and the phrase "Cute dog."

Leonard, in the Asbury Park Press report, said he was merely checking out the Onofriettis' home because he wanted to see what the home looked like, prompted by foreclosure filings against the couple.

Leonard, who was elected to the school board to represent Beachwood in November, posted on his campaign Facebook page, Team Leonard, that he was in the neighborhood "and was truly curious what living above your means looks like."

"Recently, this member of the Toms River Regional Board of Education voted to spend $20,000 more per year on your district auditor over several others that were much less money and just as qualified. I called him out publicly since it was irresponsible given our current financial situation. When you can't handle your own finances, why should the Voters, Taxpayers, District Employees, Parents and Children ever trust you with a $350 Million Dollar Budget!" Leonard wrote.

Onofrietti called it harassment, and said it is part of a pattern of harassment that has gone on for a year and has targeted his minor daughter as well as himself and his wife.

"I had to file ethics charges against the same board member for his breech of confidential information about my child over social media," Onofrietti, who is running for re-election to the school board, said in a post on his campaign's Facebook page. "This board member is an adult and thought it was right to convey the details of a confidential learning plan and then accuse me of abusing my Board of Education 'powers.' "

Leonard, whose post included copies of foreclosure filings against the Onofriettis, said:

"I was Elected to do a job ...... and keeping the public informed is one of those jobs! This is Public Information which you can readily access for yourselves. He knows I feel the Board would be better off without his poor decisions and wreckless fiscal record."

Onofrietti, meanwhile, called on Leonard to resign from the board, saying, "Any person that has the wherewithal to do and say the appalling, and vulgar things that this gentleman does for his entire time on the BOE, and then have the audacity to then go after a minor on his personal Facebook page, to then harrass and try to intimidate me by coming to my home- while holding a seat on our TR BOE- is not fit to be a board member."

Toms River North student Zachary Dougherty, who will be a junior in September, stepped to the microphone and spoke out against the behavior displayed.

"We're trying to teach a tolerant school zone, no bullying and no harassment, and for the adults to do this is really disheartening," Dougherty said. "Regardless of what happens, please lead; be leaders of the school community for us."

The young man's pleas apparently went unheard; when the board moved to return to executive session, Onofrietti left the meeting entirely. Meanwhile, Leonard — who replied to Onofrietti's post by calling him a liar — mocked Onofrietti on his campaign page, saying "Shoulda seen him nearly cry tonight ... weak."

At the end of the executive session, the remaining board members spilled out a few at time, two or three at a time. Leonard, however, came out alone, got into his Toyota Tundra and sped off out of the lot in front of Toms River North.

The conflict only added to a palpable level of tension in the room as the topic of a sexual harassment claim against Superintendent David Healy remained mostly unaddressed, beyond comments from a resident who was critical of the fact that a letter sent to the school board by the Toms River Education Association's attorney was distributed to members of the media and some members of the public.

The letter and front page of Wednesday night's agenda were distributed by anonymous mailings and arrived before Wednesday's agenda was posted to the school district's website. One received by the Patch had the address scrawled in black marker, with three stamps, no return address and no postmark.

"How this stuff leaks out is beyond me," resident Dennis Galante said.

"We are as disturbed as you are that someone provided this to the press," said Stephan R. Leone, the school board attorney.

Neither he nor Giovine would discuss the matter further. "It's a personnel matter," Giovine said. He said the board would be informed of outcome of the investigation as soon as Vincent Grasso, a former Superior Court judge who is an attorney in Leone's law firm, completes it.

Photo by Karen Wall, Patch Staff