Toms River School Board OKs Contract Amid Raucous Meeting

TOMS RIVER, NJ — The Toms River Regional Board of Education approved a new contract for Superintendent David M. Healy Tuesday night after a raucous public comment session where the board was excoriated for the move.

"You didn't have to renegotiate the contract right now," said Mary Malagiere of Toms River, one of several people who spoke out.

"Rushing this contract right now is ignoring the voters," said Andrea Vahey, chair of the action committee of the Toms River Education Association, the district's teachers union. "The Clean Slate candidates claimed to work with transparency but this is not transparent."

The resolution that the board approved rescinded Healy's previous contract, which was put in place when he was hired in April 2014. The new pact calls for him to receive a base salary of $203,000 for this school year and 2018-19, with 2 percent pay raises for the 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years, increasing his base salary to $215,425 at the end of the contract.

The merit bonuses would be in effect for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 school years but would cease after that. It includes yearly allowances of 15 sick days and 25 vacation days, and a one-time addition of 40 sick days to his total. He also receives a yearly car allowance in lieu of mileage and the district provides a cell phone for school district business.

The board voted 6-1 with two abstentions to approve the measure, with Russell Corby, Gigi Esparza, Dan Leonard, Janet Bell, Loreen Torrone and Board President Ben Giovine voting yes and Christopher Raimann voting no.

Board members Robert Onofrietti Jr. and Joe Nardini both abstained, a move that drew a snide remark after the meeting from a man who said, "those abstentions are really yes votes," despite the fact that under state ethics rules, both are required to abstain because both have family members working in the district. Onofrietti's mother and Nardini's daughter and son-in-law all work in the district.

The public comment revealed deep anger within the district, however.

Vahey expressed frustration that it took "months and months" for the board to come to terms on a contract with the teachers union last year.

"Your inaction affected the lives of thousands upon thousands of people," Vahey said, referring to the effects on the family members of teachers as well as the teachers themselves. Vahey accused the board members of leaving negotiating sessions early and even falling asleep, which drew a strong denial from Giovine.

"No one left the meetings I attended early," he said.

Vahey also said the board should be waiting for its new members — Ginny Rhine, Michele Williams and Michael Horgan, who won election earlier this month — to be seated before moving on the contract. Neither Giovine nor Torrone sought re-election; Onofrietti was defeated in his re-election bid.

Stephan Leone, the school board's attorney, said rescinding the contract — which was due to end June 30, 2019 — and replacing it with a new one was required under a clause in the contract that provided for a change if state rules on governing compensation changed.

"There's a legal requirement," Leone said.

"Finding a loophole to circumvent the law ... smacks of backroom politics. Shouldn't the Clean Slate transparent team follow laws rather than look for loopholes?" she asked, as vigorous applause broke out.

"Clean Slate" was the campaign slogan of those who ran for the Board of Education following the arrest of former Superintendent Michael J. Ritacco, who later pleaded guilty to accepting bribes to ensure a specific insurance carrier received contracts with the school district. Ritacco is serving an 11-year federal prison sentence in the case.

But it was when Mary Coghlan, who retired from the district after a lengthy career, spoke that things really got heated.

Coghlan raised the issue of the sexual harassment claim against Healy, but was cut off in mid-sentence by Giovine when she raised the concern expressed by a number of residents that a lawsuit could be in the offing.

Giovine repeatedly interrupted Coghlan, saying the issue was "an affirmative action matter" then turned to Leone, who insisted the matter had been resolved.

"The majority of Toms River and the Toms Tiver schools doesn't see this as a done deal," Coghlan said, to which Leone said, "It is a done deal. There is no further action from the complainant."

Coghlan then leveled a number of complaints and issues that she said are plaguing the district, and of which there have been rumblings for a while.

"Morale is at an all-time low," said Coghlan, who had been at Toms River South. "At every single level there is dissatisfaction."

"Teachers are tired of having their professionalism and integrity questioned," she said, blasting "intricately detailed online lesson plans" that she said were not having the result the district sought and "meaningless professional days."

The freshman academy has had negative effects for students who need remedial help, and were imposed without input from the teachers, guidance counselors and building administrators in the schools, she said.

"The worst offense," Coghlan said, "is the misinformation." She called the district's reports on its dropout and suspension rates misleading, saying staff are being told that when kids leave the building they're not dropping out, they're being homeschooled, and students to are sent to "an alternate education program" instead of in-school suspension.

"You're trying to make Toms River schools look like it's something it's not," Coghlan said, as applause rang through the auditorium.

Malagiere insisted on details on the costs of the investigation, not only into the allegations against Healy but also involving a private investigator who was hired to investigate leaks of confidential information.

Leone said legal bills related to the harassment claim totaled $18,000, and said the final cost of the investigation into the leaks — which Giovine said involved several issues, including the leaking of the harassment claim to the news media — would be $11,950.

"The leaks should concernt the teachers, they should concern the residents," Leone said, saying the person responsible "is violating their ethical duty to this board and this district."

"I take an issue (when) an email that I send to board members that should be confidential winds up in the paper," said Giovine, who had brought up the issue of the need for a probe during the summer, when the harassment claim was leaked.

"There should have been a public hearing" on the new contract for Healy, said Kathy Egan, the former TREA representative. "You need to be more transparent to these poor people who are working hard in our district."

Anna Polozzo, who addresses the board frequently, took Leone to task for his treatment of Coghlan, saying, "It is inappropriate for you to yell at any taxpayer in this meeting." She also criticized the rush to give Healy a new contract compared to the months of negotiating that occurred for the teachers' contract.

"No employee is any more important than any other," she said. "It truly takes a village to shepherd 16,000 students. These people are dedicated professionals."

Giovine vociferously defended the board all night, frequently talking over those who spoke at the microphone in an effort to counter their comments, sometimes not allowing them to finish a statement, and in one case blaming it on his Italian heritage.

At the end, when it came time to vote on the contract, it was Leonard, who has challenged Healy on several occasions and who has been openly critical of Giovine in the handling of some issues, who took a moment to defend the superintendent, addressing comments that have been floated on social media referring to Ritacco.

"Suggestions that things were better under Ritacco are ignoring a few things," Leonard said. "The reason we're doing this ESIP program (a $17 million plan to address infrastructure issues through energy-saving renovations) is because money wasn't going into these schools, the money was going into his pocket or going into his house or whatever."

"We need to move things forward," Leonard said.

Note: This article has been updated to correct the last name of Mary Coghlan and correct that Janet Bell was present and voted on Healy's contract. Patch regrets the errors.

Superintedent David Healy, photo by Karen Wall, Patch staff